“Express version for last minute planning!”
Christmas is just around the corner! This probably what you are hearing the most recently. I believed everybody enjoys Christmas festive and its wonderful feeling of the season. What have you prepared for your Merry Christmas, then?
I am not a Christian in religion, but I do enjoy celebrating Christmas, the festive of joy….. Yes. Nothing elaborate in my celebration though. I liked the feeling of having my once-a-year signature Christmas chicken chop dish together with my family. And of course, a Christmas log cake.
Well, for some of you who like to make your own log cake, and yet, having not much time to prepare at this moment. Or, anticipate yourself to be very busy baking a cake on the actual day… I have an express log cake recipe here for you (and for myself indeed)!
Express version, means I didn’t bake my own Swiss roll. Just having a plain cake frosted and decorated, with my own frosting making. Does it count as your homemake log cake?! :)
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 large chocolate Swiss cake roll (bakery-bought)
For rich chocolate frosting:
350 gram of semi-sweet dark chocolate
100 gram of icing sugar
50 gram of cocoa powder
30 gram of butter, at room temperature
30 – 40 ml of fresh or skimmed milk
Decoration:
Icing sugar
Santa Claus figurines
1) Place a small saucepan in a larger pot of boiling water (or use a double boiler) over low heat, melt the chocolate. Remove from heat and let it cool to lukewarm.
2) In the meantime, cream butter and icing sugar until smooth. Then, add cocoa powder and milk, followed by blending in the melted chocolate.
2) Arrange cake roll on a serving board, cut a thick slice from one end of the cake roll. Lift the thick slice to arrange on the side of the cake to make a branch of the log. May spread some chocolate frosting on the attaching end of the ‘branch’ to act as ‘glue’ for securing the branch to the log.
3) Now, spread the frosting over the entire log and branch, then use a fork to stretch over the log to give the effect of tree bark lines. On both ends of the log, use the fork to swipe in a circular motion to simulate the tree rings of a cut log.
4) To create snowy scene on the log, scatter icing sugar all over the log to resemble snow. Lastly, decorate with holly, as desired.
Yes, it’s that simple. Of course, it is absolutely not difficult to bake a Swiss roll. I have my Pandan Kaya Swiss roll recipe (mini rolls) in my blog to be adapted to chocolate flavor, if you have a large enough oven to bake the cake roll, why not?!
Well, home made or not, it doesn’t really matter, as long as you are happy.
Tips: Plain chocolate Swiss cake roll is available in many bakeries. I tried the one from Four Leaves. ~S$4.50.
* If bake using my kaya Swiss roll recipe, please double the amount to bake large roll. Add 2 tablespoons of melted chocolate to make chocolate flavor. Btw, the filling should be changed to whipped cream. See my homemade cream recipe for filling.