Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Piquant & Sweet: A Lemon-Chocolate Yule Log via The Daring Bakers Kitchen


And so it is the end of 2008. What better way to celebrate the sweet and piquant memories of the year past that with lemons and chocolate!! 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.

I was a little alarmed when I saw the length of this recipe. My primary concern was the number of eggs that make an appearance therein. We do eat eggs here but they are really not our favourite food. I do bake with eggs and where possible eliminate the yellows and I dislike the smell and taste of the same. I have tweaked this recipe as per our tastes and have made several substitutions along the way. This recipe is excellent and tweaks and will it yields a beautiful and utterly delicious dessert.

Lemon-Chocolate Yule Log
While the complete December Challenge can be found at SaffBlue's Google Group , my experience with this recipe is blogged below. Firstly, i have to say that I chose to half the recipe at the outset. To this end I chose a small loaf pan top assemble the dessert.

Element 1: Dacquoise Biscuit (Almond Cake) with Lemon
I followed the recipe and added some lemon zest and extract into the batter just before baking. I got a beautifully golden, moist, melt in the mouth cake.


Element 2: Eggless Dark Chocolate Chantilly
Again I followed the recipe here substituting the milk chocolate with the dark chocolate. The taste was spectacular!

Element 3: Dark Chocolate Ganache Insert
I followed the recipe as given - only the butter I used was salted.


Element 4: Praline Feuillete Insert
Things were going well and so I got adventurous and decided to make the Gavottes or lacy crepes myself. I found the recipe really simple, skipped the vegetable oil, and baked the crepe for around 25 minutes to get the desired level of crispness. Then I make some fresh almond praline and voila a dark chocolate crisp insert!


Element 5: Lemon Creme Brulee

Ingredients:
2tbsp granulated sugar
2 heaped tbsp cornflour
2tbsp cup water
1 cup soy milk (I used light version of vanilla soy sense)
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
1tsp lemon extract

Warm the water soy milk. Blend the cornflour and sugar into it taking care to eliminate all lumps. Place on a low heat and cook stirring constantly for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, let the cream cool, then add the lemon zest and extract. This is a variation on a recipe that I have long used to get using for custards and pastry creams!!

Element 6: Dark Chocolate Icing
I followed the original recipe by substituting agar-agar instead of the gelatin.

The Grand Finale
I prepared all elements of the cake on the same day. I kinda got on a roll once I started and became excited about the final result. Once all the elements were ready, I lined the loaf pan with some cling film and then some acetate. the layering for this cake is as follows:

Dacquoise Biscuit
Dark Chocolate Mousse
Lemon Creme Brulee
Dark Chocolate Mousse
Praline Feuillete Insert
Dark Chocolate Mousse
Dark Chocolate Ganache
Dacquoise Biscuit


I stuck the cake in the freezer, and I will ice it when we eat it. As it has been festive season, we are currently OD'ed on sweets and it just did not seem right to dive into it immediately. But having tasted virtually every element as I prepared it, I am assured that this cake is going to be delightful!!!! I will update this post in a few days when I intend to serve this for dessert. Meanwhile enjoy the photographs of the cake in preparation.

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16 comments:

  1. Mmmm...lemon creme brulee, I bet that is fantastic! Hope it all melds well.

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  2. The lemon biscuit and creme brulee sound wonderful. I hope it tastes as good as it sounds.

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  3. Happy New Year to you & our Family!

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  4. Lemon brulee what a taste!!! Great that you can tweak the recipe to suit your taste. YES it is one of the best tasting dessert I have ever had. I'm sure you will enjoy it. Happy New Year to you and your family and friends.

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  5. Lemon is one of my all time favorite flavors - adding it to the dacquoise sounds heavenly!

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  6. Lemon-Chocolate Yule Log sounds yummy! Gonna try this element in the future bake... Thank you for stopping by my blog too. :)
    Lynn

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  7. I also added some citrus (orange, not lemon though) to mine and it was LOVELY - hope yours is just as yummy!!

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  8. Your Yule Log seems to be really tasty!
    It's amazing how we have followed the same guidelines (6 recipes, stacked together), but your final result seems to taste so differently good!
    I'd love to taste this fresh citrus variation.
    - Higa

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  9. I like the idea of the lemon, and I'm so impressed that everything went so smoothly for you.

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  10. Lemon sounds like a good addition, Apu.

    I managed to avoid the eggs everywhere except the dacquoise! And I think this log is my favourite challenge with the Danish, to date.

    A Happy New year.

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  11. Lemon chocolate is a good combination. Enjoy and well done.

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  12. You did a fabulous job on your yule log!

    Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

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  13. I'm sure it was delightful! Happy New Year!

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  14. So how did it finally taste? Mmmmmmmmmmm...must have been yummy, & I bet it mustn't have stayed in the freezer for too long!

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  15. I want to see the finished thing! I bet it looks super. Also, yours sounds so interesting-- I've never tried chocolate-lemon anything.

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Welcome to Annarasa! I hope you enjoyed visiting my virtual kitchen. As you savour your taste tour, leave me a note, post a query, share your thoughts. I will do my best to respond to every comment :)

Apu @ Annarasa