Chocolate Orange Xmas Log Crepe Cake
Citrusy orange taste provides vacation sparkle to this Chocolate Orange Xmas Log Crepe Cake. Marmalade, whipped cream, and orange ganache-filled crepes are wrapped in a chocolate Swiss roll sponge.
I couldn’t let the season cross with out having fun with certainly one of my favourite Christmas baking tasks – the yuletide log cake, a.okay.a. Bûche De Noël. It’s one thing I stay up for annually. Earlier, in spring, inspiration struck once I was shopping a confectioners’ periodical. I noticed a sponge roll with crepes wrapped inside. It jogged my memory a bit of tree rings. I knew I needed to strive the approach for myself. And I simply knew it will make a unbelievable trying yuletide log cake.
With only a image (and no recipe or instruction) I cobbled collectively my favourite tried-and-true cake components. The Swiss roll sponge from my Pumpkin Swiss Roll Cake made an exquisite base for wrapping up all the opposite components.
A shortcut.
Should you’re feeling brief on time from all the vacation hustle and bustle (I’m) I’d prefer to suggest buying crepes ready-made from the grocery retailer. They are often discovered at most US grocery shops within the produce division. Typically they’re positioned alongside plastic clamshells of berries to encourage berry-filled crepe meeting at dwelling. Nevertheless, if in case you have time for scratch-made crepes, you’ll discover the components and directions within the notes of this yuletide log recipe.
Assemble the crepe middle by smearing on a skinny layer of orange-chocolate ganache on a crepe. Roll it up!
Proceed by rolling the primary crepe right into a second ganache lined crepe. Hold going till all of the crepes and rolled up and you’ve got a crepe baton.
Meeting.
Unroll the swiss sponge after it cools and canopy it with ready marmalade. Then, add a layer of selfmade whipped cream on prime. Unfold it out evenly. Subsequent, roll the crepe baton into the sponge. Refrigerate the roll till set. Which implies the crepe middle and whipped cream will agency up.
White bark protecting.
Roll out some ready-made white fondant for the protecting . A tree bark silicone fondant mat makes an exquisite bark impression within the fondant, which is what I used. Though sugar paste is my most popular protecting for this cake, I perceive that some folks favor buttercream. Double the orange buttercream recipe offered, and also you’ll have sufficient to cowl and beautify the cake’s complete exterior.
Pipe a wavy line of buttercream on the highest middle of the cake utilizing a large petal piping tip. Add some chopped toasted almonds across the sides of the cake for a ‘woodchip’ garnish.
Seeing stars!
Use this bartender trick I picked up whereas doing a little freelance work meals styling cocktails. Peel the pores and skin off of an orange in a single or two massive items. Use mini fondant or cookie cutters (steel, plastic is simply too flimsy) to stamp out shapes from the peel. It’s such a reasonably and pure garnish. Place the celebrities upright within the buttercream on prime of the cake.
The marmalade and whipped cream collectively assist preserve the chocolate Swiss sponge moist, and the crepe middle has such a pleasant multilayered texture. The dynamic duo of chocolate and orange collectively evokes the essence of a particular vacation. It has garnered a lot reward from all who’ve tasted it!
Associated recipe: Chocolate Mocha Xmas Log Desserts
Chocolate-Orange Xmas Log Crepe Cake
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Bark motif fondant mat
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Rolling Pin
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disposable piping bag
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Massive petal decorator piping tip
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Small star cookie cutters, 1/2 inch and three/4 inch
Swiss roll
- 4 massive eggs
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoon buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
Ganache-filled crepes
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon orange liqueur or 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
- 10 ready-made crepes 10-inches spherical
Fillings
- 1/2 cup ready orange marmalade
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Fondant protecting and buttercream
- 1/2 lb. white fondant ready-made
- Powdered sugar for dusting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- Milk or cream to skinny buttercream if wanted
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
Toppings and garnish
- Peel of 1 orange eliminated in a single massive piece
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds toasted
Swiss roll
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To make the cake, preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 15×10-inch jelly roll pan and line with parchment paper.
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Place eggs in massive bowl; beat utilizing electrical mixer on excessive velocity 5 minutes. The whipped eggs will turn out to be thick and lightened in shade. With the mixer nonetheless working, slowly add sugar and oil, adopted by buttermilk and vanilla.
