This five-ingredient ice cream Yule log combines light and fluffy chocolate cake with a creamy ice cream filling, topped with rich chocolate ganache. Deck it out with festive cranberries and rosemary for a little holiday touch.
Easier Than It Looks
This is a riff on my Grammy’s ice cream roll cake which was a frequent request for my birthday. It looks impressive, but like Grammy would tell you, it’s deceptively easy to make.
For this holiday version, I mostly stuck to Grammy’s original recipe, but jazzed it up by adding cocoa powder to the cake. I wanted to give it a more traditional yule log / buche de noel look. Plus, chocolate cake always wins.
As you scroll through the post below, I know it seems like a lot of steps, but I promise, it’s not hard at all! Plus, I’ve got a few hacks that I’ve picked up through the bazillions of times that my mom and I have made this recipe.
How to Make an Ice Cream Yule Log Cake
Let’s make an ice cream roll cake, Christmas style!
- Prepare the Cake
Beat together the cocoa powder, angel food cake mix and water either with a whisk or electric mixer.
- Spread the Batter
Spread the cake batter in an 18 x 13 inch half sheet pan / jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper. Do not use non-stick spray! See note below! Then bake it.
- Turn it Out
As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, turn it out on to a kitchen towel dusted with cocoa powder and peel off the parchment paper.
- Dust it with Cocoa Powder
Dust the top with more cocoa powder and spread it around. This prevents it from sticking to the towel once it’s rolled.
- Roll it Up
It’s time to train the cake by rolling it up in a kitchen towel starting at the short end.
- Time to Cool
Chill the roll for 1 hour to let the cake cool a bit. But don’t go longer than that because it will turn into a sticky mess and the cake will crack when you unroll it if it’s completely cooled.
- Slice the Ice Cream
This is where having a rectangular half gallon of ice cream comes in handy. Slice down the center to divide the half gallon. Just cut right through the cardboard! A sharp chef’s knife or serrated bread knife will do the job.
- Slice It Again
We’re making slices of the ice cream so that it’s easier to layer on top of our cake in the next step.
- Unroll the Cooled Cake
It will bend up on the edges and that’s totally normal. You’ve trained your cake well!
- Add the Ice Cream
I start at one edge and use my ice cream slices like shingles, covering the cake, though leaving an edge exposed to make it easier to create a seam when the cake is fully rolled. I also reserve about a half cup of extra ice cream to use to fill the ends after the cake is rolled.
- Roll it Again
Roll the cake back up, going slowly and using your hands to support the cake to help prevent the cake from tearing or smooshing out the softened ice cream.
- Clean Up the Edges
Use a small spatula or knife to spread a little extra ice cream on the ends to make them look smooth. Then stick the cake back in the freezer for at least 8 hours before serving. Overnight is even better.
- Start the Ganache
This can be done at any point while the cake is in the freezer. Just combine hot cream to chocolate chips and let them sit for 3 minutes.
- Stir It Up
Just whisk the cream and chocolate chips together until it’s nice and smooth and pourable.
- Decorate!
Spread the ganache on top of your cake and keep it in the freezer until you’re ready to serve. Add cranberries and rosemary for a festive touch! Chocolate shavings could be nice, too.
Hot Tips for Making an Ice Cream Roll Cake
Don’t use non-stick spray on the pan when making angel food cake. It prevents the batter from gripping the sides of the pan which is essential for the cake’s structure. Angel food cake relies on the rise created by air whipped into the batter, and clinging to the pan helps it “climb” and hold its airy, delicate texture as it bakes.
Use a rectangular shaped half gallon container of ice cream. As you’ll see in the steps below, this allows you to create ice cream slices which are much easier to add and spread onto the cake before rolling it.
Offset spatulas are one of my kitchen must-haves for all things baking. I use a small one for spreading things like ganache and the bigger one for jobs like spreading the ice cream filling.
Substitutions
Feel free to use any ice cream you like! Vanilla ice cream is always a crowd pleaser. I also love pink peppermint ice cream in this recipe.
How to Slice an Ice Cream Cake
Heat and a clean sharp knife are the keys to nice clean ice cream cake cuts. I simply run my sharp knife under hot water for a few seconds, then wipe off the water, and slice into the cake. The heat helps it move through the cake and ice cream quicker.
Then I do that again, running the knife under the hot water for a few seconds to heat it up again and to clean it off. If you try slicing an ice cream cake without wiping the knife clean, it’s going to make for more raggedy edges on the slices.
