Yule log

Among the many opportunities to do something a bit out of the ordinary in the kitchen, festivals like Christmas are always a good time, especially if you have invited some particularly important guests who love to eat well and who look forward to all the Christmas specialties. So we thought we'd make a traditional French dessert: the yule log - 'Tronchetto di Natale' in Italian - which takes its shape from a large burning piece of wood, a traditional Christmas symbol in many Northern European countries. Indeed, tradition dictates that a specially selected log is kept burning overnight from Christmas Eve, where it symbolically keeps the baby Jesus warm. The yule log can be decorated as you wish: with poinsettias and holly, with mushroom-shaped meringue, or with leaves and flowers made from marzipan; the whole thing is covered with melted chocolate or creamed meringue. To create a snowy effect you could use coconut flour or icing sugar.

Beat 4 egg yolks with the sugar until creamy, along with the flour and 50g of melted butter. Combine the egg whites - beaten until firm with a pinch of salt. Pour the mixture onto an oven-proof dish lined with greased baking parchment, level and shape with a spatula to form a square and bake in the oven at 180°C for about 15 minutes. Dampen a clean tea towel and transfer the dough onto it, removing the baking paper. Spread a creamy mixture - prepared with 1 egg, 50g of softened butter, 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, cocoa powder, rum and chestnut cream - onto the dough. Roll up the dough using the tea towel and place it in a freezer still tightly wrapped with the cloth for about 1 hour. Prepare the glaze by melting the chocolate with the remaining butter and then allowing it to cool. Remove the roll from the freezer and place it on a serving plate. With a sharp knife cut both ends at an angle and add it to the roll to simulate two branches. Cover the whole yule log with the chocolate glaze and, using a fork, score the surface to create the effect of bark. Finally decorate with holly leaves, berries or decorations made from marzipan.