Tea Time Treat

MOCHA ROULADE

After my last blog I was asked to post the recipe for the Mocha Roulade that I was enjoying after my day of furniture painting. The recipe is a favourite of mine from the Dairy Book of Family Cookery first published by Ebury Press in 1983 on behalf of the Milk Marketing Board. As it had been a while since I last made this tea time treat I felt like a contender on the Great British Bake Off . The pressure was on right from the start as I had not left myself enough time and as a consequence the things that could go wrong went wrong!

So from my very recent experience here’s a few pointers to help you on your way…

use good chocolate but allow plenty of time to melt it slowly as rushing it can ruin it
leave time for the melted coffee chocolate to cool before adding to the egg and sugar mix
allow sufficient time for the cooked sponge to rest under a damp tea towel overnight
remember to turn out the cooked sponge onto sugared baking paper as this is used to roll the sponge up

Ingredients

15 ml (3 level tsp) instant coffee powder
100 g (4 oz) plain chocolate
4 eggs, size 2, separated
100 g (4 oz) caster sugar
300 ml (10 fl oz) fresh double cream
175 g (6 oz) white grapes, halved and seeded

In a small bowl, blend the coffee to a smooth paste with 15 ml (1 tbsp) water. Break up the chocolate (into small pieces), put into the bowl and melt (slowly) over hot (not boiling) water. Cool.
Cut a 30.5 cm (12 inch) square of non-stick paper, fold up to 2.5 cm (1 inch) all round. Snip into the corners, secure edges with paperclips to form a free-standing paper case. Place on a baking sheet.
Whisk the yolks and sugar until thick and then stir in the cool coffee chocolate. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture. Spread into the paper case.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees C (350 degrees F) mark 4 for about 15 minutes, until firm. Cover with a damp tea-towel and leave overnight.
Remove the tea-towel, flip the roulade over on to a sheet of sugared greaseproof paper. Whip the fresh cream until softly stiff. Spread the roulade with the fresh cream and grapes (reserve some for decoration).
Roll up, using the paper. Decorate with whirls of cream and reserved grapes. Serves 6-8