Yule Be Happy To Know I Made It!

Well I don't know if ya'll will really be happy or not, but I am. I didn't think I would be able to participate this month. Yeah, wouldn't that have been nice? One of the co-founders has to take a powder on the month she is co-hosting! Gah. This lil log o'mine took me 5 days to make, but it's done and I'm kinda liking it! The best part was after I streaked some melted chocolate onto the buttercream frosting, Hubbs looked over and said it looked like a log! Yay! Usually he looks over and wonders out loud what the hell I'm trying to make now. My frosting skills.. well, we all know how bad my frosting skills are. ;) And then, since it looked like a log, he came over to investigate further as I was putting my first meringue mushroom together and decided he'd like to help! HAR! That does not happen often. So this month's Daring Baker Challenge - The Yule Log - hosted by my lovely partner Ivonne and I, was quite a trip. Between taking care of my mom, an unusually busy month at work and getting ready for Christmas, I had to do one component a night - and I missed 2 nights due to stuff I just listed! I'm happy to say that I did not have any problems with any part of the Yule log. My mushrooms came out pretty decently and the cake worked just fine.. I had a lil unsure moment or two during the buttercream. I was already nervous making it after reading all the horror stories on the DB blog about curdling and separating, but I took my time and, of course, called my Guru to walk me through the butter part. Voila! Perfect coffee buttercream was had! I can't tell ya'll how it tastes though - it's for tomorrow night's festivities, but I went with the chocolate version of the genoise and I absolutely SLAVED over the filling. Do you have ANY IDEA what it takes to pull the lid off a carton of Cool Whip?? :P Yes, I filled the log with chocolate Cool Whip. ;) Go me!! heee! So without further ado, here is my Yule log! Many, many thanks to Ivonne - just for being you. :D And triple that thanks to Helene for pretty much taking over the reigns of this challenge for Ivonne and I when we couldn't be there for any questions or concerns.. which was the whole fakkin month. Ugh! Thank you sweetheart, I don't know what I'd do without you!xoxo You can find the recipe on that gorgeous and sexy Canadian Creampuff's site here. I must end this quickly as I've got the calamari sauce on the stove and Michel Richard's Faux Gras in the oven! squeeeeeeee! Head on over to the blogroll, kids.. and be amazed at the creativity that our members used for their Yule logs - you won't be disappointed! :D Happy Holidays everyone! xoxo