A boozy chocolate log filled with a light and mousse-like whipped dark chocolate ganache. The rich chocolate flavour is enhanced by a glug or two of chocolate liqueur. It’s a flourless sponge, so the cake is naturally gluten-free. Just perfect for the Christmas table or entertaining over the festive period.
The name my blog started life off with might assume that I know what I’m doing when it comes to chocolate logs, even that I’m something of an expert. Well I wasn’t – until now. Past efforts at rolling have been unsuccessful to say the least, as can be testified by my Liskeard Mess and the various other attempts I’ve made at a roulade.
I’ve watched Mary Berry and any number of others roll with great success. I’ve tried a variety of techniques, but all to no avail. My rolls crack hideously. They’ve even been known to disintegrate entirely. My least disastrous attempt was this matcha chocolate roll.
Thus, when Thorntons asked me recently if I would make a chocolate log, my heart gave a little tremble.
Thorntons Chocolate Liqueur
Now it just so happened that Thorntons sent me one of the most beautifully packaged parcels I’ve received in a long time. A sturdy but elegant black box contained a newly designed 70cl bottle of Thorntons Chocolate Liqueur, dressed in black and hot fuchsia pink.
It was accompanied by two special Thorntons chocolate liqueur glasses wrapped in matching paper and a £10 supermarket voucher nestled in a bed of wood straw.
The colour scheme was eye catching indeed and the presentation lifted my spirits – so to speak. The premise was to create a recipe using the liqueur. Ding!
With chocolate logs very much on my brain, my first thought was to incorporate the liqueur into the ganache that I’d planned to fill my log with and the thought stuck.
But first, I had to try the chocolate liqueur. CT was not going to pass this opportunity up either. We had a glass over ice followed by a glass neat. We could have gone on, it was so moreish, but I had to apply the brakes before we became inebriated.
More Than Just A Drink
Thorntons master chocolatier, Keith Hurdman developed this liqueur and launched it in 2011. It’s a vodka based drink with cream and West African cocoa. It’s hard to think of a better combination than cream, chocolate and alcohol. And because vodka does not have a strong taste of its own, the chocolate and cream are allowed to speak for themselves.
At 17% volume, this is quite a strong drink, so a little goes a long way. It isn’t quite as dark or as rich as the Bailey’s Chocolat Luxe, but it’s nevertheless delicious. And at £13.99, this is an affordable treat.
If you’re able to restrain yourself from drinking this chocolate liqueur just as it is, there are any number of ways you could use it. The bottle came with a recipe card for various cocktails, drinks and desserts. I haven’t tried any of them yet, but I think I’m going to have to, as some of them sound very tempting indeed.
With the cold weather now upon us, a hot chocolate with a slug of this could be just the thing after a bracing walk. How about a Thorntons Chocolatini or a Thorntons White Russian to indulge and delight your guests. As for the recipe for Thorntons fondant, it has my name written all over it.
Boozy Chocolate Log
Well, maybe practice makes perfect, maybe I just got lucky or maybe the glass of Thornton’s liqueur I sipped whilst baking played its part. Yes, the log sported a few minor cracks. But the sponge held together well and I was marginally pleased with the result. I was very pleased with the taste and texture of the chocolate log. Thank goodness for neatened ends.
The whipped ganache containing Thorntons Chocolate Liqueur is, though I say it myself, sublime. It’s light and moussy in texture with a rich chocolate flavour enhanced by the presence of the liqueur. It’s a perfect match for the chocolate log and I’m now wondering why I’ve never tried anything like this before.
The ganache is an ideal recipe for the festive season. You can use it to fill or top any number of cakes and biscuits. I will most certainly make it again.
WARNING If you feel tempted to eat the ivy, please don’t. It’s poisonous and is used in the photos for decorative reasons only.
Other Boozy Chocolate Recipes You Might Like
- Almond thumbprint cookies with amaretto ganache
- Boozy chocolate recipe collection
- Chocolate lavender parfait (frozen)
- Chocolate walnut torte squares
- Easy chocolate sauce (vegan)
- Sherry chocolate hazelnut cake
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this boozy chocolate log, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share a photo on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot it.
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If you’d like more christmas recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.
Choclette x
Boozy Chocolate Log. PIN IT.
Boozy Chocolate Log – The Recipe
Boozy Chocolate Log
Equipment
Ingredients
Whipped Chocolate Ganache
- 50 g dark chocolate broken into pieces (I used 72%)
- 2 tbsp chocolate cream liqueur (I used Thorntons Chocolate Liqueur)
- 100 ml double cream (heavy cream)
Chocolate Sponge
- 3 large eggs separated (I used duck eggs)
- 75 g golden caster sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar or caster sugar for coating
- 30 g cocoa powder
Instructions
Whipped Chocolate Ganache
- Melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of hot, but not boiling water. Remove from the heat once melted.50 g dark chocolate
- Stir in the liqueur.2 tbsp chocolate cream liqueur
- Stir in the cream until just incorporated.100 ml double cream (heavy cream)
- Leave to cool in the fridge for half an hour whilst you get on with making the sponge.
- Whip the ganache until light and moussy. You can do this with a hand whisk or electric beaters.
Chocolate Sponge
- Set the oven to 180℃ (350℉, Gas 4)
- Whisk the eggs whites in a bowl with electric beaters until stiff. Or use a stand mixer.3 large eggs
- In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla extract for a minute or so until the yolks are pale.75 g golden caster sugar, ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Sift in the cocoa powder and carefully fold it in.30 g cocoa powder
- Fold in the egg white until just incorporated, then scrape the mixture into a 20 x 30 cm Swiss roll tin lined with baking paper.
