French Yule Log

Wow this month's challange was a big one, what with all the other xmas baking going on, not to mention all the indulgent eating already afoot as well!

I enjoyed making this challange, as I experimented with changing a few of the layers, and it gave me quite a good opportunity to be creative :)

I made a strawberry moose, which I can wildly recommend, it tasted so strongly of strawberry, and was such a light fresh and cooling desert to eat, I could have had the whole bowl if I didn't have to use it in the challange! Plus the sugar for the french merange used to airate the moose what just enough sweetness for the tart frozen strawberries I used in the puree.



I also changed the creme brulee layer, and made it with some fresh french and ordinary cottage garden lavender I had growing in my garden. I think I was remembering back to a sorbet combination that used strawberries with lavender and thought they would compliment each other. They did, but the creme brulee took a bit longer to cook through, even though I used the water bath method, and was quite a slippery item to deal with, requiring a good freezing before I dare lift it out of the tray to cut it to size. One thing I might change, if I can figure out how, is the amount of lavender I use, or maybe trim more off the stem, as there was a slight bitter taste to the brulee, from the essential oils in the plant I think.

I made the praline crisp layer, and the biscuit layer with hazelnuts, using a mix of rice puffs and cornflakes in the praline layer, and the hazelnut meal, and also some grated orange rind in the biscuit. The biscuit was probably my second favorite layer, and was really tasty on it's own. But sadly I was getting over chocolate by this stage of cooking and xmas eating, or I would have loved the praline layer too.

the ganache layer was easy, but I should have let it cool a bit more before putting it in the mould, but it didn't matter. But I REALLY should have awaited till the icing cooled. I was worried about it 'gelling' up as it had for other challangers, and not getting it to cover the log, but I didn't really give it a chance to cool...at all...and it ran straight off! luckily I scraped the remains back and let the first covering freeze a little, and just added the rest later. I didn't find it gummy to eat, it was pleasant enough, just so rich all together.

I ran out of moose in the assembly, which was a shame, as I would have liked some left over to eat :), but I just substituted some whipped cream instead. I made a large log to share with family, and a mini log to drop off to some friends who were doing volunteer work on christmas day. So I ended up having no strawberry moose to make their log. Luckily, I have my birthday on 21 Dec, and had made a chocolate moose raspberry cake, and had moose left over from that, so in that went, thinned down with some whipped cream, as that was already very rich.

All the layers stacked well, but just looked a bit awkward. I would have had a nice pic of the finished big log before the cutting, but it had to travel in an eski to my aunt's place on xmas day. It was a hot day, which didn't help matters, but sadly, the log had a car accident, when the eski tipped going round a corner, so the attempted icing of an xmas tree on top, got very smooshed, as did the choc icing coating as well :(

People seemed to like it, and be able to taste the lavender in the brulee. I forced some down, but sadly I was so over making it and over chocolate, that I didn't really enjoy it as much as I'd have liked. Like everyone else, the creme brulee layer just didn't defrost as well as the rest of the log, and had to be eaten still icy. I think it too a lot away from the creaminess it had in it's semi frozen state.



I loved being able to be creative changing the elements in the layer. Although my pics don't tell a very good story, I enjoyed the challange and hope the new year of DB challanges is just as exciting and new as this one :)

- Monique

My First Challenge - The French Yule Log

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry ( http://saffronandblueberry.blogspot.com) and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux. (http://ilenfautpeupour.canalblog.com/)
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand http://plaisirgourmand.perso.cegetel.net/

The French Yule Log

My first Daring Baker challenge and it lived up to its title. While the individual components were not particularly difficult (although I did have a few struggles), the timing and the assembly process had me running to the instructions repeatedly.

The dacquiose was easy. I found almond meal, the whole thing went together quickly and the baking turned out just right. I think I would make it slightly thicker were I to do this again, but it was fine. There was plenty, so if I had made mistakes in cutting to fit my pan, I would have had a lot of room for error.

The crème brulee took much longer to cook than indicated on the recipe and didn’t really make much progress until I bumped the temp on the oven up a few degrees. I flavored my brulee with a little peach schnapps, but it didn’t seem to make a big difference. I also baked it in a pan which was a little too small - a bigger pan would have made a more attractive layer within the log.

