Mary Berry's Chocolate Roulade

I finally got to make this chocolate roulade, a little belated but who cares! I've loved it since I saw it on GBBO this year and immediately wanted to master it. However I thought I would save it for a special time, and as it looks quite festive Christmas was the obvious choice.

As I was away I kept it to make for our belated Christmas dinner at home with some family after we arrived back as we still have ALL of the Christmas food left over! We had eight for dinner so it seemed a perfect choice.

The morning of this dinner started badly, I've mislaid the adjustable tin I got for my birthday and I really wanted to use it for this bake. I spent an hour looking for it with no success, it's no annoying when you KNOW something is in your house but - you - just - can't - find - it!! After an hour I gave up and used a deep baking tray...luckily it worked perfectly, I wasn't happy about the idea of going out to buy a ready made dessert last minute.

So I finally managed to get started. I tried to remember what I learned from the GBBO and studying the book furiously. I've never made a cake that needs to be rolled before so I really wasn't sure how it was meant to look at various stages.

Luckily, and somehow miraculously it all kind of went ...perfect! I was also very excited to use my brand new mixer, and got to do a classic mixer shot photo (yes it is a little sad I'm exited about that :D!)

I found rolling it strangely easy too...much easier than I expected and would really recommend anyone who is worried about it to definitely give it a try!

Ingredients:

1. 175g dark chocolate (39% cocoa solids), finely chopped
2. 6 large free-range eggs, at room temperature
3. 175g caster sugar
4. 2 tablespoons cocoa powder 
5.  For the filling and finishing
6. 300ml pourable double cream
7. Icing sugar, for dusting
8. You will need
9. 1 x 33 x 23cm swiss roll tin, greased with butter
10. Non-stick baking paper

Method:

Line the base and sides of the buttered tin with non-stick baking paper. If you make a small diagonal snip in each corner of the paper, it will help fit the paper snugly into the corners of the tin.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set it over a pan of steaming hot but not boiling water (don't let the base of the bowl touch the hot water). Leave to melt, stirring occasionally.

Remove the bowl from the pan of water and stir until the chocolate is smooth, then leave to cool for about 15 minutes or until just warm. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.

Separate the eggs, putting the whites in one large mixing bowl and the yolks in another; set the yolks aside. Whisk the egg whites with an electric mixer on high speed until they stand in stiff peaks. If you turn the bowl upside down, the whites should be stiff enough not to fall out.

Put the sugar into the bowl with the egg yolks and whisk using the electric mixer (no need to wash it) on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes or until very thick and pale in colour, and the mixture leaves a ribbonlike trail on itself when the whisk is lifted out.

- I whisked the these in a seperate bowl and changing with the stand mixer is a bit of work for just one bowl so I used my scary old brown mixer. -

Pour the cooled chocolate into the yolk and sugar mixture and gently fold in with a wooden spoon to blend evenly. Add 2 large spoonfuls of the whisked egg whites to the chocolate mixture and stir in gently to loosen the mix, then fold in the remaining egg whites using a large metal spoon. Take care not to knock out the air you have just whisked in.

Sift the cocoa powder over the top and lightly but thoroughly fold it in with the metal spoon. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and gently move the tin around on the worktop so the mixture finds its own level. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until risen and the top feels firm and slightly crisp when pressed gently with a finger. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin; the sponge will fall and crack a little as it cools.

Lay a large piece of non-stick baking paper on the worktop and dust it lightly with icing sugar. Turn the sponge out onto the paper, then carefully peel off the lining paper. Whip the cream for the filling until it just holds its shape.

- As you can see I absolutely COVERED my surface with icing sugar causing my kitchen...and myself to get completely engulfed in it! It also did fill up a few of the cracks which is a shame as I did want a couple more to be visible.  -

Spread the whipped cream over the sponge, leaving a clear edge of about 2cm on all sides. Using a sharp knife, make a shallow cut along one of the short edges.

Roll this cut edge over tightly to start. Use the sugar-dusted paper to help continue the tight rolling by pulling it away from you as you roll. Finish with the join underneath, then lift the roulade onto a serving plate or board using a large wide spatula or 2 fish slices.

- I'm really happy with how mine rolled, making the first shallow cut to help with the roll really helped. I really needed the baking paper to help roll it up which worked perfectly. Everyone commented on how light the roulade was and even though we were all stuffed, there was none left over. Success! -

Nom!

Recipe adapted from Mary's Berry's BBC Recipe.

