I've got family coming for tea on Sunday afternoon. As well as scones and the usual cake, I'm going to make a choc roulade type sponge cake which I jazz up at Christmas and turn into a choc Yule Log - I'm not sure how 'authentic' this recipe may be, so I decided NOT to put it in the Christmas/Hogmanay thread!
1oz plain flour 1oz cocoa powder Quarter tsp of salt 3 extra large eggs, separated Quarter tsp of cream of tartar 4oz caster sugar 2/3 drops almond essence
Buttercream filling: 3.5 oz butter 5oz icing sugar 2oz cocoa powder a splash of brandy or rum Caster sugar for dusting cocoa powder for sifting* (do not use 'drinking' chocolate, it is not a substitute)
(Sometimes I make this with extra thick double cream as the filling and the 'coating'. Just subsitute sufficient quantity of fresh cream to make enough to line the inside of the roulade/sponge mix and still have enough to coat the finished cake) - and only use 1 oz of sugar.
Preheat the oven to Gas 4. Grease a 23 cm x 33 cm Swiss roll tin and line with baking parchment.
Make the sponge - sift the flour, cocoa and salt together and set aside.
Sprinkle a large piece of greaseproof paper with caster sugar and set aside.
Put the egg whites in a large clean bowl and whisk until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and whisk until stiff. Gradually add the sugar until the mixture forms soft peaks.
Place the sugar in a separate bowl add the egg yolks and whisk until pale and thick. Add the almond essence.
Use a metal spoon to stir in the reserved flour and cocoa mixture. Finally, lightly fold in the egg whites until well blended - take care not to beat the air out of the mixture.
Spoon the mixture into the Swiss roll tin and level the top. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until sponge-like to the touch.
Turn the sponge onto the greaseproof paper dusted with caster sugar. Peel away the baking parchment and roll the sponge with the greaseproof paper inside. Leave to cool.
Buttercream: Beat the butter in a mixing bowl until smooth and then gradually beat in the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Add the brandy and mix well.
Once the sponge has cooled unroll it carefully and spread it with half the filling and roll it up again - without the greaseproof paper this time.
Spread the rest of the filling over the cake to cover it. * Decorate it using the tines of a fork to resemble a log and dust with cocoa powder. Decorate with a sprig of holly.
* or use the remainder of the whipped double cream/cocoa/brandy mixture!
We made these in high school French class. I loved them. They were so cool. But, our recipie didn't have any brandy or rum.
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Compassion is the sometimes fatal capacity for feeling what it is like inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. - Frederick Buechner
If society prospers at the expense of the intangibles, how can it be called progress?
Very probably! I remember trying to make cherries jubilee once for the Freshman class. (The 3rd years cooked for the 1st years) The dang thing just wouldn?t light. (back in those days they let us bring the bottle to school for ?educational? purposes.) We finally gave up, thinking if we poured in anymore we?d have some drunk 9th graders. I can still see the girl I was working with finishing off the bottle between classes. Ah, what we remember of our education....
Ahh yes...... but I am certainly NOT going to reminisce here.... some of the pranks are still being talked about - and I am NOT taking the blame all these years later.....