Gluten Free Chocolate Roll (Yule Log) for 2
A fantastic Christmas dessert that’s gluten-free and easy to adapt. Make this yule log for you holiday celebrations!
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My family falls solidly in the We-Have-Christmas-Traditions-and-You-Had-Better-Follow-Them camp. We always sing Christmas carols off key (the off-key part is optional but generally true). We eat fish on Christmas eve. We play plenty of family games that generally involve lots of noise and plenty of chaos. We host a drinks party that my Mum always insists will be just a few people, but winds up being closer to a hundred guests. And we always have a gluten free (because my Dad is Gluten intolerant) Yule log (or chocolate roll cake) for dessert on Christmas eve.
Needless to say 2020 looked a little different. There were no parties. Not very many Christmas carols and significantly less chaos. That being said we did stick to our dessert tradition. I actually had two chocolate rolls this year. One with my family on Christmas Eve and another with Loml in Chicago before I went home. For our two person Chicago cake I developed a gluten free recipe for the smallest Yule log that has ever been rolled. (That I know of at least…)
It’s a lovely little cake that consistently falls apart when you roll it because the cake itself is so light. Fortunately you cover the whole thing in a chocolate ganache and ignore the fact that the spiral is not the least bit spirally. You fill the roll with a lovely amaretto whipped cream and a layer of hazelnut butter from this cookie recipe.
I didn’t really decorate the small version but for my family’s Christmas Eve dinner I went wild with the caramel. I made hazelnut spikes, caramel curls and even a little caramel Christmas tree!
How to make this Chocolate Roll / Yule Log
Step 1: Make the chocolate cake for the Yule log
Before you start making the cake take a few minutes to prep the pan. To do so you need to create a tinfoil barrier so that you block off ⅓ of a baking tray. This should give you a 5” x 10” section. Then line it all with parchment paper.
Once the pan is ready you can make the cake by folding melted chocolate into whipped eggs. Bake it until it’s just cooked. Then roll it in a clean kitchen cloth and leave it to cool.
Step 2: Make the fillings
You can fill the cake with just whipped cream if you’d like, in which case whip the cream and continue onto the next step. I filled the cake with whipped cream and hazelnut butter so if you’d like to do the same then make the hazelnut butter while the cake cools.
Step 3: Assemble
Fill the cake with your fillings and then roll it up into a tight spiral. Don’t stress to much when it inevitably breaks, chocolate ganache can do wonders for a cake!
Step 4: Make the Chocolate Ganache and cover the roll
Make the ganache by combining hot cream and chocolate and then spread it over the cake into a thin even layer. At this point you can get creative with your decorating. Make some caramel decorations or cover the roll in sprinkles. You could pipe some cream on to the top in a decorative pattern or pipe some melted white chocolate in a design on top (if you’re more artistic than I am).
Two person chocolate roll (Yule Log)
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 oz of dark chocolate chopped
- 1 tbsp water or coffee
- 2 eggs
- 45 g sugar
Filling:
- 50 g whipped cream
- 1 – 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp alcohol of choice I used amaretto
- Half a batch of the hazelnut butter from this recipe
Ganache (optional):
- 35 g cream
- 35 g dark chocolate or milk chocolate
- For assembly:
- 1 tbsp of cocoa powder
Instructions
Prep your pan:
- This recipe is a paired down chocolate log recipe so we’re actually going to use ⅓ of a 10 by 15 pan to bake it in. To do this you need to cut a piece of tin foil that is 10 inches wide (or slightly more) by at least 3 inches. Fold it in half repeatedly until you get a piece of tin foil that is 10 inches wide and about the depth of the pan. Wedge your tin foil barrier into your pan so that you separate ⅓ of the pan from the other ⅔ .
- You can prop the barrier up with a spare round or square cake pan filled with pie weights (or dried chickpeas, which I use instead of store bought pie weights). For an idea of what this should look like take a look at the photos in the post above.
- Grease the ⅓ side of the pan with oil or butter and then line with parchment paper. The paper should be wide enough so that you have an overhang on the two long sides, this will make it easy to pull the cake out once it’s cooked.
Make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Combine the chopped chocolate and water or coffee in a heat proof bowl and melt over a pan with simmering water (like a bain-marie) until the chocolate is about 80% melted. Remove from the heat and stir it so that the chocolate melts all the way. Let it cool while you prep the eggs.
- Separate the eggs into two mixing bowls. Beat the yolks with an electric mixer until the color has lightened significantly. Add in the sugar and keep beating until you get a thick mixture that is very pale in color.
- Stir the chocolate into the egg yolk mixture.
- Beat the egg whites with the salt using a clean mixer (any residual egg yolk will make it impossible to beat the egg whites). Once they’ve reached a stiff peak consistency fold ⅓ of the whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen it. Fold the rest of the egg whites in.
- Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes or until the surface of the cake is dry.
Assembly Stage 1:
- Dust a clean kitchen towel with the cocoa powder. You need quite a thick layer so be generous with it.
- Once the cake is ready remove it from the oven and let it cool for a minute before turning it out onto the kitchen towel. Carefully peel off the paper.
- Fold the edge of the towel over the cake and then roll the cake up with the towel. Let the cake cool wrapped in the towel.
Prep the fillings:
- Make the hazelnut butter following the instructions from these cookies. If you have left over from making the cookies just let the spread come back to room temperature. You can also skip this step and just use the whipped cream filling.
- Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Stir in the icing sugar and optional alcohol. Adjust flavor by adding more sugar or alcohol if you want.
- Make the ganache (if you’re using it). Heat the cream in a bowl in the microwave until it’s just simmering. Stir in the chocolate chips and let sit for 5 minutes before stirring again to combine.
Assembly 2:
- Unroll the cool cake and spread over the hazelnut butter (if using). Then spread a layer of whipped cream over the cake.
- Reroll the cake using the towel to help you guide it.
- Cover the rolled cake with the ganache and then refrigerate until ready to serve.