French inspired: Stephene Cedelle’s bûche de Noël

Serves 6 to 8 Preparation time: 1 hour Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients for the sponge 2 eggs

100g sugar

50g flour

50g almond powder Small pinch of salt 30g butter, melted

Ingredients for the syrup 100ml water

50g sugar Ingredients for chestnut-cream filling 200ml whipping cream 200g chestnut cream (buy this ready-made)

Ingredients for the chocolate topping

3 tbsp mascarpone

3 tbsp double cream 150g dark chocolate, melted Icing sugar, to decorate

Method

Preheat the oven to 1800C. Separate the egg yolks and whites, setting the whites aside for later.

Put the yolks in a mixing bowl, add the sugar and beat with an electric whisk until the mixture has doubled in volume. Add the flour, almond powder, salt and melted butter, and continue to whisk until the mix is smooth.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric whisk until soft peaks form, then gently fold into the egg yolks and flour. Pour the mixture into a large rectangular baking tray, spreading out to a thickness of 3mm. Smooth the surface with a spatula and cook for 15 minutes.

Whisk the whipping cream to soft peaks, then transfer to the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Put the water and sugar in a small saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and set aside. Turn the sponge out onto a clean damp tea towel, leaving the baking paper on. Roll up into a cylinder shape and leave for 5 minutes.

Unroll the sponge, remove the baking paper and brush the sponge all over with the sugar syrup. Roll up again. Remove the whipped cream from the fridge and mix in the chestnut cream until smooth.

Unroll the sponge again, spread with a 5mm-thick layer of the chestnut cream. Roll up once more and transfer to the fridge for 20 minutes.

Mix the mascarpone cheese, double cream and melted chocolate together until smooth. Remove the sponge from the fridge and cover completely with the chocolate-cream mixture. Use a fork to scratch the surface to give the cake a tree bark effect. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.