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In a separate bowl, sift collectively flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Slowly add to the liquid components. Combine till nicely mixed. Pour batter into ready pan and clean evenly with a rubber spatula. Bake 12-Quarter-hour. Cake is completed when it springs again when pressed with fingers.
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Sprinkle a tea towel with powdered sugar and rub sugar into towel along with your palms. Instantly flip cake out onto the sugar-covered tea towel. Peel off the parchment paper and roll cake into the tea towel, starting on the slender finish. Place rolled cake on a wire rack, seam-side down, and let cool fully.
Ganache crammed crepes
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Mix the chocolate and cream in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Warmth for 1 minute at 100% energy. Let the combination set for 1 minute then whisk collectively till clean. Whisk within the orange liqueur. Refrigerate till thick however nonetheless spreadable, about 10 minutes, stirring intermittently.
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Lay one crepe on a piece floor and unfold a skinny layer of ganache over your entire floor. Roll the crepe up jelly roll fashion. Unfold a second crepe with ganache; set the primary rolled crepe at one fringe of the second crepe and roll up. Repeat this course of till the entire crepes are rolled up. Flippantly cowl with plastic wrap and put aside.
Fillings
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Stir the marmalade till loosened; put aside.
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Beat the heavy cream on medium-high within the bowl of an electrical mixer. Regularly add within the sugar. Beat till the combination is whipped thick and spreadable.
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Unroll the Swiss roll cake. Unfold the marmalade over the floor. Add the whipped cream over them marmalade and unfold till even. Place the crepe roll on the most curled finish of the cake and roll up. Place the cake on a serving platter. Refrigerate till chilled and set, about half-hour. When the cake is chilled, trim away 1 1/2 -inch slices from every finish of the cake so the crepe middle is revealed.
Fondant and buttercream
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Mud a piece floor with powdered sugar. Knead fondant nicely and roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Place the fondant on prime of a dusted woodgrain impression mat. Use your fingers to press the fondant into the mould, then use a rolling pin to even the floor. Flip the piece over and trim the surplus fondant away. Repeat this course of as soon as so that you’ve got two wooden grain fondant items.
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Take away the cake from the fridge. Flippantly brush the floor with water so the fondant will follow the floor. Lay one fondant piece over the cake, lining up the sting with the sting of the cake. Add the second piece in order that it touches the sting of the primary piece; trim away the surplus. There could also be a visual line between the 2 items, that is regular.
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Cream the butter within the bowl of an electrical mixer. Add the confectioners’ sugar and blend once more till mixed. If combination is thick, add milk or cream to skinny to piping consistency. Beat within the orange extract. Beat on excessive velocity till the buttercream is sort of white. Switch the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a big petal tip.
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Pipe a dollop of buttercream in your finger and fill the seen line between the fondant items on the cake, if wanted.
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Pipe and undulating line on prime of the cake ranging from the designated ‘again’ to the entrance of the cake. Place the piping tip with the thinnest edge pointed towards the sky as you pipe.
Toppings and garnish
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Use the star cutters to stamp shapes from the orange peel. Place the celebrities standing upright within the buttercream on prime of the cake. Garnish with chopped almonds across the fringe of both aspect of the cake.
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Refrigerate the cake till set, 10 minutes. Cowl loosely with plastic wrap and retailer within the fridge till able to serve. Deliver the cake to room temperature earlier than serving.
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
6 massive eggs 1 cup entire milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
Place all components within the bowl of a meals processor or a blender and course of till nicely mixed. The combination would be the consistency of heavy cream.
Brush a ten -inch skillet with melted butter and place over medium warmth till butter simply begins to smoke. Pour scant 1/4 cup of batter into the skillet. Swirl the batter with the pan lifted over the range eye till the underside is coated with a skinny layer of batter.
Place pan on the range eye and cook dinner till the floor of the crepe loses most of its glossiness and the highest is ready. At this level, most recipes will let you know to flip the crepes; mine have been cooked via with out flipping, so I simply slid them out of the skillet and onto a plate.
Repeat course of till all crepe batter is used. If the crepes begin to cook dinner earlier than you may get your entire backside of the pan coated with batter, then scale back the warmth to medium-low. Permit the crepes to chill fully.
Orange garnish tip:
- After stamping out the shapes from the orange peel, place the celebrities in a zip-top bag and retailer within the fridge till prepared to embellish. The orange peel will dry out if left uncovered at room temperature, and the ends of the celebrities will curl barely.
