Daring Bakers - December ~ French 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

This was such a fun challenge. I have to admit I almost didn't participate when I saw the 18 page recipe!! Holy cow! But once I sat down to read through it I knew I could make this delicious dessert.

Here are some of the instructions we Daring Bakers given:

So, to the business of our Yule log:
#1 DO NOT PANIC 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
2) Mousse
3) Ganache Insert
4) Praline (Crisp) Insert
5) Creme Brulee Insert
6) Icing
The assembly will essentially be a Dacquoise Biscuit at the bottom, and the inserts inter-layered with mousse, with an icing finish.

I broke the recipe down into three days. The first day I made the creme brulee, mousse, and praline crisp. The praline crisp is really, really good. It's like super fancy rice krispie treats.

Agnes ate almost all the leftovers!


On day two I made the dacquoise biscuit, ganache insert, and icing. Since I don't own a yule log mold I used a standard size loaf pan. It worked perfectly.

Here the whole thing is ready to go into the freezer for 24 hours. The bottom layer in the picture is the chocolate mousee right before I put the chocolate ganache insert and biscuit on.


The Log taken out of the mold. The yellow is the creme brulee. That was my favorite layer. YUM!!


This was taken right after I put the icing on. The icing is super easy to make but I should have made a double batch. It would have gone on smoother and more evenly.

After icing The Log I put it back into the freezer until we were ready to eat it.

And, finally THE LOG!




While it was a daunting recipe The Log will be made again. Done in steps it is a really easy dessert to make. The Log has become a new holiday tradition for my family. When the berries come in this year I will be making a new log. It would be delicious with a berry mousse, creme brulee (because you have to have this layer!!), and drizzled with white chocolate icing.



If anyone would like the recipe let me know and I will email it to you. It is too long to post here.



Please visit this month's hosts blogs.
Saffron and Blueberry
Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux