Yule Log 2023: Winter Hedgehog Village

Cake

• Chocolate cake roll

Filling

• Stabilized, lightly sweet whipped cream

Frosting

• Malted milk chocolate frosting

Decorations

• Hedgehog cookies

• Meringue mushrooms

• Chocolate molded pinecones

• Mini snowy gingerbread houses

• Crushed “lacy” cookies for forest floor

I had wanted to make these adorable hedgehog cookies for quite some time but didn’t have the right occasion. When it came time to create a concept for this year’s yule log, I finally devised a holiday-appropriate theme that could feature the little critters I so badly wanted to make: a winter village…for hedgehogs! In the style of a Nordic alpine village.

The cake itself wasn’t very ambitious—a chocolate roll with a whipped cream filling (stabilized with clearjel so it wouldn’t collapse. The frosting choice was a new one for me: chocolate malt flavored! It was a dreamily light, smooth frosting made with chocolate malted milk powder (Ovaltine) that had a lovely slight saltiness from the malt and helped balance the sweetness of the yule log.

The frosting was piped on using a large star tip to look like a very old log with craggy bark and knots. Beautiful! Plus, a thick layer of frosting helped keep the decorations in place.

The hedgehog cookie recipe came from The Cupcake Project, but I decorated them with chopped walnuts and real chocolate sprinkles. The ones with nuts were the cutest and tasties if you ask me. The meringue mushrooms were some of the best I’ve ever made—big, glossy, crisp, and delicious!

Meringue mushrooms and dark chocolate pinecones

Hedgehog cookies with “quills” made from sprinkles or nuts

And then on to the village itself—mini gingerbread houses decorated with snowy eaves and festive holiday motifs. I used my favorite gingerbread cookie dough, rolled it out, and cut six pieces for each house. (I wish I had taken a photo of the templates I used!) Twenty-four separate pieces for four houses! I assembled them with royal icing and found it quite easy to do. Decorating the houses was very satisfying.

My son ate all four of these by the next day. :)

I bought some “lacy” cookies from Trader Joe’s and crushed a few to make some detritus for the village’s forest floor. Probably unnecessary for the design, but tasty! Once everything was all put together, it was a sight to behold!

Taken before I remembered to put on the mushrooms!

Making this year’s winter hedgehog village yule log was enjoyable from start to finish. The result made me so freaking happy—it was beautiful, whimsical, wintry, and incredibly yummy. I have no idea how I’m going to top this next year.