Drop of Disney

Merry Christmas! I am so excited to share this special holiday treat with you all! A few weeks ago, my family and I were able to spend a week on the Disney Magic for Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to spend time together and be able to relax in the warmer weather. One of my favorite parts of the trip, was being able to attend the Anyone Can Cook events throughout the cruise. Based on Chef Gusteau’s catchphrase from the film Ratatouille, the Anyone Can Cook series offers guests a chance to learn and taste recipes from chefs aboard the cruise ship.

One of the most exciting recipes I was able to learn on board was this Double Chocolate Yule Log that is served on the Disney Cruise Line ships during the holiday season. Yule logs are a traditional Christmas dessert, most commonly served in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and the UK. They’re made up of a light sponge cake, filled with mousse, covered in ganache, and decorated to look like a log. Usually, they’re also served with meringue mushrooms.

My mom started making yule logs for Christmas many years ago, and since then, they’ve become one of our family traditions for Christmas. There is a lot of flexibility with the flavors in a yule log, since you can make any flavor sponge or mousse, but this one is all chocolate with a light chocolate sponge, a chocolate rum mousse, chocolate ganache, and a chocolate glaze.

To make the log, you’ll first want to make the chocolate sponge. While it’s warm, but not hot, make sure to invert it into a dry tea towel covered in cocoa powder and roll it up. I rolled my log starting with the long side of the cake, but you can also make a shorter and fatter log by rolling it starting with the shorter side. Make sure your tea towel is not terry cloth as the cake with pick up some of the fabric pieces as it rolls. Rolling it while it’s warm helps the cake keep its shape later once it’s filled with ganache and mousse.

Once the cake is cool, unroll it and spread a layer of ganache and a layer of mousse on top of the sponge. At this point, you’ll swap out the kitchen towel for parchment paper, and use the paper to re-roll the cake back into the log shape. Place the log in the refrigerator to set and then cover it with the leftover chocolate ganache. Since the yule log is typically decorated like a log, the ganache doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth. I used an icing spatula to spread mine so that the lines of ganache looked like pieces of bark along the log. Place the cake back in the refrigerator while you make the chocolate glaze, and then while the glaze is still warm, pour it over the log. Since it is similar to a mirror glaze, I recommend placing the log on a wire rack on top a baking sheet before pouring the glaze. This way, the extra glaze will pour off the the sides of the log, through the wire, and onto the baking sheet instead of pooling at the bottom of the log and getting all over the counter.

In terms of decoration, I left my Yule Log somewhat plain, as I liked the how the chocolate glaze looked on its own. However, I also made a small batch of mushroom meringues, which I dusted with cocoa powder to place along the sides of the log.

Meringues can be tricky to make and definitely take some time so make sure to plan ahead. To make the meringues, I definitely recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh the egg whites and sugar because you need to have a 1:2 ratio of egg whites to sugar. For example, if you use two egg whites and they together they weigh 34 grams, you’ll need 68 grams of sugar. To make the sugar dissolve faster, I used superfine or caster sugar. Since that kind of sugar can be hard to find, I made mine using the food processor. Just measure out the amount of sugar, place it in the food processor and blend on high for around 30 seconds.

Once the egg whites hold stiff peaks, place the meringues into a piping bag and using a round tip, pipe medium size circles for the tops of the mushroom and small, taller rounds for the mushroom stems. You’ll then want to bake the meringues at low heat for at least an hour. To assemble the mushrooms, dip the stems in a bit of melted chocolate and press the stem into the top. Place upside on a baking sheet and let dry for at least an hour. Once dry, dust the tops of the mushrooms with cocoa powder and place along the yule log.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season! Merry Christmas!

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Double Chocolate Yule Log

Celebrate Christmas on the high seas with this special recipe from the Disney Cruise Line! Filled with chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and chocolate ganache, this special Yule Log is the perfect treat to share with family!

Course Dessert

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Resting Time 3 hours

Total Time 4 hours

Servings 1 log

Ingredients

Chocolate Sponge

• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup cake flour
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Chocolate Ganache

• 1 ½ cup bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon dark rum (optional)

Chocolate Mousse

• 1 cup chocolate ganache
• ½ cup heavy cream

Chocolate Glaze

• 1 cup chocolate sauce (hersey’s syrup)
• 3 sheets gelatin
• 1 ½ cup water and ice

Meringue Mushrooms

• 2 egg whites (34 grams)
• caster sugar (68 grams or double the weight of the eggs)
• ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
• cocoa powder for dusting
• semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Instructions

Chocolate Sponge

1. Place the eggs in a large bowl and let stand for 30 minutes until they reach room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 350 F and line bottom of a greased 15x10x1 inch sheet pan with parchment paper. Grease the top of the paper.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, and salt. Set aside.
4. Whisk the eggs until thickened slightly. Gradually add the sugar and beat on high speed until thick and lemon colored.
5. Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture.
6. Transfer to the prepared pan, spreading evenly.
7. Bake until the top of the cake springs back when lightly touched or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 12-15. Make sure not to overbake.
8. Cool cake 5 minutes in the pan
9. While still warm, invert cake into a tea towel dusted with cocoa powder, keeping parchment paper side up.
10. Using the towel, roll into a cylinder.
11. Let cool.

Chocolate Ganache

1. Place chocolate in medium heat safe bowl. Heat cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring it just to a boil, watching carefully.
2. When cream has just started to boil, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate.
3. Whisk chocolate and cream together until smooth.
4. Stir in the rum, adding more or less to taste (optional).

Chocolate Mousse

1. Place heavy cream in a chilled bowl, and whisk until semi-whipped.
2. Fold in ganache until combined.

Chocolate Glaze

1. Place chocolate sauce in a double boiler over low heat.
2. Place gelatin sheets into a bowl with ice and water. Let bloom.
3. When sauce is hot, take gelatin out of the bowl, squeeze out excess water, and place into the sauce. Stir until dissolved.
4. Strain sauce through a mesh sieve; Let cool slightly.

Assembly

1. Place sponge on the counter. Unroll on top of parchment paper.
2. Spread ganache on top of the sponge.
3. Spread mousse on top of the ganache.
4. Re-roll into the log shape using the parchment paper. Place in refrigerator to set (15-20 min).
5. Once set, remove from the refrigerator, uncover the roll and pour the ganache on the top. Spread using an icing spatula.
6. Place in the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes.
7. Remove from the refrigerator and our the chocolate glaze over the top of the log.
8. Let set in the refrigerator.

Mushroom Meringues

1. Make superfine sugar by taking equal amount of granulated sugar and processing it in the food processor for around 30 seconds.
2. Preheat oven to 200 F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks form.
4. Continue beating on high speed, gradually adding the sugar, until the eggs are shiny and hold stiff peaks.
5. Check the sugar has dissolved by rubbing a small amount of sugar between fingers. It should feel smooth and not gritty.
6. Transfer to a piping bag with a ⅓ inch round tip.
7. For mushroom tops, pipe into 2-inch rounds. Hold piping bag upright and apply even pressure. Smooth the tips of the rounds with a fingertip dipped in water.
8. For mushroom stems, pip small rounds about 1-inch tall.
9. Bake 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours or until firm enough that they easily release from the parchment paper.
10. Once baked, turn off oven and let them rest in the oven with the door ajar for a couple of hours.
11. Attach mushroom top to stem but spreading a little chocolate on the stem and pressing the stem into the top.
12. Place mushroom upside on baking sheet and let dry.
13. Dust tops with cocoa powder and place along yule log.

Recipe Notes

Yule Log adapted from Disney Cruise Line

Meringues adapted from Joy of Baking