Hi everyone! I’m so excited to share with you this very special Yule Log. This Yule Log was created by you through my Instagram polls (follow me on Instagram for more content ? @blog_justonemorecake). You’ve decided the flavors, the textures and the shape. So, here’s the Speculoos and Vanilla Yule Log ?
Those individual Logs are made up of a Speculoos Crunchy Base, a Vanilla Madeleine Cake, an Insert with 2 Puffs (one filled with Speculoos Caramel and one filled with Speculoos Cremeux), a Vanilla Whipped Ganache and finally a Dulcey Chocolate Glaze. I’ve decorated the Logs with dots of Cremeux and some Puffs.
For this recipe you don’t need a special mold. I’ll show you how to make your own. You just need to buy the small Pringles chips boxes (~8cm long).
Organization:
D-4 (or earlier): Make the Dulcey Chocolate (if homemade) + Make the Feuillantine (if homemade) + Make the Speculoos paste (if homemade)
D-3: Make the Caramel + Make the Crunchy Base
D-2: Make the Madeleine Cake + Make the Puffs + Make the Craquelin + Make the Cremeux + Make the Ganache
D-1: Whip the Ganache + Fill the Puffs + Assemble the Log + Make the Glaze
D-Day: Glaze the Yule Logs + Decorate
You can also make one big Yule Log, you can use the proportions of the Chocolate, Thyme and Lemon Yule Log or the Apple Log ?
For 4 Yule Logs of 8cm long (and ~7-7,5cm diameter):
Feuillantine:
- 65g of butter
- 56g of sugar
- 33g of flour
- 20g of egg whites
Speculoos Paste:
- 250g of speculoos
- 250mL of sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tbsp of honey
- ½ tsp of cinnamon
- 1 pinch of salt
- 40g of liquid cream (depending on the texture)
Dulcey Chocolate:
- 200g of white chocolate
- 1,5 tbsp of neutral oil
Crunchy Base:
- 80g of feuillantine (homemade or bought)
- 70g of speculoos paste (homemade or bought)
- 32g of dulcey chocolate
- 1 pinch of salt
Madeleine Cake:
- 38g of butter
- 75g of whole eggs (= 1,5)
- 75g of granulated sugar
- 19g of whole milk
- 56g of neutral oil
- 94g of flour
- 3g of baking powder
- 2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp of vanilla powder (or half a vanilla bean)
Vanilla Ganache:
- 500g of full liquid cream
- 2 vanilla beans (or 2g of vanilla powder)
- 140g of white chocolate
- 5g of powdered gelatin (or sheets)
Puffs:
- 1 egg
- 24g of butter
- 50g of water
- 4g of sugar
- 1g of salt
- 32g of four
Craquelin:
- 20g of flour
- 20g of brown sugar
- 16g of butter
- 0,5 pinch of salt
Speculoos Cremeux:
- 112g of whole milk
- 30g of egg yolks
- 10,5g of flour
- 50g of speculoos paste (homemade or bought)
- 2,5g of powdered gelatin (or sheets)
Speculoos Caramel:
- 100g of sugar
- 75g of full liquid cream
- 8g of butter
- 70g of speculoos paste
Dulcey Glaze:
- 180g of sugar
- 125g of water
- 150g of full liquid cream
- 125g of dulcey chocolate
- 10g of powdered gelatin
We’ll start with the feuillantine:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/392°F fan-assisted.
2. Cream the softened butter with the sugar. You must take the butter out of the fridge at least 1h30 before starting.
3. Add the egg whites and the flour. Mix.
4. With a brush, spread the mixture into thin strips. The strips must have the same thickness everywhere.
5. Cook for only a few minutes. You must watch them closely because it cooks very quickly. The strips must be golden.
6. Let them cool down and then take them off. Repeat until you’ve used all the mixture.
7. Store in an air-tight container.
For the Speculoos Paste:
1. Mix the speculoos biscuit. Add the condensed milk, the honey, the cinnamon and the salt.
2. If your paste is too thick add the liquid cream.
3. Store in a jar until use.
For the Dulcey Chocolate:
1. Preheat the oven to 140°C/284°F normal mode.
2. In a dish, place the chocolate pieces with the oil.
3. Cook the chocolate for 10min intervals. After the 10min, mix the chocolate and then cook again. Proceed this way until your chocolate has a nice golden color (it can take up to 40min).
