Christmas 2024 The Mahery Yule Log by l'Ecole Valrhona
L'Ecole Valrhona is proud to reveal its Yule Log for 2024! This is a unique creation combining tradition and technical prowess, and named "Mahery"
Every year for the festive season, l’École Valrhona comes up with a fresh version to inspire pastry professionals. This initiative aims to encourage artisans of sweet cuisine to explore innovative approaches and recipes, to set themselves apart and introduce their customers to new tasting experiences and gourmet creations.
Imagined by Mathieu Roisin, Pastry Chef Instructor at l’École Valrhona since March 2023, the Mahery Yule Log is inspired by memories of the festive season and of family dinners flavored with togetherness and indulgence. He set out to create a dessert recalling the traditional shape of rolled Yule logs, but with a contemporary, technical twist and incorporating some original flavors that pay homage to the island of Madagascar
An ode to the flavors of Madagascar
Mahery, the name of this year’s Yule Log, means “power” in Malagasy, and this culinary creation certainly stands out for its bold blend of flavors and textures. It includes 80% Madagascar chocolate from Valrhona's new Confection range, combined with pink pepper and passion fruit grown on the “red island”. With this choice of ingredients, the Chef combines power with freshness for a well-rounded taste experience offering the robustness of a characterful chocolate, the tang of passion fruit, and the floral undertones of pink pepper to finish the meal on a decadent yet refreshing note.
Creativity driven by technology
The readability of a dessert is an important point for the chef, who came up with the idea of revisiting the classic Yule Log rolled format, drawing on three key components, all with different textures. First, a powerful and generous chocolate crème anglaise. Then a silky-textured passion fruit confit, followed by a pink pepper whipped ganache, in which the spice is not infused but simply ground to retain all its freshness.
The various textures of these preparations, each with its own set of restrictions in terms of production and handling, come together to form this year’s Yule Log: the layers are easily identifiable by their color, each one seamlessly interlacing with the next in perpetual motion. All of this rests on a pressed chocolate shortcrust crisp, designed to represent the bark surrounding the log.
An extraordinary tree paying tribute to nature
The Chef draws his inspiration from nature, which he sees as an inexhaustible source of creativity. The Mahery Yule Log is his tribute to nature, apparent in its shape and finish, akin to a tree of life symbolizing the origins of chocolate. From the roots of the cocoa tree to its blooms, it recalls Valrhona's bond with the cocoa-growing regions, epitomized in the emblematic chocolate beans discernible at the tips of the branches.
