The hubby and I are having some friends over on Saturday, so I have been baking and baking and baking–something besides macarons!  (Though I’m still baking those, too!  And I tried a new technique–piping on a squiggle of different-colored batter . . . but my squiggles aren’t exactly artistic.)

This year my grand ambition was to bake a Yule Log, and so I pulled out a couple of recipes last night and gave it a go.  The first recipe fell flat . . . the sponge cake bubbled up out of the pan and ended up being a bit leathery and thin.  It’s still edible, though, and after rolling it up and chopping off the end, I ate the end pieces and found that it tastes a bit like flour less cake . . . not exactly terrible.

But the second recipe, which called the separate beating of egg whites and egg yolks, worked like a charm.  The cake was fluffy, spongy, and didn’t spread out at all.  Furthermore, it rolled beautifully and came with a buttercream frosting recipe that was generous enough to coat both logs.

So, remembering what I learned from watching Julia Child on The French Chef, I made meringue mushrooms, coated the log, then sprinkled the log with cocoa (for color on the mushrooms) and powdered sugar (to give the effect of a light snow).

And so–ta da!  I know how to make a Yule Log.  🙂   My baking repertoire is growing steadily larger. How about yours?

Happy holiday baking!

~~Angie