Miniature Buche de Noel

• A loaf of soft wheat, oat or other sandwich bread. I used “Arnold, Oat Bread”
  
   
• Coffee Buttercream ( recipe follows)
• Chocolate Ganache (recipe follows)
• Marzipan ( I used Odense)
• Red and green food coloring ( paste or McCormick bottled)
• Mercken’s  chocolate wafers (dark chocolate)
• a small bar of white chocolate
• Confectioner’s sugar

• small butter knife
• small serrated knife, or very sharp paring knife
• double boiler or Baine Marie ( you may use a small saucepan or heatproof bowl or Pyrex cup inside of a slightly larger saucepan.  Fill the larger saucepan with about an inch of water)
• small leaf cutter or leaf aspic cutter ( or Wilton holly and berries sprinkles)
• small pieces of white cardboard or small plates
• a small fork ( regular will work as well)
• small rolling pin or small cylindrical bottle or jar for rolling out the marzipan
• a cheese grater or Microplane zester
• A wire whisk
• a small and medium heatproof bowl

Slice the crusts off of you slice/s of bread. Spread the slices of bread with the coffee buttercream making sure to coat the whole slice of bread, even the very edges

Roll up the bread slice into a thin cylinder using the longest edge, tucking as you go to get a tight roll.

Place the slice with the edge facing down. Chill until firm about 15 minutes.

 

Spread the chilled log with softened, room temperature chocolate ganache.

Using a small cocktail fork, make lines in the ganache to mimic bark on a tree, and then chill the log another 15 minutes.

After you create the bark lines, chill again for 15 minutes.

After chilled, slice a small 1/2 inch piece off the end of the log diagonally and attach to the top of the end of the log. Add more lines using the flow of the cut branch as a guide.

Tint some marzipan green and roll out thinly on some confectioner's sugar. Use small leaf cutters to create holly or small green leaves.

Create the veins of the leaf using a sharp paring knife, but do not cut through the marzipan.

Tint some marzipan red and roll out tiny balls for the berries.

Roll out some natural-colored marzipan into a long, thin rope.

Slice small segments about 1/8-1/4 inches.Roll half of the segments into small balls and create a mushroom cap. Make a small hole in the center ( do not go all of the way through the cap) and Make the stems by pressing down on the segments after you have set them up straight.

Create a small hole using the small end of a chopstick.

Melt some dark chocoalte on low in a double boiler. Dunk the top end of the mushroom cap into the chocolate and place it in the hole of the mushroom cap.

Place the leaves, berries and chilled mushrooms on the log ( mushrooms grow in dark corners so place the mushrooms where you think they might actually grow on a real fallen log.

dip a small paintbrush in some melted chocolate and stipple the top of the mushroom.

Grate a small white chocolate bar over the log to make snow ( you could also use confectioner's sugar, however, the sugar melts into the chocolate after a period of time, so if you choose to use it, do it JUST before serving.

Display the mini Buche de Noel's in some greenery on a large platter so guests can serve themselves, or make each individually and place on gold-wrapped cardboard.

Coffee Buttercream

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp.

2- 1/2 Cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp vanilla

OR:

1/2 tsp Kahlua ( optional)- plus 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbs Heavy cream  (mixed with 1 tsp instant coffee powder mixed with 1 tsp hot water.)

• Cream the butter; Add the confectioner’s sugar and blend until smooth.
• Add the vanilla, heavy cream and coffee mixture.
• Whip 5 minutes or until desired consistency.
• Add more cream or a teaspoon of hot water a little at a time until creamy enough.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

2 Tbs. Unsalted butter

1/2-2/3  cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla or rum

2 Cups semi-sweet Chocolate chips

1 egg yolk

• Combine the heavy cream ,butter and vanilla or rum in a small saucepan and heat on low until steam rises up from the cream and it begins to shiver at the sides of the pan ( DO NOT let the cream come to a full boil or it will break).
• Meanwhile, combine the chocolate chips and the egg yolk in a medium heatproof bowl until evenly coated and very shiny.  When the cream mixture is heated, pour it directly over the chocolate chips all at once and begin stirring with a rubber scraper, moving up to a whisk.  whisk and stir quickly so that the hot cream does not cook the egg yolks. ( STIR at all time) Stir until the ganache is thick, shiny and until it does not look cloudy or soupy.  If it seems to thin, add a few more chips after whipping by hand. Whip the chips into the remaining ganache quickly.
• Chill the ganache for one hour in a small covered tupperware bowl of covered dish.  Bring to room temperature before using.
• * You may substitute up to 1/3 of the heavy cream with liquor (like rum).  But be VERY careful when heating as liquor is flammable

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