Hmm, it was really time that I shared my Christmas log with you. I think I've put my finger on why I wasn't in the mood this year: with my new freelance activity (which means both total fun but also lower income and no outings) I didn't do a single store for Christmas. As a result, I didn't really let myself be overwhelmed by the decoration craze. At the same time, I think I've always found this holiday too commercial. I dream of more authenticity and simplicity and I believe that's exactly what is reflected this year in my lemon raspberry meringued log.
Besides, I was telling you last year when I chose the December theme for the Foodista challenge, I like to shake up traditions. So this year I didn't feel like a log-shaped log and I designed mine like a wedding cake (in layers therefore). I wanted it super simple, without complicated cream and without having to spend hours on it.
It's a very simple Victoria's cake base with lemon, soaked with brix syrup to keep it moist and generously covered with lemon curd (a lemon cream for non-English speakers) and sprinkled with raspberries. I really like the lemon/raspberry mix where the acidity of the lemon plays ping-pong with the sugar of the meringue and the fruity side of the raspberries (yes, in my house we play 3-way ping-pong, that's how it is!).
I'm not really satisfied with the visual which I find lacks elegance. My meringue petals are a bit thick and would have benefited from being thinner. But anyway, it's the first time I've done this technique and I'll try again because I think this kind of assembly can have potential. For the slope of the gradient, I opted for cake discs of different sizes.
I got a bit tied up with the different sized entremets rings I had but if I'd thought for two seconds, I would have made a sheet (like a rolled biscuit) that I would have cut to the right dimensions. So that's what I strongly encourage you to do (you'll just need to find mixing bowls, bowls, pots with the right diameter to use as cookie cutters).
My base was 22 cm and I had about 2 cm between each level to create this slope (I had some leftover scraps that I recycled into verrines!). The petals meringue is a French meringue and I had covered my log with Italian meringue to make them stick but it was a bit too sweet. So I'm correcting the recipe for you so you can instead cover with lemon curd (after all, I should have guessed, it's so good that there's never enough!).
For the petals, I piped French meringue (which bakes in the oven so) in circles of 3 different sizes. Then with my thumb I stretched some of the mixture to make a peak. It's a technique I learned at my chocolate workshop at Lenôtre. As I was saying I should have piped my meringues a bit more finely but well, I'll know for next time (and you know it now).
For assembly it's super simple, you just need to place a first circle of cake, generously brush with lemon curd, arrange the raspberries and start again with the top slice a bit smaller, until stocks run out! Super simple then!
And for finishing touches, we cover the entire log with lemon curd and stick the petals. I thought it would be complicated to make them stick, but actually because the cake itself is quite flexible, it's fairly easy to slip the petals between each other to cover the cake (but thinner I could have hidden more of the meringue underneath).
