Part 2 of my Daring Bakers December Challenge

Thank you to our founders of the Daring Bakers Ivonne and Lisa for picking this month's recipe. After reading my post and you are interested in making this dessert please visit Ivonne's blog for the complete recipe.

When I found out that this month's challenge was going to be making a Yule Log I was excited. It is one of those things that you always want to make but never really get around to it because there are already so many desserts at the Christmas table. Well who cares really...you can never have to many desserts!

I started to make the Meringue mushrooms on Saturday so I am not doing everything in one day. This is another thing that I have always wanted to make and just never really had the reason to do it. I felt that this was an easy recipe to make and follow...I actually had fun making these and feel with a little practise I can make really great looking mushrooms. Some of my stems fell over and I don't know if I made them thick enough. The one good thing about that is nature doesn't make every one exactly the same and neither did I. (see my post Part 1 of my Daring Bakers December Challenge for pictures of the finished mushrooms)

On Sunday I made the cake and buttercream which also went really well and it helped that I had my in-laws over to watch Jacob. I was worried about the buttercream part with all the horror stories I was reading on the DB website. We were allowed to make the cake any flavor we wanted too and my husband suggested Chocolate which who can say no to that!! I kept the buttercream flavor as coffee because I just felt it was easier to do that. The only little problem I hit was when I went to roll my log up...it break with every roll I did. Good thing is that it will be covered in more buttercream and no one will know it happened.

My review: I haven't tasted the Yule Log yet because we are serving it for dessert on Christmas Eve...I have tasted the butter cream and mushrooms which both taste YUMMY! I didn't think that any part was hard to make but I was just a little nervous about making them. Buttercream can be problematic and my jellyroll technique needs some practise but all in all it wasn't a bad experience. I don't know if i would make it all again but it isn't on the NEVER AGAIN list. I might make the mushrooms again soon because those came out just too cute and I might try to put faces on them...lol.

I wrote up my post too soon because I did the dumbest thing...well sort of. I read the directions on how to put the log together and thought I had everything correct. I saw that it said to put in the frig after you roll it for several hours...I didn't see anything mentioned about the remaining buttercream. So I put that in a container and into the frig as well. The experience buttercream people are probably shaking their heads but as a beginner I didn't know any better. It was hard as a rock and I didn't know what to do so I panic. I thought it I beat it in the mixer again it would soften up...no it curdled...but I knew what to do thanks to the DB website again. I put it over simmering water and whipped it back to life.