Daring Bakers: The Log

Happy New Year! This post is long, so here's the setup:


1. introduction to my experience making the Yule Log

2. Explanation of the Yule Log challenge from Daring Bakers Website, with a few additions in green from me

3. Link to the Daring Bakers Blogroll, where you can explore all the other pretty yule logs!




1. I LOVED making the log. It took weeks of planning the flavors, purchasing the ingredients, (no, Wegmans does not sell mango puree) and days of cooking, photographing, and decorating. I learned SO MUCH from making this log, mainly because it was about 10 different recipes in one. Most of all, I am proud to have conquered my fear of caramel. Thanks ever so much to Diana, for being there to take photos and for lending moral support. You can see more of her work here.






2. Introduction to the log from the Daring Bakers website:

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

SO, what is a French Yule Log you say and how is it different from the Yule Log we made last December if you were a member then?

In France you can buy two kinds of Yule log, either the Genoise and Buttercream type that we made last December, or what is more commonly purchased which is a frozen Yule Log very reminiscent of an ice cream cake, only often it’s not made of ice cream but rather frozen mousse of some sort. In French this is called an entremets which is sometimes loosely translated in English as simply a cream dessert. This also means that this recipe is not holiday-specific, it is also just a scrumptious dessert recipe.

This recipe comes almost entirely, except for one small labeled portion and some of the variations courtesy of our dear Daring Baker Fairy Tartelette, from the website: Florilège Gourmand (address above) which belongs to Flore (who has not disclosed her last name to me in my exchanges with her) and is unreal. Her website is in French and different portions of the recipe have been pulled from the recipes in the entremets section.

So, to the business of our Yule log:

#1 DO NOT PANICK when you see that this document is 18 pages long. The actual recipe is not 12 pages long, it’s more on the order of 3-4 pages once you choose your flavors.
Marion and I believe in Culinary Freedom and wanted to make this as fun and accessible as possible for everyone around the world.

#2 THE CHALLENGE RULE is that you MUST MAKE ALL 6 of these elements for the log:

1) Dacquoise Biscuit This is a egg white and almond meal cake that stays very light and puffy, and can be formed into different shapes.

2) Mousse I chose to make a mango mouse instead of chocolate. Good choice!

3) Ganache Insert I made a white chocolate caramel ganache.

4) Praline (Crisp) Insert Based on comments from other Daring Bakers who said the crisp was hard to cut, I made the coconut crisp (with homemade Lace Gavottes) outside of the log. I cut the crisp into stars to decorate the log.

5) Creme Brulee Insert I made a cardamon creme brulee.

6) Icing The assembly will essentially be a Dacquoise Biscuit at the bottom, and the inserts inter-layered with mousse, with an icing finish.

That’s about it for rules. Oh yeah, please have fun!

3. Now that you have been fully acquainted with French Yule logs, check out other people's creations here.