Here's Chef CF's Christmas Log:
The Christmas Log we were taught to make basically consists of biscuit roulè base (like the sponge cake in a Swiss roll), imbibed with rum syrup and buttered on one side with chocolate buttercream (made using the French buttercream technique, which we learnt in the previous lesson). Then the sponge cake base is rolled tightly and covered with more buttercream. We scrape the buttercream with a special comb to create the wood-grain texture. We leave the cake in the refrigerator for a while so that the buttercream hardens, then we decorate the cake with marzipan leaves and so on.
Here's my creation (from different angles):
As you can see, I kept my design simple and uncluttered. I am really pleased with my effort because this is first time I've made a Christmas Log, and it turned out well. I included some chocolate shavings around my cake, and dusted the cake with icing sugar to create the effect of snow. Officially, I used chocolate shavings at the base of the log to simulate leaf litter and slivers of bark and woodchips. Unofficially, I used the chocolate shavings to cover the smudges on my cake board, which I could not clean very well... Hey, I'm learning to be a creative problem solver. ;-)
Chef T, who was supervising my practical class, showed me how to make the marzipan leaves. He does not speak a great deal of English (and I don't have enough French to converse with him), but he is very good at demonstrating how to do something. His techniques are easy for beginners to learn. I always learn a lot from Chef T when he is supervising the practical class.
