substituted 1 pkg cream cheese + 1/3 cup sour cream for mascarpone, and added 1 tsp vanilla for filling.
I am sensitive to caffeine and I hate the flavor of alcohol so I replaced the coffee liquor with milk and cherry syrup. It came out delicious! No cracks either which is a surprise to me since this was my first cake roll. Chef John gives the best instructions!
I have made Yule Logs several times over the years and have struggled with a few cook book recipes and lesser on-line ones. This one is straight forward! The entertaining video reminded me of techniques from the years prior and gave me some new ones. This one is a keeper and one I will use in years to come!
I made this as written with the exception of coffee flavor. The cake cracked and broke badly but I was able to save it by spreading on the filling and rolling the cake up. The taste was wonderful and the frosting saved the look of the cake. I will make this again.
This guy is so pleasant to listen to encouraging. I am going to give this a go!
I made it as it was written except that I didn't have (could not find) mascarpone cheese so I substituted cream cheese and the buttercream was delicious. I'm not sure if there are differences in coffee liqueur as I could only find kahlua.:) It was pretty easy to make. But I'm glad I have made pumpkin rolls as I knew what to expect and have never made a Yule log before. I would let the cake cool for more than 15 min after it is rolled up as it was almost too warm to work with and then cracked as I re-rolled it with the buttercream frosting in. I think it made plenty of frosting but I didn't save the extra as I made it in advance and ended up using ganache to seal the two pieces together. It makes a lot of ganache. You could almost halve that amount unless you have plans for the extra. I made some little truffles as not to be wasteful. As far as flavor - this is a very rich cake! It was fun to make and if I want another Yule log for festivities this will be the recipe I use.
Sub ed a basic chocolate buttercream for the filling (didn t have marscapone on-hand) but will use the included filling recipe next bake. Was a definite hit!
Made this for Christmas and my husband loved it so much he wants this for his birthday! The buttercream and ganache were perfect; not too sweet. The addition of the mascarpone and Kaluha puts it over the top! Well done Chef John! A new tradition has been born!
I made this Yule Log for my family Christmas Eve party and it was a hit! This cake was delicious! It was gobbled up quickly and everyone loved it! I received many compliments on the look of it and how good it tasted. My ganache was a bit lighter than Chef John's because I had to whip it for a bit to get it to thicken up but it turned out fine because the cake was so rich. I left out the coffee and just replaced it with milk since I hate that flavor. This was so fun to make and I will definitely be making this again!
This cake is way too dense the filling and the ganache recipes are great though.