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Chocolate Mini Rolls

Chocolate mini rolls featured on he Great British Bake Off and had me yelling at the TV a lot.

“Oh for goodness sake you need to whisk the egg yolks and egg whites separately”

“My Saturday morning cooking club kids could do better!”

So, we did.  This is the recipe, the photos are the mini rolls.  I’m really proud of them and they only had 75 mins to make them from scratch and decorate them.

Ingredients:
3 eggs, separated
80g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
100g caster sugar

Filling:
50g butter, softened
150g icing sugar, sieved
few drops of vanilla or peppermint extract
a little milk

Topping:

200g dark chocolate
100g milk chocolate
50g white chocolate

  1. Preheat the oven to 180oc/gas 4. Grease a 23 x 33 cm Swiss roll tin and line with baking parchment.
  2. Sieve flour and cocoa powder together and set aside.
  3. Whisk the egg whites using an electric whisk until they reach ‘soft peak’, add the cream of tartar and mix until they form stiff peaks. Add 50g sugar and whisk back to soft peak.
  4. Whisk the egg yolks and remaining 50g sugar together until thick, pale and creamy and the mixture leaves a trail when the whisk is lifted from the bowl.
  5. Using a metal spoon carefully fold the egg yolk mixture and the flour and cocoa powder into the egg whites,
  6. Spoon into the lined Swiss roll tin, spread out to flatten the mixture making sure to fill the edges and cook for 8-12 minutes until springy to the touch.
  7. Remove the sponge from the oven and leave to cool for 1-2 mins. Remove from the tin, leaving the parchment attached and gently roll over the surface of the sponge to slightly flatten it.
  8. With one of the shortest edges in front of you roll up the sponge while it’s still warm, stop half way, in the middle, then turn the sponge round and do the same with the other side so the rolled up sponge meets in the middle. Leave rolled up to cool completely.
  9. Make the buttercream: Beat the butter and icing sugar together in an electric mixer, add the vanilla or peppermint and sufficient milk to give a stiff icing. Then beat again for a few minutes until the buttercream is light and fluffy.
  10. When the sponge is cold slice it through the middle separating the two rolled pieces. Uncurl the sponge, remove the parchment and spread each piece evenly with buttercream. Trim the edges and cut each roll into three sections (or more if you want smaller mini rolls). Chill
  11. Melt the dark and milk chocolate together in the microwave on medium heat in 20 second bursts until the chocolate has almost melted, some small pieces should still be visible. Remove from the microwave and stir well until the chocolate is smooth and slightly thicker.
  12. Transfer the mini rolls to a cooling rack with baking parchment underneath to protect your work surface. Spoon the melted chocolate over the top covering them completely. Set aside to firm up.
  13. Melt the white chocolate in the same way, transfer to a piping bag and pipe diagonal lines over the mini rolls. Leave to set then serve.