Baking a Christmas Cake in Early Spring

One month ago I baked a Bouche de Noel. I promised Jen to post the Making-Of, hereit is. It was the last cake I baked with some inventive tools before the food processor moved in. Yay!Chestnuts, cream and butter ...

... turn into a puree:

Walnuts will be grated:

This little machine is fun to work with! Finding it was quite a project.

Egg yolks and whites seperated and beaten
Meanwhile I prepare the grill, bought during the Chrismas season, perfect for letting anything baked cool down.
This pan was bought shortly after I baked the first Bouche de Noel and I realised it would be much more convenient to have a pan in the exact size of the cake.

The cake before rolling it up

After baking the dough gets rolled up and sits until it cools down a bit.
While the cake cools down, I melt the chocolate
... and blend sugar and butter for the coating of the Bouche.

While the chocolate melts, I wander through the appartment.

Ah, the Muji hairbands, you should see them, too.
And my sea-mud-soap-pagoda. The only way to let it dry properly without turning the bathroom into a muddy mess.

The finished Bouche:
The cake is ready to be droven to its final destination at my sisters birthday party.

Glad I did not need more dishes:
Even though I took the right chocolate (70%) I would still say the coating is too thick and sweet. I might reduce it the next time. My relatives don't agree with me.

On my way home:
Due to transportation of the cake I did not go by bike but took the car.
A bit of nighttime in Vienna.
After all the sugar I felt like eating some veggies. Non sweet dish.
Like this:
Chicken soup getting ready for its 4 hours trip in the pot

Or this:
The brown stuff in the pot is meant to be brown and not burnt: caramelised onions.

... but veggies are another story, to be continues another time.

Now I have to get down on the floor, doing my abdomen-exercises because I am getting hungry and once I did the exercise after eating and that was not a good idea. I felt really nauseous afterwards. Apropos nauseous: I loved the episode of Arrested Development where Liza Minelli feels nauseous. Who ever felt nauseous can tell, she acted great!

Since this posting started with Jen I will close it with Jen. She inspired me to make these yesterday:

You have to believe me, we did NOT bite the chocolate in half:

It was a zig-zag-knife that caused the pattern of the theeth.

Right now a Gugelhupf is resting in the warm oven (50°C) and waits to be baked. I forgot one step, where you knead the dough after it rose the first time. I am quite curious how it will turn out. Have a fun sunday!

EDIT 2 hrs later:

excersise is done and the Chicken Soup is already served:

slurp slurp

dish: vintage Arabia