Chocolate & Coconut Yule Log

Last post of my Christmas baking I promise! I'll have to save all the rest for next year for now! We tried to have a proper 'English' Christmas meal as best as we could on Christmas day, and we had some Canadian friends over to share it with us so we wanted to make it authentically British!  It wasn't the easiest thing to achieve since many of the ingredients I searched for they just don't have here in Canada! So the chocolate log for dessert, along with a trifle my husband made, seemed like it would be the easiest of the bunch to make! 

Wrong! I have plenty of frustrations about the groceries here in Canada, like the bread that is always sweet.  I have yet to find a savoury loaf of bread! and eating a turkey sandwich on sweet bread is no fun at all! or the fact that you don't get squash here, I think I know why North America has an epidemic of too many people drinking soda - because they don't have any Robinson's! They also don't sell instant gravy granules and let's not get started on their chocolate! but out of all the problems I've encountered the one that frustrates me the most is their 'whipping' cream.  Canadian whipping cream, ironically, does not whip! Seriously I spent over 25 minutes with this bowl of cream on Christmas Eve and yes it turns thicker than it's once liquid state but it doesn't form stiff peaks or become thick enough to hold it's shape! I was pretty mad! So I had to refrigerate it for a while and then just spread it on anyway and hope for the best.  

Luckily the chocolate frosting was so super creamy and the cake so light and fluffy that the cream disaster seemed to go unnoticed by my guests and after being refrigerated over night it wasn't all that runny the next day...but Canadians - what is going on? How do you cope with cream that doesn't whip? Please help me out on this one! 

Chocolate & Coconut Cream Yule Log:

Serves 12

Adapted from BBC Good Food

For the cake:

6 eggs

170g caster sugar

140g plain flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

For the filling:

284ml double cream

60ml coconut milk

40g caster sugar

For the frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter

3 1/2 cups icing/powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp milk

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Grease and line a swiss roll tin with baking parchment.  

Beat the eggs and sieved sugar together with an electric whisk for about 8 minutes until thick and creamy.  

Mix the flour, cocoa and baking powder together, then sift into the egg mixture.  Fold in very carefully, the pour into the tin.  Now tip the tin from side to side to spread the mixture into the corners.  Bake for 16-18 minutes.  

Lay a sheet of baking parchment on the work surface.  When the cake is ready, tip it onto the parchment, peel off the lining paper, then roll the cake up from the longest edge with the paper inside.  Leave to cool.  

Whip the double cream until peaks form.  Add in the coconut milk and the sugar until stiff peaks form.

Unravel the cake, spread the coconut cream over the top.  Sprinkle liberally with desiccated coconut, depending on how much of a coconut lover you are (I went all out, obviously!)

Then, roll the log back up again and refrigerate whilst making the chocolate frosting. 

Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed.  Sieve sugar and cocoa powder into the mixing bowl 1 cup at a time.  On low speed, mix the ingredients until they come together.  Increase mixer to medium, and add the vanilla extract and milk and mix until incorporated.  Increase mixer to high speed and beat for 3 minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy.  

Take the log out of the fridge, and spread the frosting on thickly using a palette knife.  Use a fork to mark the frosting to give the effect of tree bark.  Go around in a circle to make knots.  Sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar to finish off.

Eat and enjoy!