Christmas Yule Log Cake with lime mousse and creamy mango

To change from the traditional Christmas cake, here is a Christmas yule log cake with lime mousse and mango cream. Making a homemade Christmas log cake or a Bûche de Noël is much more than making a simple or complicated pastry. When we bring it to the table and our guests devour it with their eyes. We are filled with pride, our hearts are filled with happiness. In short, we are refueling for the year to come and that feels a lot of good!

In the “tips and tricks” section, you will find my little tips on how not to get overwhelmed, prepare as much as possible in advance and ensure that on D-Day you can also enjoy spending time with your loved ones. Unless you prefer to lock yourself in the kitchen so you can’t see them, hahaha.

A delicious christmas fruit cake

Today I am not offering you a lemon meringue pie type log. No Italian meringue or lemon cream, but on of the best christmas cake recipes, a christmas yule log cake with lime. A real delight that will delight your guests and if we are still confined, well it will make your immediate family happy.

Christmas yule log recipe with lime

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Ingredients

  

Dacquoise with almonds and lime zest

• 5 egg whites
• 50 gr caster sugar
• 1 zest 1 lime
• 100 gr icing sugar a little more for sprinkling
• 150 gr almond powder

Lime mousse

• 8 lime about 300ml
• 1 zest 1 lime
• 6 gelatin sheets
• 90 gr powdered sugar
• 5 dl full cream

Creamy mango

• 80 gr mango flesh
• 2 gelatin sheets
• 30 gr sugar
• 1 egg
• 90 gr butter diced

Neutral topping

• 75 gr water
• 75 gr sugar
• 1 gelatin sheet

Equipment

• Pastry bag
• Log mold or cake mold

Instructions

 

Dacquoise with almonds and lime zest

• Beat the egg whites and add the caster sugar in one go as soon as they are firm.
• Combine the almond powder and sugar in a large bowl and fold in the whipped eggs.
• Add the lime zest.
• Fill the pastry bag.
• Preheat the oven to 180 ° C.
• On a sheet of baking paper, trace the outline of the mold in pencil then fill the mold by making lines with the pastry bag.
• Sprinkle with icing sugar.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes.
• Serve immediately out of the oven on a rack to prevent the dacquoise from softening as it cools.

Lime mousse

• Squeeze the limes.
• Rehydrate the gelatin sheets by dipping them in a bowl of ice water.
• Heat the lemon juice with the zest of a lime.
• At the first broths, remove from heat.
• Add the gelatin sheets, stir until melted and set aside.
• Whip the liquid cream into whipped cream.
• Gradually incorporate the lemon juice which will have cooled a little.

Mounting

• Fill the log mold with the mousse.
• Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for 2-3 hours until the foam has set.

Creamy mango

• Finely mix the mango flesh.
• Heat up.
• Blanch the egg with the sugar (mix together).
• Pour in the mango mixture and mix.
• Put on low heat, until the mixture thickens.
• Add the butter.
• Rehydrate the gelatin sheets by soaking them in ice water.
• Wring out the leaves and dissolve them in the mango mixture after removing it from the heat.

Mounting

• Take the log out of the fridge.
• Using a large spoon, scoop out to add the mango insert.
• Pour the insert once it has cooled (so as not to melt your log)
• Place the dacquoise and leave in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Neutral topping

• Rehydrate the gelatin by dipping the leaf in a bowl of ice water.
• Bring the water to a boil with the sugar.
• Remove from the heat and add the gelatin.
• Let cool, stirring regularly so that the topping is not too solid (and therefore will not be able to serve as a topping) but not too hot (so as not to melt the log)
• Unmold the log. Place on a wire rack over a drip pan (to collect the topping that will flow).
• Cover the log with the neutral glaze

Tips and tricks

In this section you will find some tips and tricks that will allow you to make this delicious Bavarian lime log with ease and without stress.

• With the extra dacquoises, make other biscuits that you can serve with tea and / or coffee at the end of the meal.
• In order for the log to come off well, you can line your mold with cling film or parchment paper, however it may not be a very nice shape anymore.
• Otherwise you can freeze it rather than putting it in the fridge. It will not only be easier to unmold. Then it will withstand a neutral glaze that is still a little warm very well. The downside is that you won’t be able to refreeze leftovers.
• To take advantage of D-Day, you can prepare your log a few days in advance and then freeze it. We’ll take it out the night before and let it thaw in the fridge.
• Accompany this log with a little sparkling wine or a glass of champagne (for adults of course), it will only be tastier.
• You can also omit the mango cream if too tiring. It will also be delicious like that. Simplicity is sometimes good.
• To make your christmas log cake look fancy you can sprinkle with crumbled dried fruits or candied fruits or place on top of it some meringue mushroom.

My Christmas Stories

As a kid, I have always had such kind of Christmas cake. My mother was a big fan of Chocolate Christmas Yule Log cake. And me, well I love very much anything fresh with fruits, mousse or sorbet are for me the best. However I love chestnut cream. So anything with chestnut cream will by fine too.

Most of the time for Christmas eve, we were just the four of us, my mum, my sister and my brother and we were eating a seafood platter and foie gras in front of an animated movie. For dessert, we had one or two beautiful cakes and then we could open our Christmas presents before going to bed. At the beginning I was distracting my little brother and sis (we have 10 and 7 years difference) while my mum was placing all the presents under the Christmas tree. And then they got bigger, and we were exchanging gifts drinking some champagne. 

My mother always make Christmas look magical. I think I believed to Santa till I was 8 to 10 years old. She was telling me, of course the parents are buying the gift and they use your list to do so but one, only one gift is from Santa, just for you. 

Growing up, she was hiding the gifts so well, we couldn’t found them and it kept alive this magic for years.

When I was spending Christmas with my father it was completely different. We were sometimes celebrating at my grand-parents place, full of people. With my aunt, cousins, etc… We were having a very long and terrific dinner, and at some point my aunt where taking all the kids in a separate room where she was reading and telling us the best christmas stories.

And after a while… My father or another adult was running into the room to tell us that Christmas Santa was just here and that he brought so many presents for us. We were following him and then we were discovering the living room full of gifts for everybody. So many that we haven’t had space to walk anymore. 

Christmas was some of the best memories of my life and I hope I could share with my daughter some of those as well. That she can enjoy Christmas and dream !