Hazelnut & Chocolate Roulade
This is a scrumptious dessert and does not take a huge amount of effort but wows at the table!
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil, for greasing
- 4 large egg whites
- 225 g (8oz) golden caster sugar
- 150 g (7oz) dark chocolate
- 500 ml double cream
- 100 g (3 ½oz) hazelnuts
- Swiss roll tin 12 x 8 inch (30.5 x 20.5cm)
- Parchment paper
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (170° fan) mark 5.
- line a swiss roll tin with parchment, brush lightly with sunflower or vegetable oil.
- Toast the hazelnuts on a baking sheet in the oven for 10 min.. Cool then, skin them and grind in a food processor until very finely chopped, but do not over-process or they will turn oily. (You can buy pre-roasted hazelnuts that are a much easier option)
- Use your mixer to beat egg whites until they form soft peaks, then whisk in the caster sugar a little at a time until it holds stiff peaks.
- Fold in the ground hazelnuts and spread the mixture evenly in the tin. (keep a small few aside to sprinkle on top.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 20min until lightly golden. Cool completely in the tin.
- Turn out onto a piece of greaseproof paper slightly larger than the roulade, lightly dusted with icing sugar. Gently ease away the lining paper.
- Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
- Whip the cream until it just holds its shape, and divide between two bowls.
- Reserve 4tbsp of the melted chocolate for decoration, and fold the rest into one bowl of the whipped cream until evenly mixed and mousselike. (this gets thick quickly so don’t worry just keep mixing and it will come together
- Smooth this evenly over the roulade, leaving a 1cm border.
- Keep a small bit of the whipped cream aside to pipe on top for decoration and Spread the rest of the whipped cream over the chocolate mixture,
- Roll up the meringue to form a long log shape – a few cracks are normal, so don’t worry!
- Pipe a few rosettes on top, sprinkle with the almonds and use a spoon to drizzle the reserved chocolate all over the top in a zigzag pattern.
- Lift onto a long-serving dish and chill in the fridge. Remove from the fridge about 15min before serving.
Utterly Delicious!
