(photo credit to s. lock)Christmas time is here, and what does that mean? Baking! My family had a Christmas party and I was asked to make a dessert. I've been wanting to make a Buche de Noel (a.k.a. Yule Log) for a few years now - and I finally had the confidence to try it out. There were some skeptics about my ambitions (trying out a brand new recipe on guests), but I think i proved them wrong. I have to admit, this dessert was semi-homemade. My full intentions were to make the entire cake from scratch, but i hit a road block when I discovered my local Safeway did not carry pasteurized shelled eggs.
The spongey cake is rolled up with raspberry flavored chocolate mousse (from a powder). I was nervous to use un-pasteurized eggs to make the mousse so i resorted to a store-bought powder blended with milk. I used a ganache icing on the outside and added sprinkles to the outside of the log as embellishment. I also tried making meringue for the first time ever. The mushrooms are made out of a candied sugar/water mixture, egg white, and cocoa powder. I didn't have a candy thermometer (supposed to get up to 248 degrees), but I experimented with a meat thermometer and it actually worked! I attached the mushroom tops and stems with melted semi-sweet chocolate. They turned out quite well - i thought they were very tasty and looked really good. If I make another Buche de Noel (which to venture a guess, i will), i might try out another recipe. I used a combination of recipes, including an Allrecipes flourless cake and Martha Stuart's buche de noel recipe. Although I enjoyed eating the cake, I think the textures were different from a standard Buche de Noel. i'll probably keep experimenting with some other recipes to find the perfect Buche de Noel.
those mushrooms look really convincing!
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