Chocolate Bûche de Noël

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.

Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Put the egg yolks into a bowl and mix with the sugar. Add the flour and mix again.

Add the stiff egg whites to the bowl and fold in gently with a spatula until you get an even, aerated batter.

Distribute the batter on a baking tray lined with baking paper and form a rectangular shape of approximately 30x25cm.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Lay out a damp cloth and dust with 1 tbsp of sugar. When the sponge comes out of the oven, leave to cool for 5 minutes, then turn it onto the cloth and peel off the baking paper. Roll the sponge up in the damp cloth and leave to cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes – this will prevent the sponge from breaking when you roll it later.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. In a large bowl, mix the butter and the icing sugar until smooth. Add the chocolate spread and mix again, then add the cocoa powder, vanilla essence, cream and a pinch of salt and mix to a smooth frosting.

Unroll the sponge and spread the surface with frosting, leaving a 1 cm border at the bottom. Roll the sponge up and refrigerate for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, take the rolled sponge out of the fridge and spread the entire surface with the remaining frosting. Decorate with bûche decorations* and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Dust with a bit of icing sugar when ready to serve

*We’ve used rosemary branches dipped in water and then in sugar as decoration, as well as little mushrooms.