Bûche de Noël (Yule Log Kerststronk)

Method

Heat oven to 220C/200C fan /gas 7 Line a Swiss roll tin with baking parchment and butter lightly. In a large, clean bowl whisk the egg whites to a soft peak, then, still whisking, sprinkle in 50g of the caster sugar and continue whisking until the whites are a stiff peak.

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining caster sugar until the mixture is pale and thick. Add the vanilla extract, sieve the cocoa powder over, and fold both in. add a couple of table spoon of the egg whites, stirring them in.

Then add the remaining whites in thirds, folding them in carefully to avoid losing the air. Pour in the cake batter and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Let the cake cool a little before turning it out onto another piece of baking parchment.

cover loosely with a clean tea towel.

To make the icing, melt the chocolate – In a microwave in 30 second bursts – and let it cool.

Put the icing sugar into a food processor and blitz to remove lumps (oe sive), add the butter and process until smooth.

Add the cooled, melted chocolate and the tablespoon of vanilla extract and pulse again to make a smooth icing.

You can do this by hand, but it does mean you will have to sieve the sugar before creaming it with the butter and stirring in the chocolate and.

Place sponge on a large piece of baking parchment. Trim the edges of the Swiss roll.

Spread some of the icing thinly over the sponge, going right out to the edges. Start rolling from the long side facing you, taking care to get a tight roll from the beginning, and roll. Pressing against the parchment not the cake.

Cut one or both ends slightly at a gentle angle, keep the ends, and place the Swiss roll on a board or long dish. Use the ends, to make a branch or two; you get the effect by placing a piece of cake at an angle to look like a branch coming off the big log.

Spread the yule log with the remaining icing, covering the cut-off ends as well as any branches. Create a wood-like texture by marking along the length of the log with a skewer or fork, remembering to do circles, as in tree rings, on each end. You don’t have to dust with icing sugar, but I love the freshly fallen snow effect, so push quite a bit through a small sieve onto the log and board. If you feel continental you can make marzipan mushrooms too.