Loving Creations for You: Chocolate Milo Coffee Log Cake

I am gearing up for log cake marathon bake in a few days time for my extended family and a friend who have been very kind to support our family all these years. But hubby made some Milo kosong with freshly brewed drip coffee and let me have a sip of it. It is a beverage you have to engage your sense of taste and smell and take your time to let the different layers of flavours and aroma to wash over you. The malt, coffee, cocoa flavour in a creamy tasting base is such a delightful experience! So delightful that I decided to make this the flavour of the log cakes instead of the originally planned chocolate flavour alone.

Since this is a new flavour, I had to experiment so I made one log cake in advance. It is a little tricky not to let any one of the elements overpower the others so it is a careful balance. I used decaffeinated instant coffee granules instead of drip coffee so that it is a cake kids can eat too. It is also a little more diabetic friendly as I let the malt in Milo impart some sweetness and use some maltitol to replace caster sugar for making the sponge. There isn't any added sugar on my part for the cake filling and chocolate ganache.

Presenting my chocolate milo coffee log cake!

The gingerbread man macaron deco is from my macaron class prep!

I immediately thought of using diplomat cream as the cake filling as I can bloom the cocoa in the milo and dissolve the coffee granules sufficiently in a custard base. It is more stable than dairy whipped cream in hot Singapore and lighter than buttercream.

Milo coffee diplomat cream

Ingredients :

4tbs (28g) Milo Kosong powder(you may use regular Milo powder (not the 3-in-1 types), but it is sweeter than the kosong version which has no sugar added)

2 egg yolks

200g + 25g milk

1 satchet (2g) instant coffee granules (I use decaffeinated coffee)

20g cornflour

A pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

15g unsalted butter

60g non-dairy whipping cream (this is already pre-sweetened. You may use dairy cream but do add sugar according to taste. Feel free to use more cream if you prefer it lighter and creamier. Adjust coffee and milo amount upwards if need be to compensate. )

Steps:

1. Heat 200g milk in a small saucepan until steaming hot but not boiling.

2. In the meantime, in a heavy bowl or glass jug, whisk together egg yolks, coffee granules, Milo kosong powder, cornflour, salt and 25g of milk. Once the milk is hot, remove from heat and pour in a thin stream into the egg yolk mixture while whisking the egg yolk mixture continuously. Pour everything back into the saucepan.

3. Place saucepan back on medium-low heat while whisking continuously. Once mixture thickens, remove from heat and continue whisking until smooth. Place back on heat and continue to cook until custard is able to hold a soft peak.

4. Remove from heat and add vanilla and butter and whisk until smooth.

5. Immediately press clingwrap on surface of pastry cream and refrigerate until firm, at least 1h or overnight.

6. When sponge is baked and ready to assemble, whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks (be careful not to over whip if using dairy cream. I use non dairy for better stability in this bake as we are distributing to various households.)

7. Take pastry cream out of fridge and briefly whip it to loosen texture. Fold in whipped cream to make diplomat cream.

Smooth and creamy diplomat cream!

Chocolate chiffon sponge

You may prepare this while the pastry cream is in the fridge to set. Do note that the chocolate flavour isn't very intense as I didn't want the chocolate flavour to overpower the malt in Milo. The cake is going to be coated with chocolate ganache anyway.

Ingredients (makes one 10x12" sheet cake) :

Egg yolk batter

3 egg yolks

10g dutch processed cocoa powder

32g boiling hot water

35g cake flour

28g canola or vegetable oil

5g maltitol or caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp kahlua coffee liqueur

A pinch of salt

1/8 tsp baking soda

Meringue

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

40g caster sugar or maltitol (I used 30g maltitol and 10g caster sugar for better stability than just pure maltitol)

Steps :

1. Preheat oven to 170C top and bottom heat or 160C with fan. Line baking tray with parchment paper or teflon sheet.

2. Bloom cocoa powder by adding hot water to cocoa powder. Whisk together until cocoa is dissolved. Set aside to cool to room temperature. There is no need to cover the bowl to prevent evaporation.

3. Prepare egg yolk batter. Whisk egg yolks and sugar together. Add oil and whisk until well combined. Add cocoa powder and water mixture and whisk until well combined. Add vanilla and coffee liqueur. Sift in cake flour, salt and baking soda. Whisk until no trace of flour is seen.

4. Prepare meringue. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks or just reach stiff peak while gradually adding in sugar once the egg whites are foamy.

5. Quickly but gently fold meringue into egg yolk batter in 3 batches. Pour batter into prepared tray. Gently tap tray on table to release trapped air bubbles.

6. Bake for 12-14 min or until skewer comes out clean. Immediately invert on fresh sheet of parchment and roll up to cool. Cooling the sponge in rolled up position prevents it from cracking when rolling later on.

Dark chocolate ganache

Feel free to use more cream if you live in a cold climate. It is very warm here in Singapore so I make firmer ganaches in general.

Ingredients:

120g dark chocolate couverture (I use 73.5% but it has sugar added so it does not taste bitter)

50g dairy whipping cream

15g unsalted butter

A pinch of salt

30g Milo coffee diplomat cream (optional)

Steps:

1. Place all ingredients except diplomat cream in a heatproof bowl. Gently heat and stir over a pot of hot water without the water touching the base of the bowl.

2. Set aside the ganache to firm up. About 30min to 1h in aircon room. Or several minutes in fridge. Whip it briefly to loosen texture.

3. Fold in diplomat cream to the whipped ganache.

Assembly

Components/ tools:

9x6"cakeboard

Serrated knife

Chocolate sponge

Dark chocolate ganache

Milo coffee diplomat cream

Any cake decorations

Small spatula

Fork

Piping bag (optional)

Steps:

1. Unroll the cooled sponge cake. Spread a layer of diplomat cream.

2. Carefully roll it up like a swiss roll. Refrigerate overnight or freeze for 1-2 hours.

3. Slice the ends of the swiss roll off with serrated knife. Stick the central log onto cakeboard with a little ganache. Coat the whole log with ganache using a small spatula. Attach the cut off pieces on the top and side of the central log. Coat the pieces with more ganache. You don't have to be super neat about this!

4. You may pipe more diplomat cream and ganache on the cut surfaces of the cake if you wish. Use a fork to carve out the bark pattern on the log.