I had seen bloggers from all over the world post month after month delicious pictures and recipes on their blogs saying that it was that month’s Daring Bakers challenge. So, of course, I had to find out what they were talking about and participate. Finally, this month I joined the more than 400 members that every month sail to conquer a new baking challenge.
Because of the issues I’ve been having these last weeks I thought I wasn’t going to be able to complete my very first challenge. That made me very mad. However. this morning I decided that Yuletide (a.k.a. Christmas) only comes once a year and since we were meeting Jon’s dad for dinner tonight I had to make something for dessert. I got up early, went to the store to get some of the ingredients I was missing and got to work on my Yule log.
The rules to participate in each challenge are very specific. For this month we had to follow three recipes, one for the plain Genoise cake, one for the coffee buttercream frosting (I made it chocolate since Jon dislikes coffee) and one for the meringue or marzipan mushrooms (I chose marzipan) You can see the original recipe here.
So after many hours of measuring, whisking, mixing, sifting, stirring, baking, cutting, kneading and decorating this is what came out.
For the filling I whipped a cup of heavy cream with cinnamon, vanilla, confectioner’s sugar and chopped strawberries. It was the perfect combination for the chocolate buttercream. For decoration, besides the marzipan mushrooms, I used some green meringue for the pine needles (that’s what they are supposed to be in case you were wondering) some cherries and chopped toasted pecans and cocoa powder for the ground effect around the log. Everybody loved it. I thought the genoise cake was a little bit dry, but everyone else said it was just perfect.
This is a cake I will be making again soon (though maybe not the mushrooms) for dinners, parties and just to impress my friends. I can’t wait to find out what the next challenge will be. Are you a daring baker?
21 Replies
[...] Here’s another interesting post I read today by Ben [...]
Posted on December 23rd, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Your bûche de Noël is spectacular.
Congrats on becoming a Daring Baker!
Julius from Occasional Baker
Posted on December 23rd, 2007 at 11:08 pm
You did a wonderful job on your first challenge. Congratulations and Happy Holidays!
Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go
Posted on December 23rd, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Your yule log turned out beautifully! Happy holidays!
Posted on December 24th, 2007 at 10:27 am
woohoo!! job very well done! congrats on your first DB challenge. it looks like it was a great success!
happy holidays
Posted on December 25th, 2007 at 12:53 am
Beautiful ob on your first challenge! Very impressive!
Welcome to the Daring Bakers!
Happy holidays to you and your loved ones!
Posted on December 25th, 2007 at 10:22 am
hey i got around to joining the daring bakers much in the same way! and the yule log was my first challenge as well! glad everyone liked it!
Happy Hols!
Posted on December 25th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Congrats on your first challenge. Good job! If you do it again, try meringue mushrooms…those were the hit of my cake.
Posted on December 25th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Oh you did an excellent job, Ben. Merry Christmas.
Posted on December 25th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Wonderful job on your first challenge! You filling sounds heavenly!
Posted on December 25th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
[...] Here’s another interesting post I read today by Ben [...]
Posted on December 26th, 2007 at 6:28 am
What a beautiful log, congratulations on your first DB challenge! Welcome to the club
Posted on December 26th, 2007 at 7:09 am
Welcome to the Daring Bakers, Ben!
Your log is terrific! I love the decoration! =)
Happy holidays to you and yours!
xoxo
Posted on December 26th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Wonderful job on your first challenge!! It looks great!
Posted on December 26th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Great job on your first challenge. The strawberries sound like a tasty addition.
Posted on December 27th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
wow, that yule log sure looks inviting, but i agree with skipping the mushrooms:) DB is a great group, and I’m always looking forward to their challenges!
Posted on December 27th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Great looking yule log. I like those pine needles and other creative accents. Wonderful first challenge. Wendy
Posted on December 30th, 2007 at 1:08 am
Glad to see this blog is getting better every day. Your “bûche de Noël” looks really delicious! I loved the first picture. By the way, what “issues” are you taking about??? Are you getting divorced? =P When is your other blog coming back?
Posted on December 30th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I’m so glad you were able to make the yule log – it looks fabulous. Congratulations on your first challenge and welcome to the Daring Bakers!
Posted on December 30th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Yay Ben! Your Yule Log sounds so tasty! I love the combination of strawberries and chocolate. And I’d be tempted to give this another “roll” as long as I didn’t have to create a log. Cheers to you for braving the grocery store to gather up your last few ingredients and getting it all together. I’m loving the “greenery!” Very clever. And CONGRATS on being a Daring Baker. W00T!
Posted on December 31st, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Great job, Ben, it looks amazing!
Welcome to the DBers and wonderful job on your first challenge.
Posted on January 7th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Leave a reply