vegan yule log

Try this vegan chocolate yule log in advance for a stress-free festive dessert – a masterpiece alternative to festive pudding.

Prep: 45 mins
Cook:20 mins
plus cooling and chilling
Serves:8
More effort

Ingredients

50g dairy-free margarine, melted, plus extra for the tin
250ml soya milk
2 tsp cider vinegar
250g self-raising flour
50g caster sugar, plus 2 tbsp
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cocoa powder
90g dairy-free margarine
200g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g dark chocolate
1½ tbsp brown sugar
130g silken tofu
mixed berries, holly, or icing sugar, to decorate (optional)

Vegan Yule Log Method

Step: 1 To make the ganache first. Liquefy together the chocolate and sugar in a heatproof bowl settle over a pan of lightly simmering water, make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Let it cool a little. Whisk the tofu in a medium bowl with an electric whisk till smooth. Then add the melted chocolate mixture and beat again for around 1-2 mins till thickened and smooth. Put in a cool place aside.

Step: 2 Warm the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter and rule a 33 x 23cm Swiss roll tin with baking parchment. Stir together in the milk and vinegar in a jug, now put aside to thicken a little. Then whisk together the flour, 50g sugar, baking powder and cocoa powder till combined. Whisk the liquefied margarine into the milk mixture and little by little spill this into the dry ingredients, keep whisking until smooth. Spill into the tin, smooth the work surface and bake for around 20 mins. Let it cool in the tin for about 5 mins.

Step: 3 Dust over the 2 tbsp sugar on a large sheet of baking parchment. Turn out the warm sponge onto the sugared parchment, and take off the parchment used to rule the tin. roll the sponge up from one of the short edges, to help you using the sugared parchment. While rolled up, take a tea towel and cover and leave to cool fully (rolling the sponge while hot helps to stop large cracks). Don’t worry about any small cracks if there is– they’ll be unseen by the ganache.

Step: 4 By whisking the margarine, icing sugar and vanilla together until pale and fluffy make the icing. Unroll the cooled sponge correctly, and then by using a palette knife lay out the icing over, reserving a roughly 5cm border on the small end of the roll. Roll up the sponge again.

Step: 5 Now stir the ganache to slacken it, then lay out over the yule log with a palette knife. Use a fork to drag down the length of log a few times to make a bark-like pattern. Chill it for around 30 minutes. (That can be keep in the fridge for around 3 days). Garnish with berries and holly, or dust with icing sugar, (optional) serve it how you like.