Looking for a creative idea for Christmas dinner? Annette van Ruitenburg, author of A Taste of Texel [De Smaak van Texel], shares another delicious recipe with you this month!

Texel-style chocolate Christmas cake

Chocolate log cake is a Christmas tradition in Belgium, France, and the southern part of the Netherlands. This recipe adds the flavours of Texel to this tradition using cranberries and spice cookies you can buy on the island at Novalishoeve or Bakker Timmer.

Ingredients

• 250 grams Texel chocolate
• 60 grams butter
• 2 egg yolks
• 30 grams finely granulated sugar
• 250 ml cream
• 150 grams Texel spice cookies, roughly crushed
• 1 teaspoon orange zest (be sure to wash the orange thoroughly before zesting)
• Plastic wrap

For the decoration

• 25 grams cranberries, either boiled or in jam (these can be bought at Landgoed de Bonte Belevenis, in the Den Burg)
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 50 grams grated bittersweet chocolate
• A few chocolate drops or flakes or real holly leaves (holly leaves must not be eaten)

Method

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water. Make sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. In the meantime, beat the egg yolks and combine them with the sugar into a pale mixture. In a separate bowl, beat the cream until it forms soft peaks when the beater is removed (the cream should not be whipped to hard-peak stage). Let the melted chocolate cool down a bit. Stir the egg mixture into the chocolate (if the chocolate is too hot the egg yolks will congeal), and then stir in the orange zest. Gently fold the beaten cream into the egg yolk mixture, and then fold in the crumbled spice cookies.

Sprinkle a piece of plastic wrap with some of the cocoa powder. Form the mixture into a log and wrap it up in the plastic wrap. Chill the log in the refrigerator for four hours.

Use a fork to create ‘bark’ on your chocolate log cake. Sprinkle the cake with the remainder of the cocoa and the grated chocolate. Give your cake the finishing touch by decorating it with the cranberries and real holly leaves.

Enjoy your cake!

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