Chocolate and raspberry roulade

A roulade is a European dish found in a number of countries with many different variations. However, the name roulade comes from the French word for “to roll”, as a roulade is in simplicity pastry or meat rolled around a filling. Roulades can be made with meat, pastry, or sponge cake filled with vegetables, cheese or a sweet filling like jam. Sponge roulades are sometimes referred to as Swiss rolls, for this recipe I’m using sponge cake and filling it with chocolate crème pat and raspberry jam. This is a great place to start, but I would encourage you to try making lots of different flavours and experiment when you feel confident with the basic recipe.

Ingredients

For the sponge

3 eggs

75g sugar

57g self-rising flour

For the filling

475ml milk

5 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cornflour

4 tbsp cocoa powder

3 egg yolks

Raspberry jam

Method

For chocolate crème patisserie

1. Heat the milk over a medium heat.
2. Mix the egg yolks, sugar, cocoa powder and cornflour in a bowl. Ensure they are completely combined in a thick paste as this will prevent lumps later.
3. Add the milk very slowly to the egg mixture, pouring in a gentle stream whilst whisking to ensure there are no lumps. This process will temper the egg mixture, meaning it doesn’t curdle or cook too quickly.
4. Once you have added all the milk, return to the heat. Stirring continuously, cook until it reaches the desired consistency – for roulade you want it quite thick and spreadable but not a dense paste.
5. Chill.

For roulade

1. Making sure your crème patisserie is nearly cool before you start. Preheat your oven to 180°C and line a shallow rectangular baking tin with greaseproof paper.
2. In a medium bowl add your eggs and sugar, using an electric whisk whip for 5 minutes (I normally time this to stop myself being impatient and stopping too soon) they should glossy and almost white in colour.
3. One half at a time, sieve in your flour and gently fold to combine. Be careful not to knock out too much air, while making sure your flour is fully incorporated.
4. Transfer to your prepared baking dish and gently push into the edges. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
5. While your sponge is in the oven prepare a clean dry tea towel for the next stage.
6. When golden brown remove your sponge from the oven and immediately turn out onto your tea towel. Remove the greaseproof carefully and while the sponge is still piping hot, roll it very tightly into a log. Your tea towel should be rolled with the cake so that it doesn’t stick together.
7. Leave to until almost cool and prepare your fillings.
8. In two separate bowls stir up the crème patisserie and raspberry jam to loosen them so they are easy to spread.
9. When you sponge has cooled unroll and fill – first with a layer of chocolate crème pat and then with a layer of raspberry jam. Be careful not to over fill as you will not be able to roll it as tightly if you do.
10. Roll your sponge and cut a slice from each end to reveal the beautiful swirl pattern. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

#Accessibiity image description: we can see a Swiss roll lying at an angle across the image. the cake is pale yellow in colour and has been dusted with icing sugar, we can see the spiral pattern inside the cake and the filling is rich and dark in front of the image some raspberries and chocolate pieces have been laid out)