4. Spread the chocolate over a guitar sheet (or a plastic sheet). Let it crystallize at room-temperature and then in the fridge.
For the Speculoos Caramel:
1. In a wide pan, place the sugar and let it caramelize at low heat. You can stir, with a wooden spatula, at the spots where the sugar has already caramelized.
2. In another pan, bring to boil the cream. Pour it little by little over the caramel. Mix.
3. If you have some lumps left, bring it to boil for a few seconds while mixing.
4. Off the heat, add the speculoos paste and the butter. Mix with a hand blender to have a smooth texture.
5. Store in a jar until use.
For the crunchy base:
1. Crumble the feuillantine in a bowl.
2. Melt the dulcey chocolate and the speculoos paste in a bain-marie.
3. Add to the feuillantine and mix.
4. Spread in a ~25,5x13cm mold and press. You can also spread it between two parchment papers at the same dimensions.
5. Freeze until use.
For the Madeleine Biscuit:
1. Preheat the oven to 175°C/347°F fan-assisted.
2. Melt the butter and let it cool down.
3. Whisk the eggs with the sugar and the vanilla powder (or bean) until it whitens.
4. Add the milk and the oil and whisk.
5. Incorporate the sifted flour, baking powder and salt and gently mix with a spatula.
6. Add the butter and the vanilla extract.
7. Pour the dough into a 25,5x13cm mold and cook for ~12min. The cake must be golden. You can use a mold of a different size (if the mold is smaller, you’ll have a thicker cake so you’ll need to cut it a bit. If it’s bigger, the cake will be slightly thinner).
8. Let it cool down and unmold.
For the craquelin:
1. Cream the softened butter with the sugar. Add the flour and salt and form a ball.
2. Spread the craquelin between two parchment papers to a 3mm thickness.
3. Freeze until use.
For the Choux pastry:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/356°F fan-assisted.
2. In a pan, add the water, the butter cut into small pieces, the sugar and the salt.
3. Heat over low heat until the butter melts completely. Then, increase the heat and bring to boil.
4. Off the heat, add the flour in one time and mix.
5. Cook over medium heat, while stirring, for at least 1-2min. This allows the water to evaporate. It’s enough when the dough doesn’t break into small pieces anymore.
6. Put the dough in a bowl and let it cool down. Mix it a bit so the remaining moisture evaporates.
7. Add the eggs (previously beaten) little by little and mix. To know if you’ve added enough eggs, draw a path in the dough, if it closes slowly it means there are enough eggs. If it doesn’t close you need to add more. The dough must also be very smooth and shiny.
8. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 8mm tip.
9. You must pipe 3 different sizes:
- 12 of ~2cm (those are the big one filled with cremeux).
- 12 of ~1,5cm (the smaller one filled with speculoos caramel).
- 16 of ~1,5cm (for the decoration). Unlike the others, you need to pipe very little dough, only one slight squeeze on the pastry bag, because these need to be very small. The more dough you pipe the bigger they will be (even if they have the same diameter).
The big puffs 
The big puffs 
The smaller puffs 
The mini puffs
10. Take the craquelin out of the freezer and cut discs of 1,5cm diameter. Place them on top of the small puffs (those for decorating).
11. Cook the puffs separately because due to their different sizes they need different cooking times. The big ones will cool for ~15-20min and the small one ~10-15min. In both cases, the puffs must be golden with no white spots left.
Don’t open the oven until they golden.
12. Let them cool down.
For the whipped ganache:
1. Hydrate the gelatin in 6 times its weight in cold water. Let it sit for 10min.
2. Bring to boil half of the liquid cream (250g) with the vanilla powder (or bean) and the vanilla extract. Let it infuse at least 1h (the more you let it infuse the better it is).
3. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie (or microwave).
