Chocolate Yule Log
Soft chocolate cake, luscious whipped cream, and rich chocolate ganache - my Flourless Chocolate Yule Log is festive, naturally gluten-free, and easier to make than you think!
Servings: 10
Calories: 371kcal
Equipment
- 2 large bowls
- electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- jelly roll pan 15x10x1 inch
- parchment paper
- tea towel
- egg separator optional
- sieve
Ingredients
Gluten-Free Chocolate Sponge
- 6 large eggs separated
- ¾ cup granulated sugar 150 grams; divided
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder 27 grams
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 grams
- 1 pinch table salt
Chocolate Ganache
- ¾ cup heavy cream 170 grams/6 ounces
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate 170 grams/6 ounces
Whipped Cream
- 1 ¼ cup heavy cream 283 grams/10 ounces
- ¼ cup powdered sugar 25 grams/1 ounce
For Assembly
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
Gluten-Free Chocolate Sponge
- Prepare a 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan. Line it with parchment paper going up the sides of the pan. (I use binder clips to keep mine in place.) Spray the parchment liberally with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Place egg yolks in a medium or large mixing bowl, and egg whites in a large mixing bowl.
- Use an electric hand mixer on high speed to beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Beat in 2 tablespoons of sugar, then beat in another 2 tablespoons, for a total of ¼ cup.
- Beat the egg whites at high speed until stiff peaks form, and the whites are glossy. When the egg whites are stiffly beaten, they will maintain their shape. You may see to the bottom of the bowl when you remove the beaters. This process may take up to 5 minutes.Scrape the remaining beaten whites from the beaters and set the bowl aside.
- Using the same beaters (no need to clean), beat the egg yolks at high speed briefly to mix. Add the remaining ½ cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time (for a total of 4 additions), and then beat on high until very thick. This can take up to 5 minutes. The yellowish egg yolks will have lightened in color; if you drip beaten yolks from the mixer onto the rest, the drips will maintain their shape for a few seconds before melting into the rest of the mixture.
- Stir in the cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt on low speed, until smooth.
- Use a rubber spatula to mix a small amount of egg whites into the cocoa mixture to lighten it. Then, fold the cocoa mixture into the egg whites in two additions. Once mixed, smooth out any lumps with the back of the spatula, to break up any remaining clumps of egg whites.To fold, sink the blade part of the spatula down through the center of the bowl, to the bottom. Turn the spatula so that it scrapes up the side of the bowl, bringing the bottom and sides of the mixture to the top. Rotate the bowl by 90 degrees, and repeat.
- Gently spread the batter into the pan, all the way to the edges. Although the cake will rise upward, it will not expand sideways.
- Bake in a 375F oven for around 15 minutes, until the surface springs back if you press on it. It should not sound very squishy or fizzy. A toothpick will also come out clean, but should be the second way you check.
- Prepare your tea towel while the cake bakes; you will need it immediately when the cake is done.
While the Cake Bakes
- Spread out a clean tea towel (free of lint) on your counter; this towel should be larger than your jelly roll pan. If you don't have a lint-free towel, you can use parchment paper or waxed paper in a pinch.
- Use a sieve to dust the surface of the tea towel liberally with powdered sugar.
Rolling and Cooling the Cake
- Once the cake is done, immediately invert the pan onto your prepared tea towel. Carefully peel back the paper from the cake; use a rubber spatula if necessary to scrape the cake down off of the cake in spots where it sticks.
- Once you have the paper off of the cake, tightly roll the cake up from the short end, including the tea towel in the center to keep the layers separate. The seam of the cake should be on bottom. Place on a cooling rack and cool completely (about an hour) before assembling.
Chocolate Ganache
- 30 minutes before you plan to assemble the yule log, prepare the chocolate ganache.
- Place 1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips or chopped chocolate in a heat-safe bowl.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the ¾ cup (6 ounces) heavy cream just to a boil. Swirl the pan a few times to be sure it heats evenly. Don't boil, or it will overflow. Remove from heat.
- Immediately pour half of the heated cream onto the chocolate. Let it rest for 30 seconds to soften. Stir in small circles or spirals, starting at the center of the bowl, spiraling out toward the edge.
- Stir in that way until the chocolate and cream are combined, and then add the remaining hot cream. Let it rest again for 30 seconds, and repeat the process of stirring/spiraling out from the center to the outsides of the bowl. Stir only as much as necessary.
- Set the ganache aside to let it cool and thicken for the remaining 20 minutes while the cake cools. It will be too thick after that and will need to be reheated.
Whipped Cream
- Place 1 ¼ cups (10 ounces) heavy cream in a large mixing bowl. (Be prepared; cream splatters everywhere!) Add the ¼ cup powdered sugar.
