Christmas Day preview...

[rivka]

Yay. Just yay.

It's been so incredibly hard to leave this castle hidden away in the box, instead of getting it out to play with right away. Especially after my folks gave Alex an extra set of little medieval figures that match the castle, when we celebrated with them last weekend. They've been a very popular toy already, and so I can only imagine how much more fun it will be to have the castle to go with them.

It folds open so you can reach the interior spaces, which include a dungeon.



There's a working drawbridge, and a separate working portcullis that cranks open slowly and then, if necessary, slams down quickly.



Look at all the gorgeous little painted details - the banners, the ivy, the brick detailing. It's got just the right mix of inspiring features and leaving-it-to-your-imagination. I love it.

The baking report: I kept struggling with how to describe this dessert to people without invoking a Little Debbie Swiss Cake Roll. But in fact, of course, it's a buche de Noel, made with gingerbread instead of chocolate cake. Also? It's the most challenging thing I've ever baked.

It would've been a great recipe for someone who had two separate stand mixers, or perhaps an ultra-high-powered hand mixer. That person might even have finished it in the 45 minutes that Food & Wine estimated it would take. For someone who kept having to scrape things into separate bowls and wash the mixer, it took... a lot longer.

I think it's going to be good. I kept running into challenges: the rimmed baking pan I thought was 12x17 was 10.5x15; the little bulb of fresh ginger I bought didn't grate up to as much as I thought it would; when it came time to unmold, my biggest cutting board turned out to be slightly smaller than the gingerbread.

I should've taken a picture of the gingerbread batter before I baked it, because it was the most ridiculously light and foamy thing I've ever seen. Honestly, it looked like it could've come out of a spray can, and yet it had all those lovely substantial gingerbread-spice scents to it. And damn me if it didn't unmold perfectly from the pan, just as the recipe assured me it would.



The cream filling was made in two separate parts: in part one, I beat some softened cream cheese with cinnamon and gelatin dissolved in water, and in part two I whipped creme fraiche with confectioner's sugar. When I folded them together at the end, they didn't really 100% fold together; the result was kind of lumpy. Maybe they'll meld beautifully in the fridge, or maybe the filling will just have unexpected nuggets of cream cheese.

After the filling went on the gingerbread, I just rolled it up like I'd roll a towel. The gingerbread cracked. A lot. I don't think there's any way it could not have cracked, but maybe I did something wrong? Or maybe not, because - as you can see in the top picture - the cracking sort of heightens the "in the right light, and after a few drinks, I could look kind of like a Yule log" effect.

The last step of the recipe is to wrap the whole thing tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for several hours - in this case, overnight. I think just by wrapping it I tightened down the outrageous puffiness you see in the first picture above, and I expect it will firm and compact a bit more as the cream filling soaks into the gingerbread a bit.



I hope it's good. The whole house certainly smells good. And just constructing it gave me quite a sense of accomplishment. But obviously the ideal would be for it also to taste good. We shall see.

Merry Christmas!

Comments

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

That castle is so awesome!

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Oh, very spiffy castle! And I'm sure the roll will taste good!

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Oh, that castle is *great*. She's going to love it.

The gingerbread roll looks heavenly. I look forward to the report on how it tastes.

[tassie-gal.livejournal.com]

WANT! (both the roll AND the castle!)

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

The castle is gorgeous.

I think you should just accept the cracks as part of the log effect. I've seen similar recipes that say you have to roll up the cake (without filling) hot out of the oven, and then once it's cooled, fill it, to get less cracks.

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, I understand the baking challenges today. I tried a new pie (pear/ginger/maple) and I think it may not be 100% from: not being able to find the pears it called for, using meyer lemon zest instead of regular lemon zest (I was intrigued by the meyer's, I admit!). And my pignoli bars don't taste as super awesome as usual (the meyer's again, that I also zested for this recipe?).

On the other hand I skipped the meyer lemon zest in the spice cake and went for 1/2 tsp regular lemon juice instead. And the cream cheese icing? Awesome! It'll be put together tomorrow, right after dinner. The recipe, from cake to icing to brown sugar glaze, is 2 Tbs. short of using a pound of butter.

I love the castle!

[papersky.livejournal.com]

That is a great castle. I bet she loves it.

And a great log. Wow. Of course, they always crack. It looks terrific.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I love your Christmas icon!!

[ricevermicelli.livejournal.com]

That castle is the awesome. Alex should have a blast with it. I understand how difficult it must have been to not get it out and play with it yourself.

I hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas, and making up for your previous self-restraint regarding the new toys.

[geekymary.livejournal.com]

Wow, buche de noel! I briefly considered it this year, but the recipe I found called for making a genoise, so I ran and hid. (I made a pie instead). I applaud you, and it looks great! Yummy!

Merry Christmas!

[zingerella.livejournal.com]

I was wondering, today, whether you could do Buche with gingerbread. Good to know one might; however, given your report on the recipe, I'm not sure I'll try it any time soon. Brava!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Actually? It turned out to be totally worth the stress and effort. It was AMAZING.

[zingerella.livejournal.com]

YAY!

I shall add that to my list of experiments for when I get to do Christmas dessert (my aunt has dibs on dessert, on account of she got dibs when I was too little to have a say in these matters. So I generally get to bring a Vegetable Something and cookies (since I've been doing cookies since shortly after my aunt started bringing desserts).

Someday, thouugh, I shall have a house or apartment in which I can host Christmas, and I shall call dibs on dessert! Bwahahaha!!!!!

Ahem.

sorry.

I'm glad it turned out! Hoooray!

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

Wonderful, both the castle and the roll. Good job!

Castle

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Wow. I want one.

B

Re: Castle

[rivka.livejournal.com]

You're welcome to come by and play with it whenever you're on this side of the country.