I always seem to be running behind when it comes to publishing my yearly Christmas Yule Log recipe. I start planning early, but never end up making it until almost Christmas eve, when most of you have already found your recipes or ordered something – sorry! Nevertheless, I’m going to share with you today the recipe for my Passionfruit, Peanut and Caramel Christmas Yule Log. It may be too late to make it for Christmas now, but I think this cake is delicious year-round. It consists of a caramel mud cake that’s covered in a peanut “croustillant”. It’s then covered in caramel mousse with a passionfruit insert. I experimented a little with flavours this year and I’m really happy with the result. The saltiness of the peanut works so well with the caramel, and the passionfruit is quite sharps and keeps it light and zesty.
I’m not going to lie, this recipe’s complicated and needs to be made over a few days. I recommend following this schedule:
Day 1
Prepare and freeze the passionfruit insert
Make the peanut croustillant
Day 2
Make the mud cake
Make the caramel mousse
Day 3
Glaze the yule log and decorate
Anyway, recipe formalities aside, I wish you all a fantastic Christmas filled with family, friends and a lot of good food!
Passionfruit, Peanut and Caramel Christmas Yule Log
Servings: 6
Ingredients
The Passionfruit Insert
- 1 gold-strength gelatine sheet
- 180 g of passionfruit pulp sieve and discard seeds
- 40 g of egg yolks
- 45 g of egg
- 35 g of sugar
- 45 g of butter cubed
The Peanut Croustillant
- 150 g of salted roasted peanuts
- 150 g of sugar
- 50 ml of hazelnut or peanut oil
- 100 g of crepe dentelle biscuits can be substituted for cornflakes
The Caramel Mud Cake
- 100 g of butter
- 100 g of white chocolate
- 1 tsp of honey
- 100 g of dark brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 125 g of flour
- ¼ tsp of baking powder
The Caramel Mousse
The Caramel
- 100 g of sugar
- 130 g of cream
- 5 g of fleur de sel
- 5 gold-strength gelatine sheets
You’ll also need
- 250 g of heavy whipping cream
- 130 g of sugar
- 40 g of water
- 100 g of egg yolks
The Mirror Glaze
- 10 gold strength gelatine leaves + 150ml of water
- 240 g of caster sugar
- 230 g of glucose syrup
- 185 g of water
- 200 g of condensed milk
- 300 g of white chocolate
- White & pink food colouring
Instructions
The Passionfruit Insert
- Submerge the gelatine in a bowl of cold water and set aside.
- Place the passionfruit, egg yolk, egg and sugar in a saucepan and slowly heat to 80°C while whisking continuously.
- Add the gelatine, whisk and set aside to cool to 60°C. Incorporate the butter and whisk until smooth. Pour into a Yule Log insert mould and freeze overnight.
The Peanut Croustillant
- Sprinkle a small amount of sugar into a saucepan over medium/high heat. Once the sugar starts to melt, sprinkle in a little more. Continue this process until all the sugar has been added. Swirl the pan from time to time to mix the caramel and allow it to darken to a deep amber colour. Add the peanuts and stir them through the caramel for at least a minute. Pour onto a sheet of baking paper and allow to set.
- Blend the caramelised peanuts and oil until a smooth paste forms (you’ll need to scrape down the sides of the mixer many times during this process).
- In a large bowl, roughly crush the crepe dentelle biscuits. Mix with the peanut caramel paste until you have a thick crunchy mixture. Set aside.
The Caramel Mudcake
- Preheat the oven to 170°C and grease and line a rectangular cake tin roughly 20 x 30cm.
- Combine butter, chocolate, honey and 85g of water in saucepan. Heat, whisking constantly until smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside until room temperature.
- Beat the sugar and eggs until pale and creamy. Whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture until well combined. Sift in the flour and baking soda and mix until smooth.
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 20minutes.
- Allow to cool then cut out a rectangle a few millimetres smaller than your yule log mould. Cover with a thick layer of peanut croustillant and set aside.
The Caramel Mousse
- Submerge the gelatine in a bowl of cold water and set aside. Next, make the caramel by placing the sugar in a medium saucepan over med/high heat. In a separate saucepan heat the cream. Stir the sugar until it has melted then stop stirring and watch it closely. You want it to be a dark amber colour or 165°C. Once it reaches the desired colour, remove from the heat and gradually add the hot cream. Be careful as it will bubble and spit! Keep stirring until the caramel is smooth. If there are lumps of caramel, place back on the heat and whisk continuously until you have a nice glossy mixture. Next add the gelatine. Make sure you squeeze and discard the liquid before adding it. finally, stir in the salt. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
- While the caramel is cooling, prepare the egg yolk meringue (yes, egg yolk!! this isn’t an error) by placing the egg yolks in the bowl of your mixer. Next, make your sugar syrup by heating the sugar and water over med/high heat until it reaches 118°C. While the sugar syrup is heating, start beating the egg yolks then when the syrup is ready slowly pour it in as you continue to beat. Keep beating until the mixture cools to room temperature.
- Make the whipped cream by beating the cold cream until soft peaks form. Using a spatula, mix 1/3 of the whipped cream into the cooled caramel. Once completely incorporated, gently fold the caramel into the meringue mixture, followed by the rest of the whipped cream.
- Pour the mousse into your Yule log mould. Remove the passionfruit insert from the freezer and place into the centre of the mould. Cover with more mousse then add the mudcake with the peanut croustillant layer facing down. Place in the freezer overnight.
The Mirror Glaze
- Cut the gelatine into small pieces and soak in 150ml of water.
- Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a large bowl along with the condensed milk.
- In a saucepan, bring the sugar, glucose, water and food colourings to a boil. Allow to boil for a minute then remove from the heat. Add the gelatine (with the water), mix well, then pour over the chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Allow the glaze to cool to 35-40°C before using.
- Cover your work surface with baking paper or foil. Then place the yule log on top on a grill. Pour over the glaze and allow the excess to run off. If the glaze is translucent, pour over a second layer of glaze.
- Transfer onto your serving dish and allow to defrost. Decorate with handmade chocolate decoration like mine, edible flowers or keep it simple and serve as is.
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