Yule Log

It’s only a few more weeks until Christmas and we have a few more traditional foods to cover. This week we are going to look at the Yule Log. It’s a Christmas staple for many and always looks so delicious.

You’ll see many variations of Yule Logs; they are known in many countries France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Lebanon, the UK, and many French colonies. The origin of the Yule Log is thought to be French in about the 19^th century. The French call the Yule Log, Buche de Noel. The original and traditional Yule Log is made from a yellow sponge cake baked thin in a shallow baking pan. Then it’s iced, rolled to make a cylinder or “log,” and then it’s iced again and decorated usually to look like some sort of decorated log. You might see berries, snow, branches, mushrooms, and bark like textures on Yule Logs. Typically you’ll have a yellow sponge cake with a chocolate buttercream but you’ll see all sorts of combinations now including adding alcoholic, coffee, and citrus flavouring.   

Instead of making an actual Yule Log, we decided to make a deconstructed one (somewhat) and make mini yellow sponge cupcakes with a chocolate buttercream frosting.   

Take a look below at my favourite yellow cake recipe and buttercream recipe. You can use it to actually make a Yule Log of your own this Christmas!

Yellow Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

½ cup of whole milk

4 large eggs

2 tsp. of vanilla extract

1 ¾ cups of flour

1 ½ cups of granulated sugar

2 tsp. of baking powder

¾ tsp. of salt

16 Tbsp. of butter or margarine, softened

1-2 tsp. of orange extract if using

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Line mini muffin tins, regular size muffin tins, or grease and flour a cake pan and layer the bottom with parchment.

Whisk the milk, eggs, and vanilla together in a bowl and set aside. If you are adding in another flavour like orange extract or coffee, add it in now and whisk.

Now in the bowl of your mixer, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Mix in the butter slowly until it looks like moist crumbs.

Beat in all but ½ cup of the milk mixture and increase the speed to medium. Allow it to beat until light and fluffy looking.

Next on low, slowly add in the last bit of milk that you left out earlier. Beat until the batter looks slightly curdled.

Stir your batter one last time and then pour or spoon into the prepared pans.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely before icing. I stashed them away in the fridge overnight.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

3 sticks of butter or margarine, softened

3 Tbsp. of heavy cream

2 ½ tsp. of vanilla

¼ tsp. of salt

3 cups of icing sugar

1/2 - 3/4 cups of unsweetened cocoa powder

Beat the butter, cream vanilla, and salt on high until smooth.

Once beaten, add in the icing sugar and cocoa powder slowly. Once it’s all somewhat incorporated, then put your mixer on high and whip it up for about 5-10 minutes or until light and fluffy looking.

Ice your cooled cupcakes or cake and enjoy.

Fruitcake from Around the World

Today we are looking at a classic with different versions from all over the world. Yes, we are looking at Christmas fruitcake. You either hate it or love it but you’ll see so much of it during the holiday season. We’ll take a look at the different variations from around the world first of all and then we’ll share with you a classic North American fruitcake recipe!

The earliest instance of fruitcake was said to be in ancient Rome and it was a barley mash mixed with pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins. Another early instance was in the Middle Ages which was similar but honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added.

There are about 20 different countries that are known for their own version of Christmas fruitcake. They are Australia, Bahamas, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Anglophone Caribbean, UK, and the USA. Take a look at the chart below to see how the different countries put their own twists on the Christmas fruitcake.

Country:	Notable Ingredients or Facts:
Australia	Eaten all year round with no icing.
Bahamas	Drenched with rum. All the candied fruits, walnuts, and raisins are covered in a container for 2-3 months with rum. Once cake is baked it is covered in rum while still warm.
Bulgaria	Consumed through the year. Contains flour, butter, oil, milk, yeast, yogurt, eggs, cocoa, walnuts, and raisins. Baked in a bundt pan.
Canada	Eaten at Christmastime and rarely seen other times of the year. Similar to the UK version. Usually in the shape of a loaf with no icing or alcohol.
Chile	Called Pan de Pascua. Sweet sponge cake flavoured with honey and ginger and has candied fruit, raisins, walnuts, and almonds
France	Called gâteau aux fruits.
Germany	More of a sweet bread. Made with yeast, butter, water, flour, citrus zest, candied citrus peel, raisins, and almonds. Usually has powdered sugar on the outside.
India	Dense cake with fruits, nuts, and spices.
Ireland	Eaten at Halloween. Often contains small tokens as a treat for those who find them.
Italy	Called Panforte. It’s a chewy dense cake with strong spice flavours and filled with dried candied fruits. Also has a version called Panettone usually in a cylinder “cupola” shape which is more of a sweet bread with dried fruit and spices.
New Zealand	Sold throughout the year. A lighter coloured cake. Most are tiered and iced. Includes multiple dried fruits and brandy or sherry.
Philippines	Called Crema de Fruta. Made with layers of sponge cake, custard or whipped cream, gelatin, and fresh fruits like pineapple, cherries, strawberries, and mangoes.
Poland	Loaf shaped sponge cake with nuts, figs, raisins, and candied fruits.
Portugal	Called Bolo Rei. The cake is round with a hole in the center and is made with raisins, nuts, and crystallized fruit. Included is a fava bean and whoever gets it has to pay for the Bolo Rei next year.
Romania	Called Cozonac is a loaf shaped cake with raisins, lemon or orange zest, vanilla, walnuts, hazelnuts, and rum. Topped with poppy seeds.
Spain	Similar to the Panforte and includes fig, almonds, walnuts, and flavourings.
Switzerland	Dense sweet cake with candied fruits and nuts.
Anglophone Caribbean	Black cake almost like a figgy pudding with lots of dried fruit and rum/wine.
UK	Round cake with marzipan on the top and then covered with Royal Icing. Can be light to rich and moist. Will contain candied fruit, nuts, spices, and sometime alcohol.
USA	Rich in fruit and nuts. Some are saturated with alcohol but many left plain. Usually quite dense and in loaf form.