- With an electric mixer, start mixing the cream on low to get it foamy. Turn the speed up to high speed and whip the cream to stiff peaks. Stop often to check the consistency. Like with the egg whites, stiff peaks won't flop over. You'll see an obvious trail where the beaters were. When you remove the beaters from the whipped cream, there will be a hole or gap where they were.
Assembling the Yule Log
- Place the chocolate roll on your work surface and unroll it.
- Dollop the whipped cream along the surface of the cake. Spread it out into the short edge where you started the roll (which will become the center). Leave a ½ inch gap along the long sides of the roll, and a 1 inch gap along the other short end. The cream will spread into those gaps as you roll the cake.
- Roll the cake back up. (But don't include the tea towel in it this time!) Roll it relatively tightly. Some cream will squish out of the sides and end of the cake roll; this is normal and okay. The seam of the cake should be on bottom again.
- Using a serrated knife and gentle pressure, saw off a small section of the cake off on a diagonal. Use a spatula to transfer the main log to a serving platter, and position the smaller branch alongside it as if it's growing from the main log. Take your time to consider the branch from all angles, and reposition it if you'd like.
- Use a spoon to drizzle the chocolate ganache along the top of the cake. It will slowly drape along the sides. Add more where the ganache ends, until the sides are coated. I use a spoon and go slowly because it gives me more control of where the chocolate flows. If the ganache is too warm or you pour too much at once, it all drains onto the serving platter, and you have to scoop it up later.
- Decide if you want to cover the swirled ends of the cake, or if you want to leave the whipped cream showing. If leaving the whipped cream exposed, cut small, neat slices to even up the ends.
- If covering the whipped cream, swipe up any excess that peeks beyond the edges of the sponge cake before coating it; this makes it much easier to coat. Drizzle the chocolate over the ends the same way that you did with the sides of the cake.
- Take a look around the cake from all angles, seeing if you need to do any chocolate touch-ups. Fix it as needed. By this time, chocolate ganache is usually cool enough that I can swipe it up from the platter onto the cake, and it will stay.
- Use a clean rubber spatula, or a dampened paper towel, to scrape excess chocolate ganache from the serving platter to pretty it up.
- Drag the tines of a fork gently along the log to make the chocolate look like ridges of bark. They don't have to be perfectly straight; tree bark never is. Don't forget to do the short branch as well. I prefer to leave the ends as they are.
- Refrigerate the cake in an airtight container until ready to serve.
Serving and Storage
- Remove the cake from the refrigerator. Use a sieve to dust the entire cake, and the serving platter, with powdered sugar to look like a dusting of snow (and cover up any imperfections in the chocolate).
- Both butter knives and steak knives work to cut the cake. Saw back and forth along it gently, with minimal pressure, until you cut through the cake. Don't press, which will squish the cake and mess up the spiral.
- Store remaining cake in a sealed container in the refrigerator. The powdered sugar will absorb moisture and resemble dew instead of snow. Whipped cream will deflate slightly, but the cake will still taste good after several days.
Notes
I use a gluten-free chocolate sponge because it rolls more nicely, without cracks, than a cake made with flour.
The cake is done when it springs back when pressed on slightly. It should not be very squishy or sound fizzy. A toothpick inserted into it should also come out clean. Bake an extra minute or two if necessary.
If you discover the cake isn't done when turning it out, keep the parchment on it. Slide a large cutting board underneath the tea towel, top with the pan, and invert the entire thing back into the jelly roll pan. Remove the tea towel and bake the cake until it's done. The cake won't be pretty, but it won't be a loss! Meanwhile, prepare the used (or a new) tea towel again.
Cool the chocolate sponge roll for at least 1 hour, and up to 12 hours, before assembling the yule log.
See the blog post for tips on separating eggs.
Don't overbeat egg whites or cream! You can always whip more, but you can't fix overmixing.
While you can fill this cake with a different kind of filling, I prefer the simplicity of lightly sweetened whipped cream. To accommodate a dairy allergy, see the Dairy-Free section of the blog post.
Original cake inspiration from Mary Berry. I liked the simple whipped cream for the swirl, but I lightly sweetened it. I reduced the quantity of the ganache and opted to drizzle it instead of piping it.
Gluten-free chocolate cake adapted slightly from the Yule Log recipe at Christina's Cucina.
Method for making chocolate ganache from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours.
I weigh all my ingredients when I make this recipe, rather than using the volume measurements.
Calorie count calculated in MyNetDiary and is an estimate only. Yours will vary.
Recipe revised and clarified slightly on 12/9/2025.
Nutrition
Calories: 371kcal
