Yule Log

For a friend's Christmas do, I was thinking of making a Swiss Roll. Ambitious, since I never made one before, and the possibilities of failing - cracks in the cake - is so high! After a lot of though, I decided why not make a yule log? It is that time of the year, and it is basically a chocolate swiss roll with icing on top. 

This turned out to be a great decision given that the cake comprised a few too many cracks. I'm not sure what when wrong, but I could possibly attribute it to first the cake not being light and fluffy enough because I found out that my electric whisk has turned hazardous and had to resort in manual whisking, which was clearly not effective enough. And secondly to my cake tin which may have been a little too long resulting in a thicker and short cake, thus harder to roll. However, the heavenly chocolate ganache covered it and made it look absolutely divine! So all was good.

I used the recipe from BBC which I found to be very concise and simple to follow. It was a hit with the cake being wiped clean off the plate. I am really pleased how it turned out and look forward to making it again and improving. The chocolate ganache was not too sweet and neither was the cream. Further, the cake was a good slice of chocolate cake, albeit mine being a little bit more dense than what it should have been. I would definitely highly recommend anyone to attempt this for a dinner party, especially since the chocolate ganache really acts as a saving grace, and it is such a crowd pleaser. 

Recipe: 

Chocolate Sponge

4 large eggs

100g caster sugar

65g self-raising flour

40g cocoa powder

Chocolate ganache topping

300ml pint double cream

300g dark chocolate

Cream Filling

300ml double cream, whipped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Lightly grease Swiss roll tin with non-stick paper, make sure you push it into the corners.

2. For the sponge, whisk eggs and sugar in a large bowl until it is pale, light and frothy. It should enlarge until approximately triple in size. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder, mixing it using a spatula to avoid beating out the air.

3. Pour mixture into the tin and bake for 8-10 minutes.

4. After the cake is baked, place it on a baking paper bigger than the Swiss roll tin. Dust with icing sugar and carefully invert the cake onto the paper and remove the bottom lining piece of paper.

5. Cut a score mark 2.5cm along one of the longer edges. Start rolling with the paper inside and sit it on its outside edge to cool.

6. Meanwhile, get started on the ganache topping by heating up the cream. Remove it from the heat and add the chocolate mixing it until the chocolate is completely combined and melted. Cool to room temperature and store it in the fridge.

7. Unroll the Swiss roll and remove the paper. Spread the whipped cream on top and re-roll tightly. Cut a quarter of the cake off from the end on the diagonal. Transfer the large piece of cake to a serving plate and angle the cut end to  make a branch.

8. Spread the chocolate icing on the Swiss roll and use a knife or fork to create a bark tree pattern. You can choose to cover up the ends of the cake or leave them as they are.

9. The recipe calls for dusting with icing sugar, but I don't mind foregoing this as the icing sugar dissolves very quickly into the icing. So it stays as a decoration for only a very short period of time.

I had a good time making this cake and an even better time eating it. People were impressed and it certainly is a good addition to any Christmas table. Go get yourself some chocolate, flour, eggs and sugar and get starting on this Yule Log! You will not be disappointed.

Good WIll. Hunting. for a life?

I don't know how to be a friend. Especially not when we don't have compulsory schedules we all have to adhere to - college classes - which makes me scared of what might happen after all this ends. I don't know how to be a good friend. Because without constant contact, it is extremely hard for me to pick up a hello at you and run right through with it.

I last wrote in March, and a lot of have passed since then and now. I went on exchange to Italy, hated it then loved it then didn't want to leave, then left. Went home, started an internship, left with mixed feelings. Stayed at home for a whole month battling internal scars, and here I am back in my little northern snowball.

Perhaps I didn't think it possible to be anymore fickle than I was, but I sure am now, particularly when the timing for decision making is at its utmost importance. Additionally, the fear of failure and inferiority is weighing my whole soul down. Repeatedly my parents are telling me that the bar of expectations I have imagined them to set is exactly that - imaginary. For they couldn't care less what I do after this year, as long as I am happy. I find it hard to reconcile with that truth, given that if all I wanted to be was happy, my choices may have been very different from what they were. And even as the words roll through my throat and out of my tongue, I find it hard to digest that I can't.

My situation now is that postgraduate studies is in consideration, though I feel I would much prefer to take a year out instead of jumping straight into it. That in itself presents a problem as getting a job isn't the easiest thing to do here. Not when you have visa requirements and every other person is eyeing the same thing as you. It could have been easier if my hate for the cold overcame all other feelings, but my theory that it takes 2 years for me to start loving a place seems to be coming true as I mean less and less when I say things like "I hate Durham", because I really don't anymore. Not even the cold, and that is huge.

It is odd that I can be so attached to my own emotions and so emotionally unattached to the rest of the world. Why it feels so difficult to return a text message or some other form of social media connection is beyond me. Sometimes I feel like I could live my days alone in a hut on an island somewhere and be perfectly fine. And I know that I think too much but there is nothing I can do about it, it is inherently who I am to overthink things. But I am learning how to deal with my thoughts. For one, I have decided to cut the negativity. Success is yet to be near unity but I'm trying. I guess the next thing for me would be to change the way I view things.

It is funny how things seem so different with a deadline. I can practically count the number of weeks I have left here. I am torn between wanting a life back home and enjoying the way things are as I have come to love right here. And the possibilities stretch and endless road, I'm not sure whether I should keep poking my nose around things without direction or if I should start following some sort of structure towards the way I live.

But I will never be able to string words so beautifully as you do. And my fingers will never flow so effortlessly on the keyboard like you, all the fingerboard. My strokes will never be as divine as yours. My upper bound will always be less than yours. My hips a little wider, I'll never be taller, sharper, wittier... I can't beat myself up for things that are not worth feeling guilty over.