- Bake for 20 minutes in the middle of the oven or until the sponge is well risen and the top bouncy when pressed. Leave in the tin to cool.
- Scatter the sugar over a clean piece of baking parchment. Turn the sponge out onto the paper then peel off the backing paper.1 tbsp vanilla sugar
- Spread the ganache evenly over the sponge. Cut half way through the sponge, 1 cm in on the narrow end to help start the roll. Then using the sugar covered paper to help, roll the sponge up as carefully as you can.
- Cut about ½ cm off either end to neaten if desired – cook's perks.
- Dust with more vanilla sugar if needed.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
As I was secretly, or maybe not so secretly, pleased with this chocolate log, especially the whipped dark boozy chocolate ganache, I’m using it as my entry for this month’s We Should Cocoa where alcohol is the special ingredient.
I am also submitting this to Lets Cook Christmas Party Food over at Simply Food.
Additionally, I’m sending this off to Javelin Warrior for his Made With Love Mondays.
Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker picked a very tricky letter for Alphabakes this month. But luckily, as it’s December, she’s letting us get away with X for xmas. Hooray. I am thus sending in my Xmas Chocolate Log.
I’m sending the bottom photo off to No Croutons Required with Jac of Tinned Tomatoes who is looking for Festive Photos this month.
Well it doesn’t get more Christmassy than a Chocolate Log, especially a boozy one, so I am submitting this to Calendar Cakes where the theme this month is Jingle Bell Rocks. DollyBakes and Laura Loves Cakes co-host this even.
Thorntons sent me a bottle of Thorntons Chocolate Liqueur and a supermarket voucher in order to create a recipe. I was not required to write a positive review and as always, all opinions are my own.
Sathya Priya says
These logs looks amazing .You designed it so well ,I am not aware of liquor types and i am excited to learn it in ur blog .
Rachel Cotterill says
Mmm, that looks amazing. I’m still contemplating boozy options for this month’s we should cocoa 🙂
prwilson says
Chocolate Log is great at Christmas
The KitchenMaid says
This is very beautiful, though I must say the ivy on the top gives me conniptions. If you’ve dug as much ivy as I have out of your garden, you’ll understand why! I have chosen the worst time of the year to abstain from large amounts of chocolate and alcohol, but surely a little nip of that choc liqueur would be medicinal?
Hazel - Chicken in a Cherry Sauce says
This sounds absolutely fabulous! I always love the addition of alcohol to food! I’m intrigued by the chocolate liqueur… is it particularly sweet? I bought my dad some chocolate wine back in June and it smelt very chocolately and delicious but it was so sickly sweet that we couldn’t bear to drink it!
Choclette says
Well yes, it is a bit sweet, but it is only meant to be drunk in small quantities and as it’s quite strong, the sweetness is offset somewhat. Neither CT or I are fans of really sweet stuff, but we liked this.
Galina Varese says
Your chocolate roulade looks fantastic! I bet it tasted heavenly
Dave Jackson says
looks tasty and would go down nice with a coffee or two
belleau kitchen says
how did I miss this stunner!… what a beauty and LOVE the boozy filling… i’m coming over for a slice of this beauty – watch out, here I come!
anna @ annamayeveryday says
Looks delicious, I usually use melted chocolate in my roulades but interested to try this way with cocoa. Love the sound of the ganache!
Maggie says
Oh this looks lovely – Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a chocolate roulade.
celia says
Goodness, that Thornton’s liqueur looks appealing! And I think you always do a great job with logs and this one is no exception – love the boozy ganache filling! I wish you were here, I have the perfect cake board for that log… 😀
Choclette says
Thank you Celia, you are always so encouraging. You’re perfect cake board has me intrigued.
Baking Addict says
I’ve never made a yule log before and I’ve been toying with the idea for this year. I love the sound of the ganache and look of your log – beautiful! Perfect for Xmas and AlphaBakes, thanks for entering.
Alida says
I love the way you have presented this! And this is also perfect for your blog’s name 🙂
You are the queen of chocolate Choclette!
Javelin Warrior says
I’ve only sampled on version of chocolate liquor and it was from Godiva. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with that version but I love the idea of working it into a roll like this! This is beautiful, Choclette and sound sound perfect for the holidays…
Nayna Kanabar says
This looks so yum. perfect for the christmas party.Thankyou for sending it to Lets cook christmas party food event at simply.food.
Pam says
It looks decadent and delicious.
Susan Lindquist says
Holy smokes! Just lovely! I have always wanted to make a Buche de Noel with all the fancy meringue mushrooms and other doodads, but it just seems an insurmountable achievement! You’ve inspired me to try!
Johanna GGG says
I feel your pain on roulades – have made very few but rolling is not my strong point – drinking chocolate liqueur out of stylish glasses in a northern winter is definitely something I think I could do well 🙂 And I would love to taste your beautiful roulade – I do that well too 🙂
Kath says
Ooh Choc, that looks and sounds heavenly. You should now be proud of your roulade prowess.
sonia says
Oh, heavens. That looks AMAZING. I’ve never made a roulade and am terrified to. But this recipe just might break the reluctance…
Foodycat says
I’m so impressed that you have even attempted roulades! They terrify me.
Dan says
Looks tasty 🙂