• Pre-heat the oven to 170°C. Brush the butter onto the Swiss Roll pan and line with parchment paper.

Prepare the cake batter

• In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
• In two separate bowls, separate the egg whites and the egg yolks. Be careful, do not mix any egg yolks into the egg whites.
• Use mixer to beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the 32g of sugar a little at a time and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
• Use the same mixer to beat the egg yolks until thick. Slowly add 64g of sugar and beat until pale.
• Use a metal spoon to scoop a little bit of egg white into the egg yolk mixture to loosen up the texture.
• Alternatively fold in the flour mixture and the egg white gently until all well combined. Be gentle and be patient at this stage, you do not want to beat all the air out.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and use a spatula to spread into an even layer. Bake around 12 to 15 minutes, until top springs back when lightly pressed.
• Prepare a sheet of parchment paper, spread it onto a flat surface. Invert the warm cake onto the parchment paper. Peel off the baked parchment paper. Use a sharp knife to cut the edges to make it look neat.
• Starting at the short side, use the parchment paper to tightly roll the cake into a log. Let it cool completely.

Make the filling

• In a large bowl, beat together double cream, powdered sugar, pure vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt, until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate it until ready to use.
• When the cake is cool, unroll and spread the filling evenly over the cake. Leave around 5cm at the end. Roll the cake back into a log, this time without the parchment paper. Place seam side down on a serving plate and refrigerate until well chilled, 1 hour.

Make the frosting

• In a large bowl beat the butter until smooth and pale. Mix the sifted powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Add half of the sugar mixture into the butter and beat. Then add the remaining mixture and beat until no lumps. Add in vanilla extract and double cream. Beat until a smooth texture.

Decoration

• For the ends of the log, place some buttercream into a piping bag, snip the end and then pipe rings from the inside out, to simulate the inner rings of a tree trunk.
• For the chocolate frosting, use a spatula to spread thickly over the sponge. Then use a fork to create textured bark lines on the outside of the tree trunk.
• Decorate the log with some Christmas theme decorations and then dust lightly with powdered sugar when it is ready to serve.

  Enjoy! Happy Christmas from Bakabee.