ICCHFC - Week 32: Black forest swiss roll and Meringue roulade with chestnut and cream filling

It was my turn to bake this week and I went off on a Swiss roll tip:

• Black forest Swiss roll
• Meringue roulade with chestnut and cream filling
• Raspberry and marshmallow Swiss roll

Now I thought that it was an absolute, bolted-on, certainty that I'd be making the raspberry and marshmallow Swiss roll. I could not have been more wrong. It was tied three all between the other two options.

The Dice of Destiny chose the black forest Swiss roll, but since Monday was a bank holiday and I had plenty of time on my hands I decided to try and please everyone and make both.

They turned out pretty well.

As ever with these sorts of things, I was overgenerous with the filling, which was more of a problem for the levels of cleanliness of my kitchen rather than to the detriment of the cakes. Also the roulade was unbelievably sticky and managed to stick to some specially bought silicon paper.

For the roulade I used chestnut puree and added a dash of Nutella. The Swiss roll was the first Jamie Oliver recipe I have ever used and was pretty goo although the filling is a touch to orange for me and almost overwhelms the cherries.

The cakes bought out some nice comments from the gang, despite the slight mishap I had on the way to work. I managed to completely total it on the steps up to the station sending cakes a flying. Fortunately, there were two cakes and sufficient slices survived the fall.

Anyway, on to the recipes:

Meringue roulade with chestnut and cream filling (adapted from this BBC recipe)

Ingredients:
For the meringue:
4 large eggs, whites only
5oz caster sugar
1tbsp corn flour
1tbsp lemon juice
3oz toasted hazelnuts, chopped
For the filling:
290ml double cream
½ tin of chestnut purée
125g caster sugar
Nutella

Method:
1. To prepare the meringue beat the egg whites and lemon juice to soft peaks (using an electric mixer ). Start adding the sugar and cornflour gradually while still beating. Stop beating when you reach very stiff and glossy peaks.
2. Place a sheet of parchment paper (not greaseproof paper, the meringue will stick to it) on to a baking sheet. Brush it with vegetable oil. [Miss this out at your peril!] Pour the mix evenly in the shape of the sheet.
4. Sprinkle the nuts over the meringue. Put in the oven at 150°C. Bake until the top is pale golden brown and the centre is still soft. About 25-30 minutes.
5. Leave to cool in the fridge before rolling.
6. For the cream filling, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Beat together the chestnut pureé and sugar, then gradually fold into the cream until you get a good texture and the flavour is to your liking.
7. Gently warm the nutella and spread over half the meringue. Spread the cream mixture onto the meringue.
8. Roll the meringue tightly but gently with the help of the parchment sheet.
9. Chill, wrapped in the parchment, until ready to slice.

Black Forest Swiss Roll (Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver)

Ingredients:
4 eggs
4½oz caster sugar
2¼ butter, melted
3½ozplain flour, sifted
1oz cocoa powder, sifted
Filling:
Zest and juice of 2 oranges
3tbsp caster sugar
400g tin of black cherries in syrup
100g dried sour cherries
350ml double cream
100g dark chocolate

Method:
1. With an electric mixer beat together the eggs and sugar until a thick ribbon stage is reached i.e. when you lift the beaters out you should be able to leave a ribbon trail over the mix that does not immediately disappear.
2. Carefully in the melted butter then fold in the flour and cocoa powder. Fill a lined Swiss roll tin (25x35cm) with the mix and bake for 15 mins at 180°C
3. For the cherry filling, warm the orange juice and zest until the sugar is dissolved. At this point add all the cherries and cook for 5 mins.
4. Leave to cool, strain the cherries and return the liquid to the pan. Reduce the liquor to a thin syrupy consistency.
5. For the chocolate filling, bring 100ml cream to the boil. As soon as it starts bubbling, take off the heat and gently stir in the chocolate pieces. Mix to a uniform consistency and leave to cool.
6. Whip the remaining cream to stiff peaks.
7. To construct the Swiss roll, brush the sponge with the syrup. Next, spread the chocolate cream over the cake, followed by the cream. Finally top with the cherries.
8. Using the greaseproof paper roll the cake over. Chill, wrapped in the paper, until ready to slice.