Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Yule Love This French Log


It's time to introduce this month's Daring Bakers Challenge!
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. 
This multi-layered frozen dessert features six elements:  Dacquoise Biscuit (Almond Cake), Mousse, Ganache, Praline (Crisp), Creme Brulee, and Icing.  We were given a lot of leeway in terms of flavours this time, and I have to say that my favorite part ended up being the mousse.

I chose to make a maple mousse, which was actually quite simple.  I used one box of mori-nu silken tofu and 1/2 cup maple syrup.  Blend in food processor for 2 minutes.  That's it!  It's so light and full of flavour, I wanted to eat it all on its own without adding it to the yule log but instead I resorted to licking the spatula ;)  It was well worth the wait though, because it is absolutely delightful once it's frozen.  I think this summer I might toss this in the ice cream maker and see how it fares as "ice cream".
 Also, since I've pretty much had enough chocolate over the holidays to last until next year, I went with a vanilla ganache.  My vegan creme brulee was more like a blanc mange (vanilla pudding) but at least I kept with the french theme?!  With all of the vanilla and maple layers it's hard to distinguish one layer from the next other than the almond cake and chocolate praline, but they each have their own flavour that blend harmoniously with the other layers.  It takes a bit of time to put this together but it really is a nice dessert to serve if you have guests over.  
You can find the original (non-vegan) recipe posted at Florilege Gourmand.

6 comments:

Hilda said...

I'm always so impressed by the vegan versions of the challenges because it takes extra oomph to adapt all of that (especially when it's a long recipe like this one). You did beautifully and I bet that maple mousse was super tasty (I love maple). Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

I love the mold that you used- so creative! Here I was, thinking about how I might have to buy a big bucket and cut off the top, bottom, and then side to make it work for plan B... Duh, a soda bottle would work so much better! Good thing it never came to that and my original plan worked.

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

decadent! mmm

Anonymous said...

Maple! What a freaking brilliant idea! Your log looks just loverly, and I love your new look over here!

aTxVegn said...

I think discovering frozen mousse was the best part about doing this challenge. I love your vanilla version!

Tricia said...

bravo! my husband loved this challenge because everytime i completed an element i would bring his a taste. then he got to eat it when it was all put together as well. double whammy! great job on yours. esp going to the trouble of veganizing it.