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Recipes from my Lincolnshire kitchen

chestnut cream roulade

by

I made this beautiful roulade in the summer for the we should cocoa ‘roulade’ and ‘strawberries’ challenge but that was not its original recipe … more of a tasty alias version of its true self…

… its true-self is this stunning chestnut cream roulade… smooth… silky… creamy… nutty… deeply, darkly chocolatey… and just a little Christmassy, which is helpful as it’s one of the dishes i’m cooking for my Christmas dinner this year and am making it now to photograph for my December article in Lincolnshire Life Magazine…

… I urge you to take a little time out of your lives and make this divine dessert… but a word of warning… follow the recipe to the letter and you cannot fail… diverge from it even slightly and on your own head be it!

chestnut cream roulade
For the roulade:
4 eggs – separate yolks and whites
150g good dark chocolate (at least 80% cocoa)
4oz caster sugar
For the filling:
300m tub of double or whipping cream
1 x 250g tin of sweet chestnut spread
– In a large bowl, beat the yolks with the sugar until soft and light.
– Melt the chocolate (I do this gently in the microwave but if the idea sends shivers up your spine, then use the classic bowl over simmering water method…) at this stage add 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of hot water to the choc mix, then add it to the egg and sugar mix.
– Next beat the egg whites till stiff and then carefully fold them into the mixture.
– Line a large Swiss roll tin with tin-foil which you should then grease well with butter or margarine.
– Pour the mixture into the tin and bake in the oven at 160C for 20 minutes then a further 10 minutes at 90C.
– Whilst it’s baking, grease another large sheet of foil and place it on a flat surface where it won’t have to be moved for a while.
Now the tricky bit…
– Once baked, take it out of the oven and immediately turn it over onto the greased foil and leave it, with the baking tin still on top for at least 8 hours… so bake in the morning and get on with making the soup, or bake in the evening and leave it overnight.
– Now you’re ready to assemble; whip the cream and stir in the chestnut spread.
– Take off the baking tin and carefully peel off the foil that lined the tin.
– Spread the cream mixture evenly onto the surface of the roulade and then, using the excess foil, roll the roulade into shape.  It should be able to be slipped neatly onto a plate.
– Sprinkle with icing sugar for a classic Yule Log look and then don’t forget to eat and of course, enjoy!

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Comments

  2. Susan's blog says

    Fabulous! I don't like Christmas cake or Christmas pudding so am always on the look out for alternatives to make at Christmas. This ticks all the boxes, lovely photo's too. x

  12. Choclette says

    Dom, you are such a hard task master – don't deviate from the recipe at all???? Looks bloody delicious and as I've made something very similar myself, though not nearly as perfectly rolled, I know it is indeed good. Good choice for Christmas day.

  15. debby emadian says

    mmm this looks delicious Dom. I just resisted buying some sweet chestnut spread this afternoon and bought bottled ones instead…I love it, it reminds me of chestnut crepes in Paris…but I was worried if I started on something so festively luscious and sweet this early in the season it might become a regular thing and I'd be enormous by Christmas eve…

    …enjoy…

  21. Magic Cochin says

    That ticks all the boxes for me 🙂 chocolate and sweet chestnuts … I will have to make this!

    And I promise to follow the instructions very carefully so the sponge cracks and looks exactly like tree bark.

    Celia

  23. Helen T says

    Looks great, and just might solve my Christmas dessert dilemma, given a dislike of dried or glace fruit of any description by half of the guests.