This Lemon Meringue Yule Log Cake or roulade consists of extremely moist and fluffy sponge cake filled with homemade lemon curd and mascarpone filling and covered with a delicious, toasted Italian meringue. It's a perfect option for Christmas Yule Log Cake, but it can be made throughout the year thanks to its refreshing and delicate taste.

Christmas Yule Log Cake is one of the traditions I love to keep as it presents such a beautiful dessert for the holidays. Even though this cake is originally made with chocolate filling ( check my Chocolate Yule Log Cake), this holiday season, I've decided to create a slight variation of that recipe as well, combining refreshing tones of lemon curd with the richness of mascarpone cream and of course, glorious, toasted Italian meringue.

Roulade cakes or swiss roll cakes are always fun to make, and this recipe, in particular, can be made all year round. The roulade consists of baking a sponge cake in a flat pan, then rolling it and filling it with a cream of your choice.

Secrets of a perfectly soft sponge cake 

A perfect sponge cake has a light, airy, and fluffy texture and comes in a pale color. To achieve such a result, you need to start whipping egg whites until soft but not firm yet, slowly adding ingredients like described in the recipe. It is essential to slowly add sugar so the eggs can beat properly in beautiful white peeks. The same goes for other ingredients - add yolks one at a time and sift the flour to avoid any lumps. Even though the sponge cake usually calls for eggs, sugar, and flour, we will add just a bit of sunflower oil for extra moisture and a pinch of baking powder for a slightly higher result.

how to make a homemade lemon curd

Lemon curd is easy to make, and you need four simple ingredients: lemons, sugar, eggs, and butter. With these four ingredients, you will get a delightful and tangy flavor with a fantastic, creamy texture. Lemon curd can be stored for a couple of days in the fridge and used for different recipes - scones, cakes, pancakes, and pies. To prevent any lumps, whisk the cream constantly until thickened. Once you get the desired texture, add in butter, whisk until melted, then cover with plastic wrap. In that way, your lemon curd will stay creamy and will not create a so-called "skin" on the top while cooling. For this recipe, I am mixing it with mascarpone cream for a richer and more creamy filling.

how to make a homemade lemon curd

Sometimes assembling a roulade cake can be intimidating as you don't want your beautiful sponge cake to break while rolling. The secret behind the perfect swiss roll cake is to roll the sponge cake while it's still warm and moist. All you need to do is take the sponge cake out of the oven once it is ready, cover it with a clean kitchen towel and flip the cake, so it's upside down. Gently remove the baking paper, and with the help of the kitchen cloth, roll the cake. Even though the cake is still warm, the kitchen cloth will act as a heat protector, so you will be able to do this without burning your fingers. 🙂 You can roll it on both the short and long sides, depending on the look you are going for, but if you are making a Yule log cake, roll the sponge cake on the longer side as we will be cutting one part later on for decoration. Leave it rolled with the kitchen towel until cooled completely. Once it's cooled, you can proceed with the filling and assembling of the cake. curd is easy to make, and you need four simple ingredients: lemons, sugar, eggs, and butter. With these four ingredients, you will get a delightful and tangy flavor with a fantastic, creamy texture. Lemon curd can be stored for a couple of days in the fridge and used for different recipes - scones, cakes, pancakes, and pies. To prevent any lumps, whisk the cream constantly until thickened. Once you get the desired texture, add in butter, whisk until melted, then cover with plastic wrap. In that way, your lemon curd will stay creamy and will not create a so-called "skin" on the top while cooling. For this recipe, I am mixing it with mascarpone cream for a richer and more creamy filling.

