Black Forest Roulade

Black Forest Roulade

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

For the base:

• Dark chocolate – 200gm, chopped coarsely
• Hot water – ¼ cup (60 ml)
• Instant coffee powder – 1 tsp
• Eggs – 4, separated (room temp)
• Caster sugar – ½ cup (110 gms)
• Caster sugar – 1 tbsp, extra
• Thickened cream – ¾ – 1 cup ( I used whipping cream)
• Kirsch – 1 tbsp

For the Cherry filling

• Seedless black cherries – 425gm can
• Cornflour – 3 tsp
• Kirsch – 1 tbsp (refer notes)

 

Instructions

1. Position oven shelves; preheat oven to 180 C. Grease 25 cm/30 cm swiss roll pan; line base with baking paper. Combine chocolate, water and coffee in large heat proof bowl; sit bowl over saucepan of simmering water. Using wooden spoon, stir until chocolate melts then immediately remove bowl from fire.
2. Beat egg yolks & sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until thick & creamy; this will take about 5 minutes. Using large metal spoon, fold egg mixture into warm chocolate mixture. Beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Using metal spoon, gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture, in two batches. Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven about 10 mins.
3. Meanwhile, place a large sheet of baking paper on board; sprinkle with extra sugar. Turn cake onto sugared baking paper; carefully remove lining paper, cover cake loosely with a tea towel. Cool cake to room temp.
4. Beat cream & kirsch in small bowl with electric mixer until firm peaks form. Spread cake evenly with cooled cherry filling then spread Kirsch cream over cherry mixture. Roll cake from a long side, using paper to lift and guide the roll; place on serving plate. Dust with cocoa powder. Cover roll; refrigerate 30 minutes before serving. You can also dress up the roulade with cherries or by piping some cream on top.
5. Cherry filling
6. Drain cherries, reserving ¼ cup (60ml) of syrup. Using knife, chop cherries coarsely. Using wooden spoon blend cornflour and reserved syrup in a saucepan. Add cherries; stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat, cool to room temp.

 

Notes

My Notes:

If you dont have a swiss roll tin, use a rectangular baking tin.
I used canned red cherries instead of black cherries and cherry brandy instead of kirsch. If you cant find kirsch or cherry brand use the syrup from the canned cherries. I used chocolate with 50 % cocoa for the base.
I find the taste of cherry brandy a bit dominating, adjust the qty of kirsch/brandy to suit your taste.
The roulade is a bit delicate and tends to stick on to the baking paper, be careful while removing the paper and also while rolling.
It’s a very moist roulade, its very soft even if you serve it straight out of the fridge.
I used Al Marai whipping cream.

Notes & Tips from the Women’s Weekly Magazine:

This cake is a cross between a mousse and a fallen souffle. It’s ideal to make it on the day of serving.
To successfully make this cake, it is vital that the egg yolk/sugar mixture is beaten until thick and that the egg whites are beaten only until soft peaks form. Overbeating will dry out the egg whites and make it difficult to fold them into the chocolate mixture.
To test if the cake is cooked, touch it with your fingertips: it should feel slightly firm and springy.

Storage:

As per the AWW notes, the filled roulade will keep for up to 8 hours in an airtight container in the refrigerator. However I stored it for 2 days in the fridge and didnt notice any change in the taste or texture.
As per the AWW notes, unrolled and unfilled roulade can be stored, covered with a piece of baking paper then a damp tea-towel, overnight in the refrigerator.