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Gluten Free Chocolate Cherry Yule Log Recipe

It has become known as a yule log, a gigantic swiss roll made of chocolate and enjoyed around the holiday season!

This year I took my gluten free cherry cordial recipe and turned it into a gluten free YULE LOG recipe!

My Keto Cherry Cordials are great on their own so I knew the flavors would blend well with my very popular chocolate buttercream frosting recipe.

For this gluten-free yule log recipe I used my chocolate cake recipe instead of the vanilla used in the Keto Cherry Cordial one.

Oh my it is the most amazing Bûche de noël with the black cherry flavor in the cake and the filling!

It is a little different, but will be a great tradition to add to your celebration each year!

This one is also gluten free so it doesn’t leave anyone out of dessert time, even if you have celiac disease!

Your winter solstice celebrations will not be complete without this chocolate sponge cake with chocolate icing to adorn your plates for the occasion!

I have made a Keto Chocolate Syrup Swiss Roll Cake here and a Keto Strawberry Short Cake Roll here that uses the same idea of a yule log cake, just different flavors of cake and filling.

Once you get down how to make a rolled cake, it is easy to come up with new and exciting ideas like this one!

Ingredients you will need:

• Pure Pumpkin Puree
• Smooth Almond Butter
• Eggs
• Granulated Monkfruit Sweetener
• Cocoa Powder
• Flaxseed Meal (ground flaxseed)
• Vanilla Extract
• Softened Butter
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda
• Sugar Free Black Cherry Jel
• Dark Cherries
• Whipping Cream
• Cream Cheese

Let’s make the cake!

Preheat your oven to 375 F and get out a small jelly roll pan or baking sheet with a lip, approximately 10 inches x 15 inches.

Line your pan with parchment paper and set aside.

With an electric hand mixer or stand mixer start by mixing up the wet ingredients first.

I go down the list from top to bottom so I do not forget any of the ingredients.

In a large bowl of a stand mixer, mix the pumpkin puree, almond butter, egg and vanilla extract.

Now in a small separate bowl, measure out all of your dry ingredients.

Gently whisk them together so when you add to the batter there are no clumps.

Now add the mixed dry ingredients to the main large mixing bowl and mix well.

The cake batter should be smooth with only a few minimal lumps.

Now pour the finished cake mixture into your prepared pan and spread it evenly.

Bake for 20 minutes until toothpick tested clean.

Now the first step in getting your Buche de Noel cake made!

Now that your cake is baked, you need to allow time for it to cool just a few minutes.

After a couple of minutes, you want to get your cake onto a clean tea towel so you can begin rolling it up.

You will initially roll it up while it is still warm so it takes on the log shape we are looking for without cracking.

The best way I have found to do this is to place your towel over the cake, then taking a cutting board, other large flat bottomed pan or wire rack, place that over the towel.

By pressing the pan to the baking tray your chocolate yule log cake is in, then turning upside down in one quick motion works best.

Now when you pull the original pan off you will have the underside of your cake with baking paper stuck to it.

Gently working from one side, start peeling the paper away.

Now with the narrow end, slowly pull the towel up and tuck over the end of the cake and slowly start rolling it up.

Just take your time curling it up to roll.

Once you get started, the rest is easy!

It will produce a large log that needs to rest until the cake cools to room temperature.

In the mean time, make the filling as it needs to sit in the fridge for a bit to set.

Let’s make the filling!

In a small saucepan, cook cherries with water until they can easily be mashed.

This should take about 5 minutes over medium heat

Now push the cherries through a sieve that is placed over a bowl.

Whisk in the remaining amount of the Simply Delish Black Cherry Jel into the cherry puree.

Put this mixture into a small bowl and chill for 10 minutes

Once it is cooled down then with an electric whisk or hand mixer, whip up the cherry mixture with the softened cream cheese and powdered erythritol at high speed until you have soft peaks.

Now that the cake roll is cooled, unroll it carefully and spread the cherry cream mixture all over it starting at the short end working your way around.

In order to get it evenly spread, plop the mixture at each corner and a few in the middle then connect the plops.

This helps to prevent pulling at the cake which may cause holes.

At this point, if it cracks a little, do not stress, it will all come together in the end!

The last step is to wrap it all in plastic wrap.

I took a large piece of plastic wrap and laid it over the cake log then pressed it and molded it to the sides.

Once that was done, slowly roll it to one side feeding the plastic wrap around as you roll.

At this point I put it into a recycled bread bag, or any airtight container will do.

It needs to sit overnight before proceeding with the frosting.

Lets make the chocolate buttercream frosting!

This is a chocolate version of The Best Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe of mine!

Here it is on my Keto Mocha Protein Cupcakes!

It is decadent and so amazing!

Although I use a little cream cheese, it is not a cream cheese frosting.

The cream cheese is only there for stabilization only.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a medium bowl with an electric hand whisk, whip up the softened butter, softened cream cheese and coconut oil.

Once they have all blended together and are one color, add in the confectioners erythritol, or sugar free powdered sugar and mix well.

Melt 1/4 cup sugar free chocolate chips over low heat just until melted.

You want a few chips still formed.

Take it off the heat and whisk until it is melted and smooth.

Now add to the mixing bowl and mix well until it has lightened and is super fluffy and creamy!

If for some reason it is too dry, add in 1 tbsp almond milk.

Now for the fun part!

I love frosting any kind of cake because then I am that much closer to eating some!

Get your cake roll out of the fridge and place it on a serving plate that you want to have it displayed on.

I carefully unwrap the bottom, gently set it on the platter then unwrap the rest of the way.

With a small offset spatula, start adding the frosting to the sides in sections.

I add it to the side and push up and lengthwise.

With the next bit of frosting, add it just a little away from the last place you spread it out.

Put a plop of frosting at the end then start working the frosting places together keeping a lengthwise stroke to help mimic an actual yule log.

After you have all of the remaining frosting spread on the top of the cake, now its time to add some flair.

I take a fork and in short strokes, rake it over the top layer of the frosting to make lines that look like wood grain and texture.

To serve, cut into slices approximately 2 inches thick.

I start at the end, then cut pieces down the yule log.

On the ends I do it in 2 half circles to mimic the cut end of the wooden log.

Keep any leftovers tightly covered in the fridge.

To serve, let it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes before serving so the frosting has time to soften.

• If you cannot have flaxseed for some reason, you can alternately add in 1 tsp of xanthan gum to the batter.
• You can make this dairy free by subbing in palm shortening or vegan butter for the butter called for in the frosting recipe and the cake with the same results!
• There is a swiss roll tin mold that you could use for this instead of rolling it up with the filling. I have not tried it with this recipe though.
• Add an additional forest feel to the platter by making meringue mushrooms to place around the cake.
• You can add even more chocolate flavor to this by drizzling chocolate ganache over the top of the frosting.
• If you are not worried about the cake being low carb, just replace the confectioners erythritol with regular confectioners’ sugar.