I made raspberry mousse and probably had the most problems with this component. First of all, I used frozen raspberries (from the Skagit Valley of Washington, so I knew they would be wonderful). This, however, required quite a bit of blending and sieving to get all the seeds out. With the help of my husband, I managed to get this done and the color was gorgeous. The Italian meringue was a pain. Cooking the sugar to the right temp was OK, but adding it to the egg whites resulted in big globs of hard sugar. I tasted it and it seemed sweet enough, so I did not redo it. Definitely I need to practice that! The gelatin for the mousse was also a pain. I really think I just didn’t understand the instructions. Microwave for 1 second? Really? Didn’t do a thing. I finally just melted the gelatin in some water over the stove and added it. I think it would have worked better to soften the gelatin for about 5 minutes in some cold water and then add it to the hot raspberry puree – not lukewarm, as suggested in the mango mousse recipe. Anyway, the mousse turned out, although it was less firm than I expected.

The dark chocolate ganache was easy.

I made my own praline from almonds and then made the Feuillete using Rice Krispies and that worked just fine. Had lots left over. The amounts of product from these recipes varied greatly. For some components, it was just enough but for others, either way too much or way too little. I used the leftover almond praline in a wonderful green salad with blue cheese.

I decided against fiddling with gelatin again and made another chocolate ganache with bittersweet chocolate to be the icing. It set up beautifully.



End result: It looked a little less than perfect because the sides were uneven. I used a springform which is smaller diameter than most but deeper, since I thought that would give me the most flexibility with the various layers. It was not as evenly layered as I had hoped, but it still looked pretty good when cut, especially with the raspberry mousse contrasted with the dark chocolate. It also tasted pretty good, but all that chocolate made it really rich!

- Bunnee

French Yule Log

- Katie

Daring Bakers December Challenge

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

The name of cookbook/website link for this challenge [http://plaisirgourmand.perso.cegetel.net/index.html]

The name of the December 2008 challenge recipe author is [Flore].

Link to challenge: Hilda of Saffron & Blueberry (http://saffronandblueberry.blogspot.com/) and Marion of (Il en faut peu pour etre heureux (http://ilenfautpeupour.canalblog.com/).

I was a little apprehensive about my first Daring Bakers Challenge, but in the end, turned out to be a fun process with a dessert to enjoy in the end. I procrastinated making the yule log until the holiday madness, eh, I mean holiday cheer was complete.



I liked making the layers rather than rolling the log. I tried to stick to the basic recipe, but I would definitely love to try the variations on the layers, especially the coconut. I was to anxious to cut the log and take some pics. I think it needed to set longer in the fridge. The yule log was a nice alternative to the over abundance of holiday cookies.

Thanks to Lauren of illeatyou.com for introducing me to the Daring Bakers. Looking forward to the next challenge!

- Abby

Yule Bomb…er…Brick…er…Log

Many thanks to Hilda of Saffron & Blueberry (http://saffronandblueberry.blogspot.com/) and Marion of Il en faut peu pour etre heureux (http://ilenfautpeupour.canalblog.com/) for this month’s daring baker challenge: A French Yule Log! The original recipe for the log is attributed to Flore and can be found here http://plaisirgourmand.perso.cegetel.net/index.html.



This challenge seemed quite daunting, requiring completion of 6 separate elements that are ultimately layered to form a scrumptious semi-frozen treat. I spent days “studying” the recipes, planning my grocery list (which included top-quality vanilla beans and chocolate bars), and determining the best order in which to execute the components. With so many elements, I chose to follow the recipe to the letter, not deviating with alternative flavorings. My goal was to prepare everything from scratch—even the gavottes (a product sold only in France) and the praline. But I was on a tight schedule with time being short for other holiday obligations (and plenty of snow shoveling). I did not have room for mistakes. BIG MISTAKE using that philosophy. This challenge certainly knocked my ego, hard.



