It’s the end of another month which means it’s time to reveal the Daring Bakers recipe for December. And the Challenge this month is…

                                           A 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

For me, I think this was the most complex of challenges since I joined the Daring Bakers last spring. It’s my understanding the recipes for the 6 different elements were originally written in French and then translated to English.  The ingredients for each were given in metric and US measurements and this proved quite daunting since two different ingredients may have had the same metric value but completely different US values.

The 6 individual element requirements for this challenge were the following:

1. Dacquoise biscuit (my choice… almond)
2. Mousse (my choice… dark chocolate)
3. Ganache insert (my choice… dark chocolate)
4. Feuillete insert (crisp) (my choice… white chocolate coconut)
5. Creme Bruleé insert (my choice… vanilla)
6. Icing (my choice… dark chocolate)

Since I do not have a yule log pan or even a half-round pan, I made this in a standard loaf pan and because I had quite a bit of the dacquoise biscuit I used it to “book-end” the remaining elements. 

In the photo above, from the top down we have buttercream icing as decoration, the required icing layer, the almond dacquoise layer, the dark chocolate mousse layer, the vanilla creme brulee layer, another layer of dark chocolate mousse, the white chocolate coconut crisp layer, another very thin layer of dark chocolate mousse, the dark chocolate ganache layer and finally another almond dacquoise layer.  Apologetically I will say my layers look awful.  I truly struggled with getting them into the pan properly and this shows quite sadly in the finished product.

The first layer I made was the white chocolate coconut crisp. Instead of making a praline gavotte (lace-thin crepe) to use for the crunch, I decided to use the optional puffed rice.  I found the directions to be less than optimal for this and ended up making a mistake.  After completing this layer I realized i should have ground up my puffed rice (rice krispies w/o sugar) and added it to the melted white chocolate and toasted coconut instead of using the puffed rice whole.  After the layer had spent a few hours in the freezer, I ran it thru the food processor so it ended up that I sprinkled it into the final assembly.  This might have been a wise move considering I read quite a few comments from early finishers who stated their crisp layer was difficult to cut.  I just wish my crisp layer was more aesthetically pleasing (though it tasted amazing and I will make that again!).

When I first read the recipe I was completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of pages.  I counted a total of 19 pages in the full .doc version and almost gave up right there!  Then I realized most of the pages were dedicated to variations and options – whew!  Breaking it down into the separate elements, they really weren’t all that difficult but they did require thought, planning and most of all serious preparation.  I made my flavor choices so that the end result would be no sweeter than necessary since all that chocolate could be completely over-the-top and cloyingly sweet.

In the final analysis, the individual components were very tasty and my family enjoyed this dessert.  My two favorite layers were the creme brulee and the white chocolate coconut crisp.  I think the majority of the component recipes were more complex than necessary and as a result this is not a recipe I would make again. I think the concept is fantastic however and in the off-chance I were to make this again I would do so using my own go-to recipes for most of the components.  

This month’s Daring Bakers challenge was not for the faint of heart.  If you, yourself, are feeling rather daring, the full recipe can be found here on hostess Hilda’s website.

Have a delicious day!

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