Looking for a dessert for Christmas? Why not make a raspberry log roll? This recipe is easy to make and perfect for all sweet-toothed gourmets!

A log is always a complex exercise. Most often, it's a blend of several preparations. The classics are a sponge or rollable cake, a cream filling and an icing or decoration.

The sponge cake

Sponge cake is a basic pastry recipe and can be found in a variety of preparations, from the Neapolitan cake of your childhood to the Christmas log.

The recipe is really quite simple. All you need are eggs, sugar and flour. Mix the eggs with the sugar until the mixture triples in volume, then fold in the flour. Once the mixture is homogeneous, simply pour onto a baking tray and place in the oven.

It does, however, require a little delicacy and precision for a log. The difficulty lies in having a sponge cake strong enough to be rolled without breaking.

A tip for this is to place your sponge cake on a damp tea towel while it's still warm, and then roll it immediately in the towel, leaving it to cool slightly. If the sponge is completely cooled, it often becomes brittle and rolling may be impossible.

And if your baking tray is too small, pay attention to the thickness of your sponge cake. If you pour in too much batter and end up with a thick sponge cake, it will also be harder to roll.

The filling for my raspberry log roulade

For the filling, there are many possibilities. Here we use a white chocolate ganache. Generally speaking, we aim for a relatively solid filling, in the chocolate praline log I use a chocolate mousse, for example. If your filling is too liquid, you'll have trouble assembling the log.

I add real raspberries to the ganache. It adds texture and a second element to the recipe. Otherwise, it would just be a white chocolate log, and that might be a bit nauseating.

I also wanted to add a heart of strawberry jam. I thought it added a little something extra. I used strawberry because I didn't have any raspberry, but raspberry jam would work too. However, this jam is optional.

Decoration

A sponge cake isn't necessarily very aesthetic. Especially if you've had trouble making it, as it may have small holes or imperfections. To make it even prettier, we're going to decorate the log.

For this raspberry log, the decoration is very simple. We'll use the same ganache as for the filling, plus fresh raspberries.

It's as simple as that. You can also sprinkle with a little powdered sugar. It looks like snow, perfect for the Christmas spirit.

The ganache can be smoothed or textured. To do this, use a maryse, a brush or even a fork to create the desired texture on the log. I personally used a brush.

Any extras?

If you'd like to go one step further. You can also prepare a raspberry coulis to pour over the log. You can also add meringues to decorate the log, adding an interesting crunch. But beware of excessive sugar.

Get cooking!