how to prepare the italian meringue

While sometimes preparing a meringue sounds terrifying, Italian meringue is really easy to follow, and the result is this silky, beautiful Meringue that you can use on top of your cake. If you haven't made a meringue before and unsure of the difference between Italian, French, and Swiss meringue, I highly recommend watching How to Make a Meringue with Erin McDowell. I love Erin and her easy ways of explaining baking techniques, so if you are in that kind of thing as well, I highly recommend her.
Italian Meringue is so silky, thick, and delicious, and perfect for covering the cakes as it is safe to eat due to mixing the egg whites with hot sugar syrup. It is made by cooking a sugar syrup, then adding that hot syrup to whipping egg whites. To have a perfectly whipped meringue, make sure to have a thermometer as it will be of enormous help while preparing the syrup. If you are going for a toasted meringue-like in the pictures, make sure to have a cooking torch. Every kitchen should have one, especially if you love meringue. Finishing off the cakes and pies with some toasted meringue is both delicious and beautiful to see, so I highly recommend you to try it out. The process of making a meringue will be easier if you have a stand mixer running on itself, but the hand mixer is perfect as well ( that's how I whipped the one in the recipe). Make sure to add syrup slowly and beat the eggs continuously until the result is super glossy meringue and stiff peaks are formed. Once the Meringue is ready, cover your cake and torch it with a kitchen torch and serve immediately.

LEMON MERINGUE YULE LOG CAKE
Marija Gvozdenovic

INGREDIENTS

Serves 1O 

For the sponge cake 

5 eggs, room temperature, separated

5 tbsp granulated sugar

1/2 tbsp sunflower oil

5 tbsp all-purpose flour

8g baking powder

zest from 1/2 lemon

FOR THE SPONGE CAKE 

2 whole eggs, room temperature

2 egg yolks, room temperature ( leave the egg whites for the meringue)

120g granulated sugar

juice from 2 medium lemons

zest from 1 lemon

110g butter

200g mascarpone for the filling

FOR THE ITALIAN MERINGUE 

2 egg whites

170g granulated sugar

85g water 

1/8 tsp cream tartar

METHOD

Prepare the sponge cake:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (parchment should hang over the sides). Place the egg whites in a large bowl and beat on medium/high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Slowly add in sugar, one tablespoon at a time, and mix continuously. Continue beating until stiff peaks form. Add egg yolks, one at a time, along with a half tablespoon of sunflower oil. Beat on medium speed until combined. Beat the mixture around 3 minutes, until it gets a light yellow color. Add in the zest of half lemon. Sift the flour and baking powder over the egg mixture and fold in until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 13-15 minutes, or until the top of the cake is just golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Cover the cake completely with a clean kitchen towel. Flip the cake over so that it is on top of the cloth and carefully peel the parchment paper off of the cake. Starting at the longer edge of the cake, roll up the cake (along with the towel) and set the rolled cake aside to cool. Once the cake is cooled, and your filling is ready, unroll gently.

Prepare the lemon curd-mascarpone filling:

In a medium heatproof bowl, place eggs, yolks, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice, and whisk to combine. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (bain-marie). Cook on moderate heat, constantly whisking until the mixture thickens (it takes between 10 and 20 minutes). The lemon curd will thicken more once cooled. Remove from the heat and stir in butter. Whisk until butter is completely melted and incorporated. Cover the surface of the curd with the plastic wrap and leave aside to cool.

Once cooled down, mix the lemon curd with 200g mascarpone until you get a nice, creamy filling. 

Unroll the sponge cake gently and fill it in with the lemon-mascarpone filling. Roll it back and place it in the fridge. Before adding the Italian meringue, cut a smaller piece of the roulade and position it on one side of the main roll for a more Yule log look. 

Prepare the Italian Meringue:

I recommend preparing the Italian meringue just before serving or just a few hours before, as meringue tastes the best once freshly made. Place the egg whites and cream of tartar into the mixing bowl. In a medium pot, combine the sugar and water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir the mixture until it begins to simmer, but once it does, stop stirring. If any sugar crystals are visible on the sides of the pot, use a pastry brush dipped in cool water to brush them away. Continue to cook until the mixture reaches  110°C  (230°F)  on a thermometer. When the temperature reaches 110°C, start whipping the egg whites on medium speed—the goal is to get it frothy by the time the sugar syrup reaches 115°C (240°F). When the sugar syrup reaches 115°C (240°F), raise the mixer speed to be high, and gently pour the hot sugar syrup into the mixing bowl. Once all the syrup is incorporated, continue to whip until the meringue holds desired peaks - it will take about 10 minutes for meringue to make stiff peeks. Use immediately to cover your roulade. Use a kitchen torch to toast the meringue slightly and serve immediately. Enjoy!

NECESSARY OBJECTS
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