Chocolate & Pear Birch Log

It's up to you.

10 detailed steps, from preparation to service.

1. Preparing the black ganache

   Chop 220 g of dark chocolate. Heat 220 g of cream until the first bubbles then pour it over the chocolate. Wait 1 minute and mix in small circles until you get a smooth ganache. Let it cool for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally: it should become soft as a spread.

2. Preparing the plate

   Preheat the oven to 180 °C, conventional setting (no fan). Cover the baking tray with 30 x 40 cm of baking paper. Break the 4 eggs in a large bowl, without separating the whites. Add 110 g of sugar and fudge to the beater 5 to 7 minutes until the triple volume mixture and form a thick ribbon when falling back down.

3. Incorporate the dry ingredients

   Mix 90 g of flour and 20 g of cocoa and sift them on the eggs twice. Lift gently with a spatula from the bottom to the top; turn the bowl a quarter turn between the gestures. Stop as soon as the dry ingredients disappear to keep air.

4. Cook the soft sponge

   Spread the dough over the entire plate in a uniform layer. Bake 10 to 12 minutes: the top gently returns under the finger and no longer sticks. Go out with oven gloves, place a second sheet of paper on the biscuit, return to a board and then remove the baking paper. Cover with clean paper and let cool for 15 minutes, without letting air dry.

5. Prepare the strips and pear

   Drain then sponge 120 g of pear, and cut it into 4 mm dice. Cut the biscuit into three long strips of 10 x 40 cm. Remove only dry edges. Reserve 100 g of ganache for the outside, then spread the rest on the three strips and spread the pear on top by pressing lightly.

6. Wrap a standing log

   Wraps the first strip on itself, tight enough to avoid holes but without crushing it. Put this little roller up on the plate. Wrap the second band around it, then the third. Cut the biscuit tips that protrude to obtain a flat top, around 9 cm high. Tighten with a strip of baking paper for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

7. Create the pale bark

   Melt the 160 g of white chocolate with the 20 g of butter in a mild bain-marie; the bowl does not touch the water. Spread this mixture on baking paper in a baking tray of about 32 x 20 cm by 2 mm. Leave to freeze for 15 minutes in the refrigerator, then break or cut into large irregular pieces 5-8 cm wide and about 9 cm high.

8. Paste the birch plates

   Remove the paper that surrounds the cake. 80 g of the 100 g of ganache reserved on the sides. Apply the white chocolate plates against the cake, edges flush with the dish; they are fully supported by the cake. Keep the spiral on top visible and do not stand any pieces of bark upright.

9. Drawing the marks of wood

   With the remaining 20 g of ganache, brush or spoon a few short horizontal strokes on the white bark at different heights. Keep white areas free: a dozen strokes is enough. Do not draw letters, faces or micro-engravings.

10. Allow to be taken and cut

    Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Cut a vertical slice using a knife that has been warmed and wiped dry. The top shows the rings of a chocolate spiral and the cup reveals the pear; the bark fragments are made of white chocolate and are used with the parts. Go out 20 minutes before serving.