Yule Be Surprised

This is my third Daring Baker challenge and, given the previous drama in my kitchen, I was surprised how little drama accompanied the Yule Log recipe. The Yule Log recipe was chosen by the fantabulously brilliant founders of the Daring Bakers, Lis of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice.

The Yule Log recipe was divided into three parts:

1) Decorative Mushrooms - meringue or marzipan
2) Genoise - cake
3) Buttercream Icing

I chose to make mushrooms out of marzipan. The opportunity to pretend to play with clay was too great to resist. When I was mixing the icing sugar, almond paste and corn syrup my poor blender groaned to a halt. After I chiseled out the half mixed marzipan, I kneaded it by hand. The marzipan turned out silky smooth and ready to roll. In order to make the mushrooms, I had to wait until my family was out of the house; otherwise everyone would have wanted to play with the marzipan.
The genoise was straightforward but cooked much faster than the time indicated in the recipe. It was done at 8-9 minutes. It was a bit dry as a result, but this could have been corrected with a syrup or liquor.

The last part of the three part recipe was the buttercream icing. This was the big technical challenge for me. I delayed long enough to hear of the other Daring Baker's challenges when their icing was runny or curdled.

But every Daring Baker should take a bow! A big thank you to all the adventurous and early bird Daring Bakers. Because of your experience, expertise and willingness to educate the group, my buttercream was perfect.

Smooth, silky, tasty....

That success can only be credited this great group of Daring Bakers because I had absolutely no experience with this icing. But I loved the buttercream icing and would definitely make it again. My version of the buttercream icing included squares of baking chocolate but no liquor (as this seemed to curdle many a Daring Baker's icing). I dusted the entire confection with cocoa and shared with good friends. A big thank you to all the Daring Baker's and to Lis and Ivonne, the hostesses this month.

Merry Christmas to everyone!