Hmm, it was really time 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 set foot in a single shop 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 think that's exactly what translates 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 love shaking up traditions. So this year I didn't feel like making a log-shaped log and I designed mine like a wedding cake (by layer then). I wanted it super simple, with no 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 scattered with raspberries. I really like the lemon/raspberry combination where the acidity of the lemon plays ping-pong with the sugar of the meringue and the fruity side of the raspberries (yes, at my place we play ping-pong with 3, 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 well, it was the first time I did 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 worked up with the different sized entremets circles I had but if I had 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 salad bowls, bowls, pans of the right diameter to use as cookie cutters).
My base was 22 cm and I had about 2 cm between each floor to create this slope (I had a few leftover pieces that I recycled into verrines!). The meringue of the petals is a French meringue and I had covered my log with Italian meringue to make them hold but it was a bit too sugary. So I'm correcting the recipe for you so you can cover with lemon curd instead (at the same time 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 a bit of the mixture to make a peak. It's a technique I learned at my chocolate workshop at Lenôtre. As I said, I should have piped my meringues a bit more finely but well, I'll know for next time (and you, you know now).
For assembly it's super simple, you just need to place a first circle of cake, brush generously with lemon curd, arrange the raspberries and repeat with the top slice a bit smaller, until supplies run out! Super simple then!
And for the finishing touches, cover the entire log with lemon curd and glue on the petals. I thought it would be complicated to make them hold, but actually since the cake itself is quite flexible, it's fairly easy to slip the petals between each other to cover the cake (but finer I could have hidden more of the meringue underneath).