This is where it began. The first recipe I chose to tackle was the Praline Feuillete. This is where things started to go wrong. I made the hazelnut praline without a hitch and then turned my attention to the gavottes. I guess I didn’t spread the batter thin enough because it never got to the crispy stage upon baking and stayed in a more pancake like form. Fortunately, I had purchased a box of crisped rice cereal as a back-up. I reached for it immediately while gobbling the still warm “gavotte”. YUM!



Next came the crème brulee insert. I thought for sure this would be no problem. I’ve made this treat more than a handful of times. Unfortunately, mine didn’t really set after baking for an hour. I thought for sure it would upon cooling, but it did not. Feeling harried I stuck it in the freezer, surely it would harden now! Most unfortunately I don’t think I gave it enough time to freeze. When it came time to assemble this layer it was still a sad, goopy mess.



Onto the mousse. My pate a bombe was just that—a total bomb! The egg yolks never became frothy and the sugar syrup turned to spun sugar and hardened against the sides of the mixing bowl upon contact. Why did this happen?! I can make Italian buttercream like a professional! Determined, I proceeded forth with the result, setting my mixer to whip the cream and furiously chopping chocolate for the next recipe. By the time I got back to the mixer my cream was on its way to becoming fresh butter. OOPS! This did not stop me from assembling the mousse with the components as they stood—no time to redouble now is what I was thinking. In the end, the mousse was actually not half bad—tasty and much more dense than one should expect. Though, this proved to be an added challenge when it came to assembly.



Next, I made the dacquoise biscuit and then the ganache. Both seemed to go off without a hitch. (Finally!) Then, I proceeded to assemble the log. The biscuit was plentiful, so I added it to both the top and bottom layers. Same for the praline, but these I stacked on top one another. Spreading the mousse was not a moment of which I’m proud. With its stiff consistency it seemed best to grab handfuls and pack into shape where necessary (picture mud pie assembly to understand technique). When it came time to pull the crème brulee from the freezer, I was deflated to see that it still was goop. Wanting to push forward (TICK-TOCK), I eased the goop as best I could into its requisite position and covered quickly with more mousse. It’s bound to freeze eventually, right? (This is why the crème brulee portion appears absent from the log. The layer was so thin, it melded almost inconspicuously with the surrounding mousse.)



While unmolding and icing my log I thought the shape was more reminiscent of a brick and hence named it so. Not having an occasion to serve it (Thank God, it’s appearance is a little embarrassing), I didn’t add any festive trifles on top. I imagined sprigs of holly or gumdrop snowmen and Santas would be really cute. A wintery scene definitely would offset its otherwise questionable appearance. Instead, I sliced the brick into servings and wrapped each individually to store in the freezer. No worries, my sweet tooth will not let these linger for too long. Perhaps I’ll even share with a non-judgmental friend or two. This dessert is so very tasty, despite my shortcomings in its execution.

-olivia

Yummy Yule Log

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

I was scared and excited for the December challenge. I'm glad I kept updating myself with reading the forum because various corrections due to comments and questions were made with the recipes.



Here are my comments:

Dacquoise - I did not have much problem with this, simple recipe and easy to follow

Mousse - Tasted really good! Simple to make but I did encounter confusion with the gelatine sheets. Recipe called for 2.5 sheets or 5 g. Since I had a good food scale I decided to take the weight and 2.5 sheets was way over 5 g. so i decided to just go by weight and ended up just using about 1 1/4 sheet of gelatin. Mousse consistency came out well.

Ganache - I may have made my sugar syrup too dark as I noticed that the ganache alone came out tasting quite bitter, together with the other components though it was not noticeable

Praline crisp insert - Decided to make my own gavotte and I had to do it twice. The first one crisped and burned at the edges while the middle part remained pale colored (raw). The second batch I made I lowered the temperature and although the edgest turned brown/burned real fast the rest came out a nice brown color. I just discarded the burned edges.

Creme Brulee insert - No problem with this recipe. Consistency was really good and taste was fantastic

Icing - Most comments regarding the icing in the forum mentioned that the recipe was not enough so most doubled. I wanted to make sure mine covered the log so I tripled the recipe.



I did the log for our family Christmas lunch and it was a hit. I would do it again. It is time consuming but it is not difficult to make.

aleli