Lightly spray a little oil on a 11 x 17 inch baking sheet that has edges. Then line the baking sheet with parchment paper and spray the parchment paper very lightly with oil. The first spray was to get the parchment paper to stick to the pan.
Measure 2 T. of cornstarch into a 1 cup measuring cup. Fill the rest up with the all-purpose flour. This makes cake flour. If you have cake flour, you can just use 1 cup of that.
Sift the flour/cornstarch, baking powder, and salt together two times. Set aside.
Beat the eggs and vanilla together on high in an electric mixer. Gradually add the sugar while you beat the eggs for about 5-7 minutes. You want to the eggs to whip up to look pretty thick and airy. As your beaters are mixing the eggs on high, you’ll see the beater leaving tracks in the batter. When you stop mixing you’ll see some of the air bubbles rising to the top.
Now sift the flour mixture again into the egg batter in two parts. Fold the flour very gently into the batter and try not to deflate the eggs. Fold until you can’t see any flour bubbles.
Pour the batter onto the lined pan and spread it out so it’s even. A good way to get the batter to spread out without beating the air out of it is to tilt the pan.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and it bounces bake when you press on it.
As soon as you take the cake out of the oven, flip the cake onto another piece of parchment. Remove the oily piece of parchment. And then flip the cake back onto a third piece of clean parchment. So the cake should be sitting how it was in the pan but on a clean piece of parchment.
Roll the cake up so it’s wrapped around that third piece of parchment. And leave it that way to cool. If you try to roll the cake once it has cooled, it will crack.
Cream Filling:
Whip the cream until you have stiff peaks.
In another mixer bowl, cream the softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together until they are smooth and sort of fluffy.
Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
Ganache Frosting:
Bring the cream to a simmer on the stove.
Pour the cream over the chocolate chips and cover with a lid. Let sit for 3 minutes.
Now whisk the chocolate and cream together until smooth and there are no lumps.
Let the ganache sit until it is room temperature. I let it sit for about 15-20 minutes and then stuck it in the fridge for 5 minutes. While you are waiting make the cream filling.
With an electric mixer, beat the ganache for about 45-60 seconds until it has turned light brown and is a frosting consistency, maybe a little softer than frosting.
Assembly:
Unroll the cake and leave on the parchment.
Mix the coffee and sugar together and then brush over the unrolled cake. If you really love coffee you can use ½ cup of coffee or even espresso.
Spread the cream filling evenly over the cake.
Roll the cake up tightly. Make sure to roll up the cake starting from the same end of the cake that you let it cool in.
Trim one end off just to get rid of the drier piece and make it presentable.
Trim off the other end of the cake at an angle to make the stump.
Now transfer the big piece of cake to your serving platter either with your hands or two spatulas.
Using left over cream filling or some of the ganache frosting, glue the stump onto either the side or the top of the log.
Now frost the cake with the ganache filling.
To make it look like bark, run a fork through the frosting.
Dust with cocoa to look like dirt or powdered sugar for snow.
Recipe by Birch Tree Baking at https://www.birchtreebaking.com/tiramisu-yule-log/