Healthier Yule Log with Aduna Super-Cacao powder

Those who know me well know just how much I dislike the festive season. The chaos, the noise, the busy-ness, the stress of presents - I'd rather just hide away from it all. But the one thing I do enjoy about Christmas, is that the change from our normal routine means that I do tend to find some time to get into the kitchen and bake a festive recipe or two.

And as all bloggers will know, the festive season starts early online whether it's Christmas present buying guides, Christmas craft preparations or Christmas recipes. So when Aduna sent me a pot of their Super-Cacao powder to use in a recipe - it was a festive recipe that came to mind.

Cacao powder versus Cocoa powder

First things first...for many years I lived in complete ignorance of the difference between cacao powder and cocoa powder. I simply thought that it was a mis-spelling of the word cocoa each time I came across it or that it was just an alternative name for cocoa powder.

It was only when I started to get into healthy eating that I decided to find out the difference. And there is a difference...Aduna explain it brilliantly on their website here. In short, Cacao is unprocessed and not roasted at high temperatures like Cocoa is and so maintains lots of the amazing health benefits.

With food labelling standards being so strict, food companies cannot make health claims lightly. There are strict rules around any claims being backed up with scientific evidence which is why it is particularity brilliant that "Aduna Super-Cacao is the first cacao on the market that is scientifically proven to support heart health. It is one of only a handful of foods in the world to carry a health claim from the European Food Safety Authority" 

Again you can read more about that here. I've long been a fan of Aduna products (they also have an awesome baobab powder and moringa powder too). It's not just their products that are of such great quality that I love, but they also care about the social impact of what they do. In addition, I've found their customer service to be brilliant with a personalised note arriving with my orders in the past and emails responded to promptly when I've had a query about an order. And I haven't even mentioned the pretty packaging yet! (It's pretty!)

So with all the health benefits of Aduna's Super-Cacao powder, I've decided to give the festive Yule Log a bit of a revamp with some healthier ingredients. It's still cake so go easy on it but there's no refined sugar here and a delicious cashew cream replaces the traditional buttercream.

Ingredients for Yule Log:
3 eggs (separate the yolks from the whites - you'll need both)
50g coconut blossom nectar
25g Aduna Super-Cacao Powder
A pinch of Vanilla powder
Frylight spray for greasing tin.

Ingredients for cashew cream 'frosting' and filling:
200g cashews
500ml water
Himalayan pink salt
130ml Almond milk

For 'vanilla' cashew cream filling you will need:
80g of cashew cream (made as above)
Pinch of Vanilla powder
5g honey
8g coconut oil

For 'chocolate' cashew cream frosting you will need:
Remaining cashew cream (made as above)
3 tsp Aduna Super-Cacao powder
1 tsp maca powder
10g honey
pinch of vanilla powder

For the edible 'pine cones':
2 tsp Aduna Super-Cacao Powder
1 tsp lucuma powder
1 tsp maca powder
toasted flaked almonds and / or pumpkin seeds
1 heaped tsp coconut oil
Squeeze of honey

To decorate:
dessicated coconut
Rosemary or other edible leaves

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks using a stand or hand mixer. Then add 15g of the coconut blossom nectar and whisk in. The egg whites will turn a light brown colour from the coconut blossom nectar.

2. Carefully transfer the egg white to another bowl whilst you then whisk together the egg yolks with the remaining 35g of coconut blossom nectar. This again will go a brownish colour but it's the texture you need to look out for. You want it to become slightly frothy like cappuccino foam.

3. Sift the Aduna Super-Cacao powder and a pinch of vanilla powder into the egg yolks and fold in.

4. Then gradually fold in the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Do this in stages to fully incorporate the egg whites without losing any of the air you've whisked into them.

5. Grease and line a baking tray. I used frylight spray to grease it then placed baking paper in it making cuts in the corners to get a neat corner fit. However, ideally you want some of the baking paper to hang over the edge to make it easier to remove once baked. I used an 8 inch x 8 inch square baking tray.

6. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and bake for 14 minutes.

7. Leave to cool slightly then turn out onto a second piece of baking paper.

8. Now make the cashew cream. You'll need to plan ahead to soak the cashews for 3-4 hours in advance or alternatively make the cashew cream and keep it covered in the fridge up to 4 or 5 days in advance. Soak 200g of cashews in 500ml of water with a generous sprinkle of himalayan salt for 3-4 hours. Then rinse well. Blitz them together with 130ml almond milk in a food processor until smooth - really really smooth.

9. Now take 80g of the cashew cream and place in a separate jug. To make your vanilla cashew cream, add 8g coconut oil, 5g honey (more if you like it sweeter) and a pinch of vanilla. Using a fork, beat these all together well.

10. To make your chocolate cashew cream, use the remaining 'plain' cashew cream. Keep it in the food processor, and add 3 tsp Aduna Super-Cacao powder, 1 tsp maca powder, 10g honey and pinch of vanilla powder. If you want it stronger/darker, add a little more cacao powder, if you want it less strong, add less. Ditto for sweetness - you might like more honey or other sweetener like maple syrup, date syrup etc.

11. Now it's assembly time! If your sponge needs trimming, use a sharp knife to trim the edges (keep any scraps to make 'branches' for your log). Then spread the vanilla cashew cream all over it. Using the baking paper that is underneath it to help you, carefully roll it into a log shape. I usually make a bigger yule log so this one didn't get quite as much of a swirl as I like but that doesn't matter. It may crack a bit and that's ok too as it will get covered with the chcolate cashew cream.

12. Shape any scraps into a branch and then cover the whole thing with the chocolate cashew cream frosting. Use a fork to make tree-like markings on it. 

13. The edible pinecones are made by mixing together all the ingredients except for the seeds and nuts. Then press roll the mixture into an oval ball shape and press in the flaked almonds or pumpkins seeds. having made a similar version before, I prefer how they look with the almonds but just wanted to experiment with the pumpkin seeds to see how that looks. Then decorate your Yule Log with a sprinkle of dessicated coconut 'snow' and some edible greenery like rosemary. 

 

Whilst I've gone with a festive theme here, you can actually make this log all year round (simply call it a roulade the rest of the year) and decorate with edible flowers in spring, summer berries in the summer and perhaps blackberries in autumn. 

If you want plenty of other recipe ideas to make using Aduna Super-Cacao powder, Aduna have a huge recipe library on their website with so many mouth-watering treats to make. 

Disclosure: Aduna kindly sent me a 100g pot of Super-Cacao powder for the purpose of review and recipe creation. All opinions remain my own honest opinions.