Yule Log 2019: Whimsy!

The inspiration for this year’s Yule Log comes from a children’s book titled, “Little Owl’s Night” by Divya Srinivasan that I read to my son a hundred times. The book’s imagery of the forest at night and its whimsical story gave me a very clear image of what this log would be!

Since the plan involved mostly making cookies, I decided that my new challenge would be to make fondant for the very first time. I found a woodgrain fondant stamp and chose a recipe for homemade chocolate marshmallow fondant. It looked okay…

…but the taste and texture were lacking. I thought the marshmallow component and being homemade would mean the fondant would be tastier than traditional fondant, which I don’t like. My fondant sort of tasted like Tootsie Rolls but drier. It was also a lot of work! Making the cookies was much easier, with a far more delicious result.

The owls were almond-tinged sugar cookies with whole almonds placed for the ears and beaks. The snail shells were chocolate and vanilla pinwheel cookies. I decided to use green-tinted marzipan for the snail bodies. This was my inspiration for the snail.

I used melted white chocolate for the whites of the owl’s eyes and to glue on slivered almond feathers (which I lightly toasted beforehand for some color and flavor) and a bit of melted dark chocolate for the pupils. The snail bodies were a little more neon than I was going for.

The cake was a vanilla cake roll with a caramel pastry cream filling. The cake roll was a little too eggy-tasting for me, but the delicious pastry cream saved it.

All in all, the visual effect was a big success. Flavor-wise, I definitely would change a few things. And I don’t plan on using fondant again because the whole point of a Yule Log is beautiful, edible, and delicious.

Instead of ending on that note, here are some gingerbreads we made.