I love no flour roulades, the taste of chocolate and hazelnut is especially good in this one, quite intense so small portions are in order.
This is a simple Roulade using both dark and milk chocolate with the addition of hazelnut slivers in the filling to add both texture and taste. Whilst I have shown options for the filling, I generally use crème fraîche as the spread is quite sweet. You can use hazelnut slivers as indicated or coarsely chopped, toasted or untoasted, but toasted does enhance the hazelnut flavour to the finished Roulade.
You could use any good quality brand of chocolate, Valrhona is excellent – Hotel Chocolat or Green and Blacks cooks range, both dark and milk, have excellent melting qualities. With this Roulade, the better the chocolate, the better the taste of the finished cake.
125 grams Hotel Chocolat dark chocolate drops (or dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids)
50 grams Hotel Chocolate milk chocolate drops 40%
6 large fresh egg yolks – 125 grams golden caster sugar
6 large fresh egg whites – pinch cream of tartar – 50 grams golden caster sugar
2 tbsp unrefined icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp Green and Blacks organic cocoa powder, sifted (or any other good quality cocoa)
Filling
240 ml double cream, crème fraîche or sour cream
160 grams chocolate and hazelnut spread
85 grams lightly toasted hazelnut slivers
- Preheat oven to 180ºC, 355ºF, gas mark 4.
- Line a Swiss roll tin with baking parchment or lightly buttered greaseproof paper, fitting into the corners and up the sides.
Sponge
- Melt the chocolate by your preferred method, allow to cool.
- Beat the egg yolks with 125 grams of sugar until pale, fluffy and smooth – fold in the chocolate.
- In a clean grease free bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy, sift in the cream of tartar, whisk until soft peaks form, gradually whisk in the sugar, continue whisking until stiff and glossy.
- Mix one quarter into the batter, gently fold in remainder in two batches.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared Swiss roll tin, gently even out.
- Bake for approx. 15 to 20 minutes, or until the sponge is firm on top but still a little soft to the touch.
- While the sponge is baking, cut a piece of baking parchment slightly larger than the cake, place on top of a damped tea towel, lightly dust the parchment with the sifted cocoa and sugar.
- Invert the cake onto the paper; carefully remove the baking paper; while the cake is still hot – and working quickly – gently roll the cake up (with the parchment and paper inside the Roulade); leave to cool completely in this position.
Filling
- Prepare the filling by mixing together the crème fraîche and chocolate hazelnut spread then fold in the hazelnut slivers. Alterantely make a whipped chocolate ganache and fold in the nuts. Try this recipe which was originally a whipped chocolate ganache; this is not quite so sweet as it contains no additional processed sugars.
To finish
- Carefully unroll the sponge, spread the filling evenly over the top, leaving a 2 cm border, tightly roll up the sponge using the paper as a guide, place seam side down and lightly dust with sifted cocoa and icing sugar.
- Serve while at room temperature with lightly whipped double cream and a few fresh strawberries or raspberries.