4. Bring to boil the infused milk and pour it in 3 times over the melted chocolate. Mix vigorously.
5. Add the hydrated gelatin and the other half of cold cream (250g).
6. Wrap with cling film and refrigerate overnight.
For the Cremeux:
1. Hydrate the gelatin.
2. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until it slightly whitens.
3. Add the flour and corn starch.
4. Bring to boil the milk and pour it in several times over the eggs.
5. Bring everything back to the pan and cook over low heat, while stirring, until it reaches 84°C. Make sure to also reach the bottom of the pan with your spatula when mixing.
6. Off the heat, add the hydrated gelatin and the speculoos paste. Mix with a hand blender to homogenize the cream.
7. Pour in a dish and wrap with cling film (it must touch the surface). Refrigerate overnight.
It’s time to assemble:
1. Cut a 5-6cm wide rectangle in your chips box. Cut circle of the same diameter as the box in rhodoid sheet (or plastic sheet). Place them inside the box.
2. Also cut a 8cm long and wide enough strip to cover the inside walls of the box. Close with the lid and wrap it with cling film to prevent leaks.
3. Take the speculoos cremeux out of the fridge and whisk it a few seconds to loosen it. Place it in a pastry bag with no tip.
4. Take the caramel and, if needed, heat it in a bain-marie until it becomes slightly liquid (if it’s too runny it will be harder to use). Fill a pastry bag with the caramel.
5. Create a hole underneath the big and small puffs (those with no craquelin).
6. Fill the big puff with speculoos cremeux and the small with caramel. Fill a pastry bag fitted with an open-star tip with the remaining cremeux (it will be used for the topping).
7. Refrigerate until use.
8. Whip the ganache at medium speed until it thickens and forms very soft peaks. It must not be too firm.
9. Cut the crunchy base into 4 rectangles of 7x4cm.
10. Cut the edges of the madeleine cake and then cut 4 rectangles of 7x4cm. The thickness must be 0,7-0,8mm.
11. Pipe some ganache in the mold halfway to the top.
12. Place a small puff over a big puff and put 3 of these in your mold (the small puff must be touching the cream). Slightly press.
13. Cover with the ganache and make sure that the edges are perfectly coated.
14. Finish off by adding the madeleine cake layer and then the crunchy base. Slightly press so the crunchy base is at the same height as the ganache.
You can add some caramel over the madeleine cake before adding the crunchy base, this way, when eating, they won’t dissociate.
15. Freeze overnight.
For the glaze:
1. Hydrate the gelatin.
2. Melt the dulcey chocolate.
3. In a saucepan, heat the water and sugar until it reaches 103°C.
4. Add the cream and heat again to 103°C. Between 102°C and 103°C it takes a while, but be patient.
5. Pour the mixture over the chocolate in 3 times. Mix vigorously.
6. Add the hydrated gelatin.
7. Wrap with cling film and refrigerate at least 12h.
It’s time to finish the Log!
1. Heat the glaze in a bain-marie until it melts completely. Remove from the heat from time to time so it doesn’t overheat.
2. Pour in a high container and let it cool down to 20-21°C. You can refrigerate or freeze, but don’t forget to stir from time to time.
3. Unmold the Yule Logs and smooth the edges. Place them over a tray with a container underneath.
4. Once the glaze reaches the right temperature, glaze the Yule Logs by starting with the edges. Tap the tray to remove the excess.
5. You can use the excess of glaze to complete the Yule Logs if needed.
6. Sprinkle the small puffs with icing sugar. You can fill them with some caramel.
7. Sprinkle the Yule Logs with a bit of cinnamon (optional). Pipe some dots of speculoos cremeux and decorate with the small puffs (2 at each side) and some speculoos biscuit pieces.
Your individual Yule Logs are ready! Let it thaw in the fridge for 2-3h or at room temperature for 1h30-2h.
Please feel free to ask all your questions in the comment section and don’t forget to send me pictures of your realisation on my email address: partage@justonemorecake.com or send me a DM on my Instagram account: blog_justonemorecake, I will post them at the end of the post!
