Daring Baker's: A tale of 4 Buttercreams

Yes, it is indeed that time of month again, a bit early, when the food blogging world is enveloped in the creations of the Daring Baker's. I think it is safe to say that this can be the favorite time of month for many blog readers, who look forward to learning the secret recipe and seeing how different our identical recipe will turn out.

Oh boy are they in for alot of variations this month!

Now I can't recall how it came about, but instead of having one new Daring Baker host this month's challenge, we instead were treated to a double hosting by none other than our wonderful and fearless leaders, Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, and Lis of La Mia Cucina! And they had a quite the challenge for us - A Yule Log!

Not just any yule log though, one made with a genoise cake, a meringue buttercream and either maripan or meringue mushrooms! Lots of steps, lots of ways to make the logs our own!

I decided to make mine a bit early, as usual, with an occasion in mind - parent teacher interviews and a teacher dinner. A few times a year, on nights when our schools teachers are going to be there quite late, a few of us volunteers donate various items and provide a meal for them. Call it a pot luck where we don't stay and eat anything. I volunteered to bring a dessert and took advantage of the opportunity to make my yule log early.

Which is where the "tale" of buttercream comes in. Get cozy, we are going to be here awhile....

I swear I almost pulled out my hair and gave up buttercream frostings forever! I kept having to remind myself, "Self! You have made croissants from scratch! You survived the dreaded crepe cake and lived to go on to puff pastry and cream puffs! You've made caramel swirls and twirled lots of hot sugar! There is not way a silly buttercream is going to defeat you now!"

My first attempt had me running to Tartlette for help. And help she tried, but that buttercream when into the garbage with a clunk!

Can you see the picture? Doesn't it look awful? For this one I believe my butter was still not warm enough, and I may not have heated my egg whites quite high enough (though after this attempt, Tartlette was kind enough to post the temperature we were aiming for on the DB blog, for all of us, which is 140F, btw.)

My next batch didn't even get a picture, but instead was poured down the drain with a plop, plop, plop.

Six sticks of butter wasted, so far. More out on my counter warming up to room temperature.

This awful picture is attempt #3. It was made the morning I needed to bring the Yule log into the school, on a day when I had to work all day and would have no time to run home and finish a dessert. Instead I took my cake, already filled with a chocolate ganache, rolled and cut, my lovely little meringue mushrooms (which were fun to make), an emergency batch of regular cake buttercream (icing sugar, chocolate and shortening), and some tools with me to work, along with this batch. I had hopes that a bit of a chill and then some hand mixing, might fix things a bit.

As you can see by the dark color of my log, so lovingly adorned with my cute mushrooms and dusted with "snow", it was a good thing I had that emergency icing with me. One more meringue buttercream down the drain. Four more egg whites gone, another 3 sticks of butter.

That's a full dozen eggs, 9 sticks of butter, and 3 cups of sugar, gone. If you are keeping track. I was. I was running out of ingredients and frankly, confidence and patience!

Tartlette was a very understanding lady, trying her best to see me through it, but my buttercreams were not cooperating! And I was getting angry and more and more stubborn about this - NO BUTTERCREAM IS GOING TO DEFEAT ME!!!

So I decided to break the rules and go looking for another meringue buttercream recipe. I was sure that Lis and Ivonne would be forgiving of me. Afterall, it's not like I didn't try. So who else would I turn to but Dorie for help? Yes, sure enough, there is one listed in Baking From My Home to Yours.

And you know what? Her recipe is identical in ingredients to the one we were using, except for the flavorings and .... I'D MADE IT BEFORE!!!!

So here I was, pulling out my hair, angry and frustrated and throwing ingredients down the drain trying to make a frosting, thinking I am a failure at a meringue buttercream when I wasn't. I was just missing a step or two.

As most of the Daring Baker's know now, the buttercream will curdle sometime while you are adding the butter in. Don't panic! It's okay! Just keep adding and when you are done, turn the mixer speed up and walk away for a few minutes! Let it mix and come together!

Which is what I did the next day, the day after I had committed to bringing in a lovely dessert to my children's school. Sure, they got a pretty yule log (and were highly complimentary about it the next day when I was in for my own interviews,) but it was not what I had planned or wanted to bring in. And of course now I had a batch of meringue buttercream and no yule log. No problem, however, as I had also committed to chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate frosting to my children's Tae Kwon-do Christmas party and now had a lovely, smooth, and light buttercream with which to decorate with.

I still had a need to make a "proper" yule log, and did just this past Thursday, with the help of my husband, for his work Christmas pot luck lunch. And this time my buttercream came out exactly as it was supposed to, the first and only time I had to make it! Yahoo!

I liked the mushrooms on this one better, and was happy to hear that many of my husband's co-workers though they were real mushrooms, decorating the dessert he had brought! Hehehe I knew they looked good but didn't think they looked that good!

And what I have learned from all of this? Well, first of all, I already knew I was stubborn. Now I know that I am VERY stubborn. I can pipe a mean mushroom, and can roll up a pretty cool Yule Log.

I also learned, when there was a small piece left over from the pot luck that I got to try, that I do not like this recipe. Lots of people ate it, and enjoyed it. I found it dull and boring, especially considering the work I put into it. Yes, the cake was moist and light. As was the buttercream, a fluff of chocolate (this one had been flavored with a 100g bar of Lindt 70% chocolate, so it was not lacking in chocolate flavor.) I just didn't enjoy the flavor.

Maybe it was tied to my emotions throughout the process. After the turmoil I'd experienced trying to get a finished product, I needed it to taste like the most amazing thing I had ever eaten!

Oh well, what are you going to do?

Personally, I'm going to now direct you over to the Daring Baker's Blogroll, where you can link to up to 400 other yule log baking experiences! For the recipe to make your own, be sure to visit either Lis or Ivonne.

Go on... I dare you!