Buche de Noel

My projects almost always start on a whim. Ambitious whims, more often than not, fueled by pride and an unwavering belief in success. This year's holiday whim was to make a buche de noel. I had never made a buche de noel before, nor had I ever attempted meringue mushrooms, and the one time I previously tried a roll-up cake, it didn't go so well. But none of that deterred me, for I was determined to make the most excellent buche de noel anyone had ever seen. 

And you know what? I did. 

Despite some frustrating hiccups during the preparation and assembly, the overall result was stunning, if I may say so myself. (Because I am, and will continue to do so. I was, and am, immensely pleased for having done this.) 

But of course, me being me means that this was no ordinary buche de noel. While the traditional ones are an actual roll of sponge cake around a ganache or frosting center, I decided to make mine out of layer upon layer of crepes. Why? you ask. Because does one spiral a tree-limb make? No. Absolutely not. Trees have rings! Lots and lots and lots of rings. And the best way to achieve this faux-ring look? Lots and lots of thin layers. Hence, crepes. It was a stroke of genius, and one full heartedly supported by my husband, who does not like cake. 

Well since the rings themselves were so important to me, so were the colors. I did a traditional crepe batter, unflavored, and in between them spread a peanut butter filling that I made by mixing peanut butter with butter and powdered sugar. I then rolled the crepes on top of one another, overlapping each a little to keep them from slipping. I then trimmed it and let it rest in the fridge so it would hold its shape. 

The other components of this cake were little meringue mushrooms and a bed of sprouted chia seed grass. Yes, you read that right. Sprouted chia seed grass. I made an actual forest floor for my log to rest on. Chia seeds are immensely easy to sprout, and although mine did not quite open as much as I thought they would, it still worked. 

The mushrooms did end up looking how I imagined, but they were by far the most troublesome pieces of this whole adventure. I live in Washington, where it is nearly always damp, which is the enemy of good meringues. They constantly fell apart, or started going gooey, and the tops kept sliding off the bottoms, despite the little ganache glue I used to keep them together. But honestly, they looked nice for the pictures, and that was all that mattered. 

The frosting was a simple chocolate ganache, spread unevenly like a rough bark. The branch and the mushrooms were attached with a little more ganache, and some finely shredded unsweetened coconut made a nice bed of snow, followed by a dusting of powdered sugar. 

It was a perfect Christmas dessert, and we enjoyed it in front of a roaring fire with glasses of champagne. When I asked Reid if he would rather have had real cake, he said no, and that he would choose crepes over cake every time. 

So here is to a project I can be proud of, one I wasn't sure I could pull off, but did. And here is to already thinking about next year's. Cheers! 

And Merry Christmas/Holidays to all! I hope this season has treated you well and I look forward to moving into the New Year with you.