More Dessert Stories. Part Two: Buche de Noel

We were invited to a dinner party, and I was asked to bring dessert. As the party was the day after Christmas, and we're still in the official sugar holidaze, nothing but a Buche de Noel would do. So, in the midst of whipping up that Trifle, I was also carefully crafting the decorations for the buche.
If you've never seen a Buche de Noel, check out this wonderful post from Dorie Greenspan on the Parisian art that is the Buche.
The traditional "yule log" cakes are wonderful treats. They may look fancy, but they're really just a jelly roll. A genoise, or sponge cake, is coated in a tasty filling, rolled up,
then covered in ganache or frosting, and decorated to resemble a log. I've made these before and, really, I just love the fussiness of all the preparations.
There are the meringue mushrooms. Tasty on their own, these meringue confections are a breeze to make and they impress everyone! As Maida Heater, Goddess of Chocolate Desserts, suggests, just tumble the little meringues in a straw lined basket for a fabulous centerpiece, then pass it around for dessert. They last for a month if the atmosphere is dry. (Humidity turns them sticky.)
There is the marzipan. Kneaded with food coloring then sculpted into leaves, berries or whatever makes you happy. I had fun with the leaves. Thought about sculpting other things, but I wasn't happy with the execution. I need more practice! Marzipan also lasts forever, which means both mushrooms and marzipan can be made well in advance of making the buche.
Some Parisian buches are decorated with little people and I just love the idea of creating a whole winter wonderland, but there is the issue of GIANT LOGS and little teeny marzipan people - hey, it's all about scale! Nevertheless, I scurried around the house, checking out all the doo-dads that I've collected for Christmastime, just to see what I might be able to include in the wintry scene.
These cats and dogs look a little scary up close.

(seriously, what's with the tree growing out of that cat's head?)

These little heads are fun, a little weird... but still not right...
I finally landed on the Christmas Tree Angels. They fit in perfectly.
I prepped the huge silver platter (my grandmother's - what the heck did she do with this thing? it weighs a ton.) with greens and holly branches. Then, covered a piece of cardboard in foil, as I wanted to be able to frost the cake away from the platter, and, anyway, I couldn't fit the massive platter in the refrigerator.
I used Martha Stewart's recipe for the cake, making genoise,
ganache and mousse.
What isn't mentioned in her recipe is the need for hours!!!! of chilling. I wish, in retrospect, I had made the cake and the mousse the day before the party. I would have rolled the cake up in the morning of the party, then frosted it a couple of hours later.
As it was, I baked the cake in the morning of the party, and made the mousse around noon, and I was a little worried it there wouldn't be time to set up and chill properly.
All in all, it was a lot of fun to make. It was certainly enjoyed by everyone at the party, and made quite a splash. The buche served 8 easily, with a couple of pieces and a handful of meringue mushrooms left for the host & hostess.
So, no recipe in this post. Just a little bragging. It is pretty, don'tcha think?

A Tale of Two Desserts- Part One: Trifle

It's a perfect Christmas here at our house. It's our tradition to spend the day together, just the two of us (plus dog and cat.) We enjoy a leisurely breakfast - today I made apple fritters and, for me, a couple of my homemade breakfast sausages. We lingered around the tree with our coffee and tea, opening gifts and making and receiving holiday phone calls.
The afternoon has been spent watching movies on TV, noshing on whatever we could find in the fridge. That included last night's leftover Parisian-style gnocchi with butternut squash and shitake mushrooms.
But this post isn't about breakfast, or about dinner. It's about dessert.

At the last minute, I invited a friend to have Christmas Eve dinner with the two of us. Now, if dinner had just been the two of us, I wouldn't have made any dessert. Dennis is perfectly happy without sweet temptations and I'm so happy to have them, I'll eat too much. But with another dessert eater coming over, I was ready to give in to temptation.

Just two days ago, in a lovely Christmas moment, a friend sent us an astonishingly delicious butter rum cake from Sugar & Spike. It was so good, and with a nudge from that same friend, thought suddenly about Trifle.

A traditional holiday sweet, trifle is made up of jam-smeared cake slices, doused in booze, then layered with creme anglaise/vanilla cream and fruit. Several of these layers are then topped with sweetened whipped cream.
I could already tell this butter rum cake would layer beautifully in a trifle. I peered into the depths of the refrigerator and saw about 3 oz of apricot glaze leftover from tart-making, three egg yolks leftover from some meringue art (post forthcoming,) - those would make a beautiful vanilla sauce, just add cream and milk and vanilla bean. I had some raspberries and blueberries. And there were all the wonderful liqueurs from the summer fermenting. In a glorious moment of inspiration, I remembered David Lebovitz' candied cherries (from A Perfect Scoop.) Suddenly, a trifle was born. I put it together in the early afternoon. By the dessert hour, it was heavenly. While making the trifle, I thought "this is how trifle came to be." finding bits and pieces all around the kitchen that come together in delicious beauty.
Trifle
Serves 4

Leftover pound cake, stollen or pannetone, about six slices
Jam - raspberry or apricot seems best
Brandy or Apricot or Peach liqueur
Vanilla custard (3 egg yolks, 1/4 c sugar, 1/2 c milk, 1/2 c cream, 1 tsp vanilla)
1 pt Raspberries, blueberries
Candied cherries**
1/2 c whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks
A beautiful glass bowl, about 1 qt size

Make the vanilla custard. Heat the cream and milk (I use the microwave and heat for about a minute.)
In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks. Stream in the cream/milk mixture slowly, whisking all the time. Keeping the heat at medium, stirring constantly, the custard should thicken in about 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla. Continue to heat until slightly thickened - stir with a wooden spoon, then drag your finger through the custard on the back of the spoon. When the line remains, the custard is done.)
Strain through a sieve into a bowl set in an ice bath, to cool the custard quickly.
Now make the trifle.
Start by spreading jam on one side of the cake slices.
Begin the layers with two or three slices of the cake pressed into the bottom of the bowl.
Sprinkle a healthy slosh of liqueur over the cake.
Add a few raspberries.
Add 1/3 of the custard.
Start again with the jammy cake slices - and repeat the whole process two more times.
Cover with plastic and pop in the 'fridge for at least two hours.
No more than two hours before you are going to serve the trifle, cover the top with whipped cream.
If you have raspberries left over, place them on the top of the trifle.
**I made the candied cherries using some sour cherry jam I made last summer than never quite jelled. I just cooked them down forever until all the liquid was gone, then carefully plucked them apart onto parchment paper to dry a bit. The recipe/idea from A Perfect Scoop - an indispensible ice cream cookbook by David Lebovitz. It's such a treasure, I suggest you put it on your wish list right away!)

Chill the trifle well and serve cold.

Merry Christmas from my kitchen to yours.

Christmas Eve appetizers gravlax, dill mustard, marcona almonds, kalamata olives,
Stoneyman Gourmet Farmer Hillandale Tomme. jack rose cocktails.