This is the first of what I intend to make an annual holiday tradition, alongside marzipan.I regret not taking more photos of the process, which I performed late last week before this blog was conceived. However, to summarize: the cake is a light, eggy genoise baked in an 11"x17" jellyroll pan. The filling is coffee-cognac buttercream (yirgacheffe and hennesey, for the record) and the frosting is chocolate (unsweetened ghiradhelli) buttercream. The recipe is from Lindsey Shere's Chez Panisse Desserts, which I cannot recommend highly enough. The mushrooms are meringue and brushed with cocoa powder; the "sulfur shelf" mushrooms are brushed with turmeric.
I actually made a second log a day later which was actually a little bit tastier (moister, with more mushrooms) but it didn't get documented quite as well.
