Mary Berry’s ‘melt in the mouth’ Bûche de Noël yule log – recipe

This Christmas, many of us will be sitting down with our families and looking forward to something sweet after dinner. From mince pies and pud to cake and trifle, there's a huge choice out there when it comes to tasty festive treats.

But it's all too easy to stick to the same desserts every year.

If you want to try something different on the big day, we've picked a melt in the mouth Bûche de Noël (Yule Log) recipe by Mary Berry for you to make.

It's rich and decadent and, to add some extra indulgence, it's amazing served with a dollop of pouring cream over the top. Enjoy!

Ingredients

For the unfilled roulade

4 large eggs

115g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

65g self-raising flour

40g cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting

For the filling

1 tbsp instant coffee granules

2 tbsp hot milk

225g unsweetened chestnut purée

2 tbsp brandy

55g caster sugar

150ml pouring double cream, whipped

For the topping

300ml pouring double cream, whipped

Cocoa powder, for dusting

Method

■ First, make the chocolate roulade. Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas mark 7. Grease a 33 x 23cm Swiss roll tin and line with non-stick baking paper.

■ Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until the mixture is light and frothy and the whisk leaves a trail when lifted out.

■ Sift the flour and cocoa into the mixture, carefully folding them in at the same time. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and give it a gentle shake so that the mixture finds its own level, making sure that it spreads evenly into the corners.

■ Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until the sponge begins to shrink from the sides of the tin.

■ While the cake is cooking, place a piece of baking paper a little bigger than the size of the tin on a work surface and sprinkle it with caster sugar. Invert the cake straight from the oven on to the sugared paper. Quickly loosen the paper on the bottom of the cake and peel it off.

■ Trim the edges of the sponge with a sharp knife and leave to cool. While it is cooling, make the filling.

■ Dissolve the coffee in the hot milk. Sieve the chestnut purée into a bowl and beat in the coffee mixture, brandy and sugar until the mixture is smooth.

■ Fold the whipped cream into the chestnut purée mixture. Remove the paper from the Swiss roll and spread the chestnut filling all over the cake, then roll.

■ Cut a small slice off at an angle from one of the ends of the roll, then place the roll on a serving plate or board and attach the slice to look like a branch.

■ Spread the whipped cream over the cake to cover completely, using a small palette knife in long strokes to give the bark effect.

■ Dust the cake lightly with cocoa and top with any Christmassy decorations of your choice.

Extracted from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible by Mary Berry (BBC Books, £28). Photography: Ant Duncan

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