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Few days ago I decided to do something sweet for my BFF (British Boyfriend), which normally implies baking something way too sweet for other mortals to eat (like a fruit cake covered in marzipan covered in icing sugar – a level of sticky glucose quite unnecessary to my italian eyes). This time I wanted to indulge his Christams passion for After Eight, since I can’t make a Pandoro from scratch (still due to my lack of a KitchenAid).

For reasons I cannot explain, once upon a time, like two decades ago, After Eight were quite popular in my house, maybe as a gift from some American uncle or just because in the Eighties tacky tastes were a must, just like shoulderpad and backcombed hair. Like these last ones, all of a sudden After Eight weren’t so popular anymore. And I thought that the same applied to the rest of the civilised world.

Since I live in England with someone who will eat chocolate in any conceivable form, I’ve discovered that here After Eight are still considered a dignified after dinner chocolate, a bit like Sherry Liquers (the British version of Mon Chèrie).

This Yule Log is very versatile, I’ve used some peppermint-flavoured cream, but you can use a marron glacée-flavoured chantilly, or some Baileys or kirtch-flavoured cream (for a Black Forest twist).

For the dough I’ve used this recipe.

You will need:

  • 4 eggs
  • 35 gr flour
  • 25 gr cocoa powder
  • 10 gr honey
  • 80 gr sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

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For the filling:

  • 250 ml whipping cream
  • 1 or 2 tsp peppermint extract
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 tbs sugar

Start by separating the egg yolks from the whites. Whisk the yolks with the honey, 30 gr sugar and a tablespoon of water. Beat them until they are thick and pale.

In a separate bowl beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar into soft peaks (if you are using the same whisks, make sugar you wash them carefully before using them for the whites).

Fold the yolks into the whites, moving the spoon from the bottom of the bowl upwards, trying to mantain the air in. Gently stir in the sifted flour and cocoa powder.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and smooth the batter on the sheet (1 cm thick). Bake in a pre-heated oven at 220° (static, no fan) for 6 minutes. During cooking time don’t open the oven door, so the moisture doesn’t escape.

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When your base is cooked, take it out of the oven, moved it into a cold surface (using the parchment paper), quickly scatter over it some granulated sugar (so the clingfilm doesn’t…well…cling!) and cover it in clingfilm. Make sure you ford the film also under the paper. This is to keep the moisture in the cake base.

You can now whip the cream with the rest of the ingredients and put it in the fridge to rest.

When the cake base is cold, gently peel it off the parchment and spread the whipped cream over it, leaving 1 cm from the border free. Now you just need to roll your Yule Log starting from the shorter side.

All is left to do is decorate and…voilà!

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