Cafe Lula

This started life as a jam and white chocolate roly poly. My Good Food magazine came with a yummy looking dessert on the front and I took it round to Mum’s house to show her. “That looks nice”, she said, “what’s in it?”. “Well, it’s got suet in it…”. This was thoroughly rejected. So I decided to turn it into swiss roll instead.

But then there were issues with the filling. White chocolate and jam? What about white chocolate, strawberries and raspberry jam? Do we really want jam? Do we really want white chocolate? What if we have white chocolate sauce with it instead of putting it in the middle? Or custard? What about custard? Let’s leave out the jam. Shall we put cream in the middle? What about chocolate cream? What about dark chocolate cream?

We went round and round in circles until we finally made a decision. Strawberries. Dark chocolate ganache. Whipped double cream. White chocolate custard. That was tiring. Worth it though.

Dark chocolate and strawberry swiss roll with white chocolate custard

A Cafe Lula recipe (with lots of help from Mum, Rose and Kim on filling/topping ideas)

Serves 10-12

Ingredients:

For the swiss roll:

125g caster (superfine) sugar, plus a bit extra for sprinkling the top

4 eggs

1.5 tbsp warm water

125g plain (all-purpose) flour

For the filling and topping:

85g dark chocolate (50-60% cocoa solids)

300ml double (heavy) cream

250g strawberries, chopped

100g white chocolate, to drizzle

For the custard:

125ml whole milk

2 large egg yolks (click here for some ideas on how to use up the whites)

30g caster (superfine) sugar

75g white chocolate, broken into pieces in a medium bowl

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 40cm by 28cm swiss roll tin.

Make the swiss roll. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and caster sugar until they are light and fluffy and three times the original volume. Add the warm water. Sift in a third of the flour and gently fold in. Repeat until all the flour has been added. Pour into the tin, level the top with a spatula and bake for 12-15 minutes, until just coming away from the edges of the tin and springy to touch.

Lay a big piece of baking paper on a worktop and sprinkle it evenly with caster sugar. Turn the swiss roll out onto the baking paper gently and leave to cool for a few minutes. Peel away the baking paper it was baked in and cover with a slightly damp, clean tea towel (to stop it cracking as it dries).

Make the filling. Melt the dark chocolate and 100ml of the double cream in a saucepan over a low heat. Allow to cool and then put it in the fridge to cool for a few minutes. Technically you should let it cool to room temperature before putting it in the fridge but I do not have the patience for this. Remove from the fridge and leave on the side until ready to use.

In a bowl, whip the remaining 200ml of double cream until soft peaks form.

When the cake has cooled, remove the towel and spread the cake with the dark chocolate, then the cream and then sprinkle over the strawberries evenly. Using the baking paper to help you, gently roll the short side of the cake inwards. You want to roll it gently enough that it doesn’t squidge out all the filling, but tight enough that it looks neat.

Melt the 100g white chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally. When it is smooth, drizzle it over the swiss roll. Add any remainiing white chocolate to the white chocolate for the custard. Store the swiss roll in the fridge until ready to serve.

Just before you want to serve, make the custard. Heat the milk in a saucepan until fairly hot but not boiling. You should be able to dip your finger in it without crying like a girl. If you have a thermometer, it should reach about 60C. Remove from the heat.

In a bowl, mix together the egg yolks and sugar, beating well. Pour in the hot milk and stir well, then return the mixture to the hot pan and cook over a low heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Pour the mixture into the bowl of white chocolate. Allow to stand for a minute, then stir well until the white chocolate has melted and the custard is smooth. Serve as soon as you like, which I assume is immediately.