Chocolate Roulade

Yesterday I made a yummy chocolate roulade :) I tried one before with my friend, but we did not let it cool long enough before we put the buttercream we used for the middle in, and it was a bit sickly as a result. This time, however, it has turned out really well. I used the recipe below:

Cake:
175g plain dark chocolate (I used a mix of Bournville and Lindt)
3 tablespoons warm water
5 separated eggs
17g caster sugar

Filling:
225ml double cream
40g icing sugar
20g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of coffee powder, disolved in 1 tablespoon of boilng water
Extra icing sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 180 (gas mark 4, 160 for a fan oven). Grease and line a 35 by 25cm swiss roll tin. Melt the chocolate (in the microwave, or in a bowl over a boiling water in a saucepan), and one melted stir in the tablespoons of water. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar and then add the melted chocolate to this. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff. Fold them into the chocolate mixture, carefully so you do not lose air. Pour this into the swiss roll tin and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove and leave to cool for 3 to 4 hours- do not worry if it seems to deflate at this point. Get a length of tin foil or greaseproof paper and scatter some icing sugar over this evenly, laid out on a worktop. Turn the sponge out onto this and remove the backing paper. Prepare the filling by mixing the 40g of icing sugar with the other ingredients and whisking them until stiff. Spread this onto your turned out sponge:

Scour a small cut a few centimetres from one end and then fold this over to start your roll. Then lift the tin foil/ greaseproof to help you roll the whole shape, pulling it with you as you go. Do not worry if it cracks a little, as there should be a few on there due to the nature of the sponge and the rolling action. You should be left with something like this:

 (side view of cake, which is the end that was rolled over)

 (end view)

It was actually really easy to execute and yummy anyway, even if it cracks a bit, so don't worry if it does not go perfectly first time. Just ensure you leave the sponge to fully cool and you should be fine. Serve with strawberries for extra yumminess :)