Who doesn’t love a good challenge from the The Great British Bake Off? The latest season available on Netflix introduced us to Prue, one of the new hosts, and her
Admittedly, my first attempt at this recipe didn’t follow the instructions to the letter, but I learned a few things and can’t wait to bake more versions in the future until I find the method that I am happy with. No matter what, the trials will all be delicious because this recipe is the right balance of chocolates and peppermint.
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Prue’s Mini Rolls
Cake:
60 g cocoa powder
30 g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 Tbsp boiling water
6 large eggs, separated
150 g caster sugar (a.k.a. super fine sugar. I only had granulated on hand)
Filling:
150 g butter, softened
300 g icing sugar (a.k.a. powdered sugar)
1 tsp peppermint essence (I used extract. There is a difference in strength but the extract worked just fine.)
Coating:
200 g plain chocolate, 70% cocoa solids (only 60% was available near me and it worked out fine)
200 g milk chocolate
100 g white chocolate
Heat oven to 350F. Grease two 30 cm x 20 cm Swiss roll tins. Line the base of each tin with a piece of greased parchment paper. (I only had a single half sheet pan available. I baked one sheet instead of 2 due to the slight size difference).
Since the cocoa powder into a small bowl, add the butter, vanilla extract, and boiling water and mix together. Set aside.
Whisk 100 g of the caster sugar and egg yolks together until light, thick, and fluffy. Add the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Add the remaining 50 g of caster sugar and whisk until the sugar has dissolved, making a meringue.
Beat one third of the meringue mixture into the chocolate mixture to loosen the mix. Using a large metal spoon, fold the remaining egg whites into the mixture.
Divide the mixture between the two lined tins and level out. Bake for 12-18 mins. (My half sheet went for about 16 mins).
Remove from the oven and place on cooling racks. Cover the tins with a damp tea towel and leave to cool completely – 45-60 mins. (In my attempt, I took the cake out of the tin while hot and rolled with a tea towel. This ended up deflating the cake horribly. I do not recommend this alternate technique for this cake.)
For the filling, beat the butter until soft and gradually beat in the icing sugar. Add the peppermint essence and continue beating until white, soft, and fluffy.
Turn the cakes upside down onto two sheets of parchment paper (or a tea towel) and peel off the parchment paper on the top. Turn the cakes so that the short end is facing you. Score a line 4 cm on both short ends of both cakes. (I don’t recommend using the scoring method as the cake falls apart.) Spread the peppermint cream over the top and toward the edges.
Starting from the front short edge, roll up the cake, stopping in the middle. Repeat he same from the back until both rolls meet in the middle. Cut down the center between the rolls.
Repeat with the remaining cake so you have four rolls. Trim the ends and cut each roll into three so you end up with 12 mini rolls. Place the rolls, seam-side down, on a cooling rack and chill in the fridge for 15 mins to firm up.
To finish, melt the plain and milk chocolate together in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (a double boiler). Place the cooling rack over a baking tin so it can catch the chocolate and dip, spread, or pour the chocolate over each mini roll to coat. Leave to set.
Melt the white chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (double boiler). Spoon into a small disposable piping bag and snip off the end. Pipe fine stripes across the width of the mini rolls and leave to set. (My white chocolate never got thin enough to pipe, so I spooned lines onto each roll and used a toothpick to make designs.)
Casual Confections 