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Gingerbread Baubles

Sorry I've left it a while posting..I've been sick! I've been ill one other time this year which must be a record for me, so I've been feeling quite sorry for myself and even had to leave work in a taxi as I was feeling so bad!! After dying in bed for a day and a half I finally managed to drag myself out of bed to help my mum put up the Christmas decorations. For the last couple of years now we've been having a real tree at home which I love, I know they're a little pricey but I think it's worth it for Christmas.

 

As I've not been well I haven't been able to bake anything.  It's gingerbread season in our house at the moment, I will put up recipes soon but at the moment I've just been watching it all happen. However the last couple of days I've felt better so I could decorate. I love gingerbread tree decorations, especially Peggy Porschen ones in her Cake Chick book.

 We have a very traditional Christmas look...reds, greens, gingham etc. So I decided to keep this batch of gingerbread baubles in white and red. I only did 6 or 7 as we already have so much on our tree I didn't want to go too crazy.

We've made lots of gingerbread shapes but mainly plain circles or hearts for the baubles. To decorate I used a base of white royal icing and for the detail I used Wilton Red Icing in a tube that I got for mini Christmas in my stocking (will explain all in another post!) which was good so I didn't need to mix an extra batch. I attached a nozzle with the tiniest hole I could find and piped on some detail I shamelessly copied from the book. I also added some siver balls...you can't have Christmas treats without silver balls right? Let them dry and threaded some wrapping ribbon through the holes in the gingerbread and hung them up!

I'm not sure which design I like the most...I think it's the one with the silver balls cascading down the baubles. I think these would look great in funkier colours like purple and maybe even teal? You can do so much with them even write names...I might have to have another go :)

Keep posted for many more Christmas baking recipes, the gingerbread recipe will hopefully follow tomorrow, it made so much we also managed to make three individual gingerbread houses along with the millions of biscuits and tree decorations. These will also tie in with my seven kinds of Christmas biscuit tradition, now I also have to decide which other six to make. I have to say while you all know I love baking...baking at Christmas is far better, stick some festive and cheesy music on, gingham apron tied and I'm literally in my element and I intend to be covered in some form of batter and flour for the next few weeks! Pin It Now!

Gingernuts - Old School Post Of The Month

OK I know I'm bad, I said I would do this post every month and I haven't for a couple...but it's back! And just in time for the end of the month so I can do another next month, and as it's Christmas I have loooooads of classic family bakes I'll be knocking up.

I'm not a massive biscuit eater, don't get me wrong I love them, but would rather have a slice of cake - although one biscuit that I do genuinely love is a gingernut. Apparently I was given quite a few when I was teething...so it stands to reason I still love them :)

Also as I KEEP mentioning it's coming up to Christmas, and I absolutely love getting the festive spices out to use in baking which I don't do too much in other seasons, and my favourites are definitely ginger, cinnamon and cloves so I'll try to get more baking in that uses these. I will be making gingerbread houses over the next month so I literally cannot wait for the house to be full of the smell of Christmas!

Back to the recipe, I have to say I only made them last night and quite a few have disappeared already, I just love them. They also keep for quite a while in an air-tight container and I love that they got the crackle effect on the top which is like the gingernut trademark, I don't know why but I always feel surprised when my bakes turn out how I want them to...I also got to give my new Mason Cash mixing bowl it's first use so yay :)

Ingredients:

• 350g self raising flour
• 1 tbs ground ginger (I used nearly 2 as I didn't have any stem ginger in the house)
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 200g caster sugar (I used Tate & Lyle soft brown sugar as I though it would go with the recipe better)
• 115g unsalted butter
• 85g golden syrup
• 1 medium free range egg, beaten
• 35g (2 pieces) stem ginger, drained and finely chopped

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celcius/325 f/gas 3
2. Sift the flour, ground ginger, bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl. Gently melt the butter with the syrup in a pan over a low heat and set aside until barely warm.
3. Pour this mixture into the mixing bowl, add the beaten egg and the stem ginger and mix with a wooden spoon.
4. When thoroughly combined, roll the mixture into 24 walnut balls using your hands. (Mine made 30 and I would squash them down a bit, I found mine weren't as flat as I would have liked.)
5. Arrange on three buttered baking trays evenly spaced allowing them to spread.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes (I did 20), until a golden brown. You may need to turn the baking trays halfway through.
7. Leave the biscuits to cool for a couple of minutes on the trays before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. Eat! Nom!

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