This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux. They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand. Thank you all for the challenge - it was definitely the most daunting to think about all month long, so far, which is the point, now, isn't it? :)
My Yule Log is currently in the freezer setting up for its final journey to a New Year's Eve party tonight! I am hoping beyond all hope that it is delicious because it was time- and freezer-consuming :)
I'll go through the Log, component by component, and will have to come back tomorrow to post on overall flavor because we won't be cutting into it until tonight. I made my Log in a traditional bread loaf pan, lined with the poor choice of Press 'n Seal plastic wrap - it made my outside layer very wrinkly and was a b**** to get out of the frozen pan to ice.
Dacquoise: This was easier than I had anticipated. For some reason I kept imagining this being crunchy after baking, but alas, it is cake...why I thought this, I have no idea. I'm embarrassed to say that I actually went to school for baking & pastry arts and have MADE dacquoise before, so I don't know what was wrong with me in that thinking. I actually started certain components on Monday - this was reserved for Tuesday and I set aside a lot more time than I actually needed, which was nice, because it was started at almost 11 PM. The only thing I couldn't find was the almond meal, so I made my own, skins on.
Mousse: I actually went with the milk chocolate chantilly cream. I am a lover of dark chocolate, but I know quite a few unfortunate people who prefer the milk version, so I tried to mix and match so it wouldn't be too rich for them (trust me...everyone at this party tonight WILL try this thing!). It came out wonderfully and is delicious. I made this on Monday, refrigerated over night and whipped it up Tuesday night just before filling the mold.
Creme Brulee: I made the traditional vanilla creme brulee, however I have been having a hard time getting vanilla beans lately, so I went with straight pure vanilla extract - I do love vanilla bean specks, though, so it's not as pretty as it could be, but I used a pretty high quality extract, so hopefully the flavor is respectable. This was prepared and baked Monday and frozen overnight. It took almost 2 hours to bake, with a water bath. I'm a little afraid that I may have actually over-baked it, but the problem I was having was the center seemed set early on, but my edges were actually a little watery - meanwhile, the recipe said to bake until the edges are firm and the center is wobbly...hmmmm...
Praline Insert: Unable to find praline paste and failing to print out ingredients for the July praline recipe before shopping, I used Rice Krispies, milk chocolate and Nutella. I sampled some scrap pieces and it was okay...I am usually a big fan of Nutella, but the flavor wasn't really what I was hoping for. My hopes have now turned to assuming the praline layer will taste divine when it is cuddled up against all the other layers :) This was easy enough - I made it on Monday and kept it in the fridge overnight. Because I rolled it out long enough, I was able to cut two layers and just stacked them right on top of each other to make one thick layer.
Ganache: Okay, so if you look at photos of my Log, you will notice it is sadly missing a layer - there is no ganache. I am just embarrassed to admit that I did not have time. The only way I could see myself getting this layer completed and inside the Log would have been to set my alarm for like 2 AM this morning to get up and make it then, so it would have enough time in the freezer before icing. I won't go into my list of excuses - I wanted to bring this thing to NYE, so I have only that to fall back on.
Icing: I made the original dark chocolate icing, which I just finished about an hour ago. I actually had to make this twice - the first time, I used the 1/4 cup of water to soften the gelatin (powdered), not realizing that was in addition. By the time the chocolate mixture had cooked the additional 3 minutes, it was dry and burnt. So, round 2 - everything was fine, however, I felt it got a bit lumpy from the gelatin, so I wound up straining it and losing quite a bit of it in that process. This lead to a more "side-drip" look, rather than the desired full-coverage. If my outer mousse layer had been smoother I would have been fine with the drips, but it looks like a bit of a hot mess, as though it may have started celebrating NYE early, if you know what I mean. :) I'm heading to the party around 8 (it's about 3:00 now), so I'm trying to think of a fabulously creative way to decorate it and then I'll have pics ready to post.
- Laura, Lucky Cupcake
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