Daring Bakers December Challenge

At the mild coaxing of a fellow High Park stroller mom, Tina, I joined the Daring Bakers. It's a worldwide group of people with a keen interest in baking, their skill levels range from amateur enthusiast to professional. I'm definitely on the amateur enthusiast end. I haven't even been the biggest baking fan because I feel like baking takes too long and has too many steps most of the time. I think this will be a great way to learn a lot more about the art and stretch my whisking muscles. 

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. And it was a whopper. 

I had my hands on this thing 4 different days - between baby naps and holiday obligations and all the work involved. It was a ton of work, mainly because of the individual elements, of which there were 6 - but divided into teeny tiny portions that feel like a lot of work for not a lot of result. I was glad to be visiting my parents and have my mom and sister's help or I may have abandoned the thing all together. 

The individual layers: creme brulee, mousse, ganache, praline feuillettes, and dacquoise didn't turn out as well as I had hoped but they weren't a complete disaster either. It was my first experience with a creme brulee and a pate a bombe and I think I did a respectable job of it. 

Thinking about how to decorate the cake was the most fun. I shaved some milk and dark chocolate to spread around the cake and bought a few decorative pieces at Bernard Callebaut, and finally added a touch of icing sugar to finish them off.

I'm really happy with the final result and it feels really, really good to be finished. I am looking forward to January's challenge with less trepidation than I did December's.