Black Forest Roulade

Serves: 8

Preparation: 40 minutes + several hours cooling + marinating

Plus: Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 225g Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa), broken into pieces
  • 5 Eggs, separated
  • 175g Caster Sugar, plus3 tbsp for sprinkling
  • 2 tbsp hot Water
  • 250g Cherries on stalks
  • 2 tbsp Kirsch
  • 300ml Double Cream
  • 2 tbsp Icing Sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Line a roasting tin with a base measurement of 34 x 23cm with a large sheet of non-stick baking paper, snipping into the corners of the paper so that it lines the base and sides of the tin.

Melt 200g of the chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water.

Using an electric whisk, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until they form stiff, moist-looking peaks.

Using the still dirty whisk, beat the eggs yolks and sugar in a separate bowl until thick and pale and the mixture leaves a trail when the whisk is lifted above the mixture.

Fold the melted chocolate and hot water into the egg yolks until smooth.

Fold in a spoonful of the egg whites to loosen the mixture then gently fold in the remaining egg whites until just mixed.

Pour into the lined tin and tilt to ease the mixture into the corners.

Bake for 15 minutes until well risen and the top is crusty. Leave in the tin, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to cool for several hours.

Reserving 8 cherries on stalks for decoration, remove the stalks and stones from the remaining cherries and put into a bowl with the kirsch.

Cover and leave to marinate for several hours.

About an hour before serving, pour the cream into a bowl.

Add the kirsch from the cherries and the icing sugar.

Whisk until the cream forms soft swirls.

Remove the tea towel from the roulade, dip in warm water, wring out and put on the work surface with a narrow edge facing you.

Cover with a clean sheet of non-stick baking paper and sprinkle with the 3 tablespoons of caster sugar.

Turn the roulade out on to this, remove the tin and peel off the lining paper.

Mark a line about 2.5cm  up from the base then spoon over the cream and spread into an even layer.

Sprinkle the cherries over the top and roll up the roulade, starting from the bottom edge and using the paper and tea towel to help. Transfer to a serving plate.

Melt the remaining chocolate as before and dip the reserved cherries on stalks into the chocolate until half coated.

Arrange on the top of the roulade so that the melted chocolate acts as glue.

Tips

This roulade can also be filled with white chocolate ganache using 300ml double cream and 200g white chocolate and a sprinkling of fresh raspberries and blueberries.

Alternatively, spoon whipped cream over the roulade and sprinkle with a little chopped stem ginger and diced fresh mango, or fold some canned, sweetened chestnut purée into some whipped cream with a little brandy for a Christmas roulade.

This recipe is from Chocolate Success published by Simon & Schuster in 2011.