Buche de Noel

A Buche de noel was requested by my son, and inspired by Martha Stewart's guest chef Johnny Iuzzini. Check out this video for the recipe. I took 2 elements from the recipe: the cake and ganache. For the filling I made a raspberry mousse, but next year I would like to try the filling that is part of the Johnny Iuzzini recipe. I  made my mushrooms, holly leaves and berries out of marzipan, and did not use meringue as in the recipe. Using marzipan is much quicker, and very tasty! The silver coated candy almonds are left over from a food styling job I did last year.

Raspberry Mousse

• 500 ml ( 2 cups) fresh or frozen raspberries
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar
• 30 ml (2 tablespoons) water
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) gelatin ( 1 packet)
• 500 ml (2 cups) 35% whipping cream

• In a sauce pan, over low heat, simmer the first three ingredients until the sugar has dissolved (1-2 minutes). Over a bowl pass the raspberry "coulis" through a fine mesh sieve pressing down hard with a rubber spatula to force raspberries pulp through. Return the coulis to a clean saucepan. Dissolve the gelatin according to the manufacturer's instructions and combine with the still warm strained raspberry coulis. Return to the stove top over low heat, and stir to dissolve gelatin completely (1-2 minutes). Transfer to a medium sized bowl and let cool for 10 minutes. Whip cream and fold 1/4 of cream into raspberry coulis. Once fully blended add the rest of whipped cream and fold gently to combine. Let chill in refrigerator until set (several hours). To use as Buche filling: Spread the chilled mousse in an even layer over cake sheet leaving and inch border on all sides. Roll and continue as instructed in recipe.