Text & Photography: Valériane Gréban - Finalist of the "Best Patissier" 2018

The Charles Liégeois Yule Log

Vanilla madeleine biscuit base

  • 45g butter 
  • 35g eggs 
  • 30g sugar 
  • 7g acacia honey 
  • 45g flour 
  • 2g baking powder 
  • vanilla extract
  • fleur de sel 
  • 15g whole milk

Make brown butter by melting it slowly on medium heat until it changes colour. Set aside for later. 
Whisk the egg with the sugar and honey in a bowl. 
Sift the flour and add to the bowl, along with the baking powder. Next, add the fleur de sel and the vanilla extract. 
Add the milk, and finally, add the brown butter at room temperature. 
Roll out the dough on a baking tray (about 1cm thick) and bake for 10 minutes at 170°C. 
Once it has cooled down, cut to the size of the mould leaving 1cm of space on each side, and cover with the coffee crunch. 

Coffee crunch

  • 20g milk chocolate 
  • 40g coffee-flavoured praline paste
  • 15g feuilletine flakes

Melt the chocolate and add the praline paste and the feuilletine flakes. 
Spread over the madeleine biscuit base and store in the fridge until assembly.

Charles Liégeois coffee bean praline

  • 150g blanched almonds 
  • 75g sugar 
  • 25g Charles Liégeois coffee beans

Roast the coffee beans and the almonds for 25 minutes at 160°C.  
Make dry caramel using the sugar. Pour onto a baking tray and let it cool. 
Combine the two elements and mix until you obtain an even paste.

Charles Liégeois coffee crémeux

  • 300g cream 
  • 50g Charles Liégeois coffee beans
  • 50g egg yolks 
  • 20g sugar 
  • 105g milk chocolate 
  • 2.5g gelatine (or 17.5g gelatine mass)

Bring the cream and coffee beans to a simmer. When the mixture starts boiling, remove from heat and cover. After allowing the mixture to infuse for 15 minutes, strain well. 
Weigh the infused cream to have 240g. 
Whisk the egg yolks with sugar, then add the infused cream to the mixture. Return to the heat and bring it to a boil no hotter than 83°C. 
Take the mixture off the heat and pour it over the milk chocolate. Add the gelatine mass or hydrated gelatine and mix well. 
Add a roughly 1cm-thick layer of the coffee praline to an insert mould and freeze. 
Once the praline has frozen, add a layer of the coffee crémeux on top and return to the freezer.

Whipped vanilla-mascarpone ganache

  • 125g + 200g cream 
  • vanilla 
  • 2.7g gelatine 
  • 80g white chocolate 
  • 30g mascarpone

Heat and infuse 125g of cream with vanilla. 
Remove from heat, add the hydrated gelatine and pour over the already-melted white chocolate. 
Mix 200g of cream with mascarpone and keep in the fridge for 6 hours. 
Whip the ganache, but not too much. Pour into to a bigger insert mould. In the middle, place the frozen praline and coffee crémeux filling. Cover with the whipped ganache and store in the freezer for at least 3 hours before assembly.

Milk chocolate and coffee mousse

  • 6.75g gelatine 
  • 95g milk 
  • 95g cream + 225g cream
  • 40g Charles Liégeois coffee beans
  • 85g egg yolks 
  • 20g sugar 
  • 185g milk chocolate

Hydrate the gelatine.
Heat the milk with 95g of cream and infuse the mixture with the coffee beans by covering for 20 minutes. Next, strain the mixture thoroughly. 
Whisk the egg yolks with sugar and add the warm infused cream. Return the mixture to the heat and bring to a boil. 
Remove from the heat and pour it over the milk chocolate and the hydrated gelatine. Mix well. 
Whisk 225g of cream and combine when the mixture is 35-40°C. Use this mixture immediately for assembly.

Assembly:
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Pipe the chocolate mousse, covering 1/3rd of the mould’s thickness. Tap the mould against the cooking platform to get rid of any air bubbles. Place the filling (whipped ganache, praline and fudge) and pipe some more mousse on top. Finally, add the madeleine biscuit covered with coffee crunch. Keep in the freezer for at least 12 hours. Remove from the mould and cover with icing sugar.