Storing the Cake and Leftovers
If I make this cake the day before it’s going to be served, I just leave it uncovered in the freezer. But, if it’s going to be more than a day in between, I’ll cover it loosely in plastic wrap. I do the same for any leftover cake, just covering it to help prevent it from drying out or developing a weird texture on the chocolate.
Print
Ice Cream Yule Log Cake with Chocolate Ganache
- Prep Time: 10 hours
- Cook Time: 18 min
- Total Time: 10 hours 18 minutes
- Yield: 12 slices
- Category: dessert
- Method: ice cream
- Cuisine: American
Description
This five-ingredient ice cream Yule log combines light and fluffy chocolate cake with a creamy ice cream filling, topped with rich chocolate ganache. Deck it out with festive cranberries and rosemary for a little holiday touch.
Ingredients
- 1 box Angel Food Cake Mix
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder, divided
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 1 half-gallon ice cream
- 6 oz semi sweet chocolate
- 4 oz heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F and line an 18 x 13 inch half baking sheet pan / jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Do not grease the pan!
- Combine 1 box of angel food cake mix, half of the cocoa powder (1/3 cup) and 1 1/3 cups of water in a large mixing bowl and use a hand mixer to slowly beat for 30 seconds so that everything gets nicely incorporated. Then increase the speed on the mixer to medium high and beat for 60 seconds so that the batter is light and fluffy.
- Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan and smooth it out so that it fills the pan evenly.
- Bake the cake for 18 minutes at 375F.
- While the cake bakes, place a large kitchen towel on your countertop and dust it with half of the remaining cocoa powder and spread it out with your hands. This will help prevent the cake from sticking to the towel as it cools.
- As soon as the cake is done baking, remove it from the oven and run a knife around the edges to help release it from the pan. It’s important to complete the next few steps while the cake is relatively hot so that it’s pliable.
- Pulling up on the parchment paper on either side of the pan, lift the cake out and place it parchment side up on the cocoa dusted kitchen towel. Peel off the parchment paper.
- Dust the top of the cake with the remaining cocoa powder and spread it all over with your hands. This will help prevent the top of the cake from sticking to the towel once it’s rolled up.
- Starting at one of the short ends of the cake, start rolling up the cake slowly toward the other end to form a roll. This will help to train the cake to the shape of the roll as it cools.
- Place the rolled cake in the refrigerator for an hour to allow it to cool enough to add the ice cream. Do not, however, let it go longer than an hour because then it will cool too much and won’t be pliable enough to unroll to add your ice cream. This can result in large cracks in your cake.
- About 10 minutes before it’s time to take the rolled cake out of the refrigerator, remove the half-gallon of ice cream from the freezer and cut into slices. I use a large sharp chef’s knife or bread knife and slice down the middle of the container, long-ways. Then I cut the halves in half, making 4 ice cream slices and place them on a plate or cutting board.
- Then take the cake out of the refrigerator and gently unroll the cake in the towel. The edges will slightly curl up and the cake won’t be cold but it won’t be hot either.
- Take the ice cream slices and add them on top of the unrolled cake. The ice cream should be slightly soft, so spread it out a bit so that you end up with a nice even layer of ice cream, leaving about 1/4 of one edge of the cake uncovered to help close the edge of the roll when you roll it back up. Reserve about 1/2 cup of ice cream that you can use to touch up the ends of the cake once it’s rolled.
- Once the ice cream is spread, start rolling the cake back up slowly, using your hands to provide support to the cake and roll it up.
- Place the cake seam side down on a platter or cutting board. Then spread the remaining ice cream on the ends of the roll so that the ice cream is flush with the edges of the cake.
- Place the cake back in the freezer for at least 8 hours to fully freeze through.
- At any point while the cake is in the freezer, you can add the ganache. Start by placing 6oz semi-sweet chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute just to warm up the chocolate. We’re not trying to melt it yet.
- Next, microwave 4oz of heavy cream in a microwave safe cup or bowl for 1 minute until you see steam rising off the surface, but not boiling. If it doesn’t seem to be steaming after a minute, microwave for another 20 seconds.
- Next, pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 3 minutes.
- Then, whisk the two together until you get a smooth chocolate ganache. If there are some un-melted lumps, pop back in the microwave for 30 seconds and whisk again until smooth.
- While the ganache is still a pourable consistency, spoon the ganache over the top of your ice cream roll cake, then using the back of a spoon or offset spatula work the ganache in semi-circular patterns to create an organic, swirly edge that drapes down the sides of the cake. If you prefer you can also spread it all over the cake and run a fork across it to create a “wood” like texture.
- Garnish with fresh rosemary sprigs and cranberries.
- For clean slices, use a large serrated knife warmed under hot water, wiping it off between each cut.
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