Chocolate Swiss Roll

Hello again, chefs and chefettes, here's a recipe I tried the other day. My Mum was pretty against the idea of doing a swiss roll at first as in her recollection, whisked sponges are dry, and a bit bland. I think this one turned out pretty well and I'd definitely make it again. I reckon that my glorious object of worship - the Kenwood Chef mixer I got for my birthday - is to thank. I could never get the mixture to the correct level of fluffiness before adding the flour before, but this time it did exactly what a whisked sponge is supposed to do - the trail of mixture is meant to be stiff when it drops off the beater, and not sink in for a fair while.

So here goes:

3 large eggs

75g caster sugar (refined or golden)

55g self raising flour

20g cocoa

filling:

100ml double cream or 'Elmlea'

1tbsp fromage frais

a few squares of chocolate of the colour of your choice

1. This is a really quick thing to make, so it's necessary to put the oven on before you start! Fan oven 210C, Gas 7.

2. Grease a 7x12 inch swiss roll tray and line it with greased greaseproof paper. My swiss roll tin was 79p from the marvellous palace of delights that is Trago Mills (you have to have been there to understand...) and was really worth getting. If you don't have one, its fine to use an ordinary baking tray, but you'll probably have to increase the quantity. 

3. Whisk the sugar and eggs together in a large bowl using an electric whisk. If you're lucky enough to have a big beast of a mixer it's best to use the K-Beater attachment. 

4. When the mixture is really light and fluffy and comes off the beater in ribbons that don't sink in straight away when you lift it up, it's ready for the flour. Sift in the flour and cocoa and fold in very gently using a  plastic spatula, to avoid losing any of that precious air.

5. Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and shake gently to allow it to level out, put in the preheated oven for about 10 mins until the cake is slightly golden on top and has begun to shrink away from the side of the tin. I'm sure you know already that opening the oven before you're sure that it's cooked is a sure-fire way of guaranteeing flat-cake.

6. While you're waiting to fetch it out of the oven, get another sheet of greaseproof paper slightly bigger than the tin, and sprinkle a bit of caster sugar over it.

7. When you get the cake out of the oven, quickly run around the edges with a knife and then turn it out onto the greaseproof paper. Peel the greaseproof that was lining the tin off the cake, score it about an inch/2cm from the end, and then roll up with the clean, sugared greaseproof inside. Leave it to cool.

For the filling:

1. Whip the cream/elmlea.

2. Add the fromage frais and then grate in the chocolate, whisk it up lightly just to make sure it's well mixed.

3. When the cake is completely cool, unroll it, spread the cream filling over the middle of the cake and then roll up again (without the greaseproof, obviously) 

Et voila, mes cheres! Your own glorious home-made swiss roll. They keep a few days if you keep them in the fridge, although it didn't last that long in my house!

Hope that keeps your cakey little faces satisfied for a while! Next time I'll remember to take some photos before us greedy little buggers eat it all. TTFN

1st Post: Citrus Cheesecake

Greetings, foodies. I am Mary, a person with a slight aversion to computers, but with a huge enjoyment of cooking and the intention of persuading everyone else to love it too. I'm 17 and live in the glorious rolling hills of Devon. My friends and I have formed a 'Pudding Club,' where we eat desserts and drink fine (as fine as you can get for £4 from Scummerfield) wines in the height of sophistication. One of my very dear chums from Birmingham is a fashion blogger and gave me the idea of starting a recipe blog. Visit her at coralstars.com

I do a hell of a lot of cooking: main meals, cakes, biscuits, desserts ET CETERA and generally attempt to make them as healthy as is possible (often hard with cakes...). I often read in cookbooks the importance of using 'the finest quality ingredients' and 'only using butter, as lower fat alternatives just aren't as good.' I would like to state my belief that this is a load of old b****cks and that the best cakes I make use Utterly Butterly rather than butter, as this makes your average sponge far more moist and light; cheap cooking chocolate from Lidl is great, and there is nothing wrong with a bit of food colouring from time to time.

So, just to give you a wee taste of what this blog is all about, here is a recipe for a cheesecake that is really light and fruity and not too unhealthy (excepting the base, but we all like a bit of sugary goodness!) You can always change all the low fat/sugarfree elements of it for the real thing if you are one of these 'the way nature intended' purists, but I don't think it makes any difference to the taste, and using the light alternatives means you can eat about 4 times as much (if you are a greedy git like me.)

Citrus Cheesecake:

1 pack sugarfree lemon or orange jelly

One lemon/orange

350g light soft cheese

2 heaped tbsp light fromage frais 

3 tbsp splenda

Aaaaand for the base:

140g hobnobs

40g utterly butterly

1tbsp golden syrup

1. make the jelly up to half a pint using the juice of the lemon/orange, so it is twice as concentrated as usual. Put this in the freezer to nearly set.

2. crush up the hobnobs either in a food processor or by violently wielding a rolling pin. If you are cooking to alleviate stress then the latter is an extremely good vent for any pent up frustration. 

3. melt the utterly butterly and golden syrup either in a pan or in the microwave. Stir in the hobnob crumbs.

4. squash the biscuity base down into a 9" tin. I like to use a potato masher for this, it's pretty exciting; my friend's mum laughed at me and said to use my hands.

5. Put the soft cheese into a big bowl and add the splenda, stir it up and then use an electric whisk to mix in the fromage frais and the grated rind of the lemon/orange.

6. By this time the jelly should be nearly set. It should still slide about a bit in the jug. Whisk this in with the cheesy mixture and pour over the squashed in base.

7. Refrigerate until set.

I like to serve this with fresh fruit and a drizzle of homemade raspberry sauce. Mum likes ice cream with it, but personally I find this is slightly excessive and the cold vanilla-iness overwhelms the citrussy cheesecake. 

Hope you enjoy it and come back, I'll post as often as I can with recipes and pictures!

Miss Kipling