Christmas Recipes

RECIPES Chocolate Roulade

Forget the Christmas pudding or the Christmas cake. This is hands down one of the best features of Christmas dinner.

Even better, you can make one ahead of Christmas Day, so it’s one less thing to do on the day! It’s gluten-free as well.

Ingredients:

175g dark chocolate 4 tablespoons water 6 eggs, separated 175g caster sugar 300ml whipped double cream The grated rind of 1 orange 1 tablespoon caster sugar for the final decoration

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or Gas Mark 4 (bottom right-hand oven in a 4 door Aga) 2. Line a Swiss roll tin (25 x 20cm) with greaseproof paper 3. Put the water and chocolate into a glass bowl and melt over a saucepan of simmering water 4. In another bowl whisk the egg yolks & gradually add the caster sugar in, until thick and pale 5. Stir in the melted chocolate into the yolk and sugar mixture

6. In another bowl whisk the whites stiffly 7. Using a metal spoon fold them into the yolk and chocolate mixture

8. Pour this into the lined tin ensuring that it is thin and even into each corner

9. Bake for 15 minutes or until firm to the touch

10. Remove from the oven and cover the roulade with a dampened tea-towel. Leave for several hours until completely cold 11. Put a fresh piece of baking paper on a table or work surface and cover with sieved icing sugar 12. Remove the tea-towel from the roulade & gripping the short sides of the roulade paper turn it over onto the sugared paper (so the roulade is on it) 13. Carefully peel off the non-sugared paper (which is stuck to the roulade) 14. Whip the cream and flavour with grated orange rind

15. Cover the surface of the roulade with the cream

16. Holding the baking paper roll the roulade over lengthways onto a flat plate. (It will probably crack but this doesn’t matter.) 17. Dust with icing sugar and eat! Or cover and freeze, let it thaw for about 3 hours before serving.