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.