Holiday whimsy!

Well, after seeing this Bûche de Noël in one of my foodie magazines, I decided I MUST make it. The flavor was right- coffee buttercream, genoise cake- and there was some component of construction involved! Now the question remained, for which event?
When the just right Holiday party invitation arrived, the deal was sealed and I committed to the task.


I prepared the genoise cake and butter cream the day before, rolled it up, wrapped it and stowed it in the refrigerator. I prepared the ganache. 

The day of the event, I loosened up the ganache and set about enrobing the log. I did enjoy trimming the stump- it allowed a delightful sample of the partially constructed product-mmmmm.

Now I was grateful that the day was cool and dry as I set about making the meringue for the decors- I started with a nice Italian meringue recipe for a good stable egg white. I am still struggling with the piping tip adaptor- it appears I have 3 tip sizes, yet only 2 adapters... really?!? Believe it or not, I ended up holding the star tip against the bad and piped the trees like that.

A little dusting with cocoa powder, and gluing with ganache.... I think this was by far my most favorite part of the project- to make and to look at. The mushrooms are just so darn cute and realistic!


The cake is set, and bark is drawn onto the ganache.

And here is the finished product!

It was well appreciated for its good looks, but most of all, its taste!
And I can't wait to make those little mushrooms again.
Saveur's Holiday Yule Log