The hubby and I moved into our new house the week before Christmas in 2010. On that day, our parents made a reservation for Christmas 2011 to be held at our house. That was fine by us as we both love to cook (needless to say, our house was basically built around our kitchen)
So in the months before Christmas we were working out a menu, and most importantly, what the dessert centrepiece would be.
The menu:
- Individual Yorkshire Puddings (another Martha Stewart recipe found here)
- Cold Meat
- Roast Chicken
- Ham
- Hot Meat
- Rib Eye Roast (yes, Martha Stewart again)
- Roast Pork
- Veggies
- Roast potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, corn, onion and beetroot
- Broccoli
- Green beans with smoked paprika almonds
- Spinach Quiche for the vegetarian
- Condiments
- Horseradish sauce (you know where it is from)
- Spiced apple sauce
- Gravy
- Bûche de Noël (aka Yule Log)
- Cassata (the signature Christmas dessert of my mother-in-law)
The Bûche de Noël was a combination of recipes from a few sources. The cake (Biscuit a Rouler), caramelised nuts and vanilla centre (Bavarois a la Vanilla de Bourbon) came from Emmanuel Molois’ Christmas Log recipe on Poh’s Kitchen. The chocolate swiss meringue buttercream and meringue mushrooms were (of course) from Martha Stewart.
The first thing I tackled was the vanilla centre of the log as this had to set overnight. I was a little impatient so it wasn’t as set as it should have been when I went to freeze it so it didn’t end up being perfectly round. The next day I started off by making the caramelised pistachios and almonds, the buttercream and the meringue mushrooms.
I assembled the meringue mushrooms on Christmas day by cutting off the pointed top of the stem, cutting a small hole in the base of the top of the mushroom, spreading a little dark chocolate and then inserting the stem. To cut through the richness of the dark chocolate, with a dry paintbrush I dusted some cinnamon on top to balance out the flavour and also to make them look more earthly.
Once set, the ends were cut off both to tidy them up, and the smaller one sliced at angles to look like branches. Using my best buttercream plastering skills, one of the small sections was placed on the side of the trunk, with the other on top at an angle.
This then went back in the freezer to set a little longer before the first crumb coat of buttercream was applied.
The second crumb coat was done and then it was put back in the freezer to finish off the next day.
On Christmas morning I made a batch of ganache and proceeded to decorate the log. Once the ganache had cooled slightly, I brushed it on with my silicone pastry brush which to my surprise produced an effect making it look like bark. I swirled the brush on the ends to make rings resembling when a tree is cut.
The log was put in the fridge until after lunch.
To assemble the centrepiece I covered a wooden chopping board with al foil, placing the log on an angle in the centre.
Using some of the leftover ganache, I used some on the bottom of the mushrooms to keep them in place scattered over the board.
To imitate holly, I used some fresh raspberries and rosemary to add some colour.
I dusted the entire thing with icing sugar, which somewhat dissolved on the actual log as it was still quite cold from the fridge.
Now it was time to eat!
Next time I make this I will try the chocolate caramel mousse from Emmanuel’s recipe rather than buttercream (I can’t even remember why I went down the buttercream route) and add LOTS more of the caramelised nuts. But overall, it wasn’t bad for a first attempt.
Everything looks amazing and your site is beautiful. I’m your newest follower via the hop. Sarah at http://www.theeaseoffreeze.com. Have a great day.
That is so impressive! Thanks for sharing your awesome creation. Great job!
Thanks Lisa, I am glad you liked it. And thank you for always hosting a great party!