Traditional Canadian Fruitcake Recipe

Ingredients:

4 cups of candied mixed peel

3 cups of seeded raisins, light ones

1 cup of dark raisins

1 cup of currents

1 cup of halved candied cherries

1 cup of brandy

1 cup of rum

½ cup of candied pineapple

1 ¼ cup of brown sugar

1 cup of butter, softened

3 eggs

2 tsp. of vanilla

2 cups of flour

1 ½ tsp. of baking powder

1 tsp. of cinnamon

1 tsp. of nutmeg

½ tsp. of salt

½ tsp. of cloves

1 cup of chopped pecans

1 cup of blanched almonds

How to:

In large bowl, stir candied peel, dark raisins, currants, cherries, brandy and pineapple; cover with plastic wrap. Let stand for 12 hours or microwave on High for 3 minutes or until steaming; stir.

In mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time; beat in vanilla.

In separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cloves. Stir into batter, one-third at a time.

Scrape fruit mix over batter and then sprinkle with pecans and almonds. Stir to coat fruit and nuts.

Spoon batter into two 9- x 5-inch and one 5-3/4- x 3-1/4-inch parchment lined loaf pans, packing with back of spoon. Tap lightly on counter.

Bake at 300 degrees for 1-1/4 hours for small loaf and 2 hours for large loaves.

Allow to cool in pans on a rack for 30 minutes. Turn out, right side up, onto rack; let cool completely.

Remove the paper and wrap in plastic wrap and foil. Store in cool place for up to 2 months.

Eggnog

This week we are going with a Christmas classic and that is eggnog. We’re used to drinking variations of eggnog in Canada and the US but the origin of eggnog is said to be in the UK.

In early Medieval Britain a drink called posset was consumed and that is what the first eggnog is thought to be. Posset was hot milk curdled with wine or ale and then had spices added. Sounds a lot like eggnog. Posset was also used as a cold and flu remedy and sometimes had eggs added to it as well. As time went on British Aristocrats started drinking eggnog because it contained milk, eggs, and sherry which were foods consumed by the wealthy. Eventually eggnog made its way to North America and President Washington began serving it to visitors and added lots and lots of different types of alcohol.

Over the years eggnog has changed and depending on where you are can have different types of alcohol added. Some of the alcohol that may be in your eggnog are brandy, rum, bourbon, sherry, and cognac.

Most eggnog recipes will include milk or cream, raw eggs (make sure they are pasteurized), sugar, spices (cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg), vanilla, and often times alcohol. The ones you buy in a carton at the store of course will be non-alcoholic but you can add flavours into it when you serve it.

Fun fact, a Tom and Jerry is a hot eggnog cocktail that contains brandy and rum. Another fun fact, a nog or noggin was a Middle English word for a wooden mug for serving alcohol.

Instead of making actual eggnog, this week we made an eggnog pudding and it was delicious. So take a look at what we made with our featured Christmas traditional food.

Eggnog Pudding Recipe

1/3 cup of sugar

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

¼ tsp. of salt

2 ¼ cups of eggnog

3 egg yolks

1 ½ tsp. of vanilla

2 cups of whipped cream for the topping

In a heavy saucepan whisk the sugar, salt, and cornstarch.

Gradually whisk in the eggnog and egg yolks.

Set over medium heat and stir constantly until the pudding bubbles and thickens.

Remove the pot from the stove and add in the vanilla.

Transfer the pudding to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding. Let it cool slightly before putting in the fridge for about 3 hours to set.

While the pudding is setting, you can whip up some cream.

After the 3 or so hours are up, dish your pudding into ramekins and top with whipped cream. You can set out cinnamon, nutmeg, and sprinkles to top your pudding. I even tried milk chocolate chips and that was divine! Enjoy!

Snowflake Shortbread Cookie

It’s cookie day! It’s the perfect day to start your Christmas baking. I know some people may have started a while ago, but I think it’s the perfect time to make some baked goods to nibble during the lead up to Christmas. You can also make them ahead of time and freeze them for gifts or for Santa and Christmas day celebrations.

Shortbread cookies are one of the traditional Christmas cookies. I have always done the circular ones with the fork indents on the top, but today we are making a bit fancier shortbread. We are making snowflake shaped cookies and some we’ll leave plain, but some will get a little chocolate surprise on them!

Shortbread Cookie Recipe:

This is a really easy recipe. All you need is butter, berry sugar, and flour.

Start off by creaming 2 cups of butter/margarine.

Add in the 1 cup of sugar slowly.

Now add in almost 4 cups of flour, gradually. When I say almost 4 cups I mean almost. Add in the 3 cups and then on the last cup, don’t quite fill it to the top. A full cup would be too much.

Since we’re making the cookies into snowflakes (we tried a few other shapes too), knead the dough and make it into two separate balls, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. If you don’t plan on using a cookie cutter to cut out shapes, roll the dough into “logs” and wrap in plastic.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough and cut into shapes. If you made the “logs” then slice them into cookies.

Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 300 degrees for 20-23 minutes.

Once they have cooled a bit, you can leave them as is and serve or package them up or you can take them to the next level and dip and drizzle with the chocolate(s) of your choice. 

Allow the chocolate to harden before serving or putting away.