Wood Fired Chocolate Roulade
This deliciously indulgent dessert is great any time of the year but at Christmas it’s an excellent alternative to Christmas pudding. It’s also gluten free which is great if you have any coeliacs or guests with gluten intolerances to cater for We made ours in the Wood Fired Oven but you can easily do it in your normal oven. Watch this week’s #woodfiredweekly to see how easy this recipe really is.
Wood Fired Chocolate Roulade – Ingredients
- 250g dark chocolate
- 2tbsp strong black coffee
- 80ml water
- 5 eggs, separated
- 150g caster sugar
- 200ml double cream
Wood Fired Chocolate Roulade – Oven state etc
5 Mississippi – about 190C
Door on
Wood Fired Chocolate Roulade – Method
1. Line a 25 x 30cm baking tray with baking parchment making sure the paper comes a little way above the sides.
2. Gently melt the dark chocolate with the water and the coffee in a saucepan in the door of the oven.
3. Whisk the egg whites with 1tbsp of the sugar until they are at the soft peak stage – it’s best to do this in a mixer. Transfer to another large bowl.
4. Whisk the yolks (again in a mixer) with the rest of the caster sugar until really thick and creamy – you should be able to write your name in the surface of the mixture before it disappears. Keep whisking if it isn’t that thick when you try.
5. Add this mixture to the egg whites along with the melted chocolate. Fold all this together gently until fully combined with a large metal spoon.
6. Pour into the baking tray and bake in the oven with the door shut for about 12 minutes until firm on top and still a bit soft underneath. Turn around halfway through cooking.
7. Take out of the oven and cover immediately with a damp clean tea towel. Leave it to cool – overnight in the fridge or for as long as you’ve got.
8. Whip up the double cream until it’s holding its shape and then spread it over the chocolate base. Roll up the rectangle tightly starting at the shorter end, making sure you don’t incorporate the baking parchment as you do so.
9. Dust with icing sugar, decorate and serve.
Wood Fired Chocolate Roulade – Alternatives
- mix the cream with cherries and a splash of kirsch to make a retro Black Forest version.
- spread raspberry coulis or jam on the chocolate base before the cream or add fresh raspberries to the cream.
- orange segments added to the cream with a tbsp or 2 of rum or brandy are fabulous.
- sweet chestnut puree swirled into the cream also works well as a filling.
- top with chocolate ganache for an extra special treat.