A lot of people are put off making a Swiss roll through fear of the rolling and the cracking. A lot of the time the cake will crack, I think this gives the Swiss roll character and proves it is homemade.

I have made a black forest Swiss roll with cream and cherries, however you can make any filling you want or prefer.

You will need:

For the Swiss roll:

• 3 Eggs
• 85g Soft Dark Brown Sugar
• 2tbsp Kirsch/Cherry Brandy (optional)
• 30g Cocoa Powder
• 55g Plain Flour
• 2tbsp Caster Sugar for dredging

Filling:

• 200ml Double Cream
• 3 Generous tbsp Cherry Pie Filling

Decoration Options:

• Caster sugar

Or

Ganache:

• 150g Dark Chocolate
• 150ml Double Cream
• Crushed flake.

Method:

• Line and grease a 33cm x 23cm baking sheet.
• Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees.
• Whisk the eggs, sugar and kirsch with an electric whisk for 10mins, the mixture will double in size and look bubbly and creamy.
• Sift the cocoa powder and flour over the egg mixture and gently fold through. The whisked eggs form the raising agent so you don’t want to knock the air out.
• Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and gently level it.
• Bake for 10mins

Meanwhile, prepare an area to turn and roll your still warm Swiss roll sponge.

• Lay out a piece of grease proof/baking paper (slightly larger than your Swiss roll) on your work top and dredge with caster sugar. The caster sugar will help prevent your sponge sticking to the paper.
• Once the Swiss roll has finished baking (it should be springy to the touch). Turn it straight over onto the prepared paper.
• Peel the baking paper off the bottom, which is now upper most.
• Roll the Swiss roll sponge from the shortest side using the prepared sugar dredged paper to help guide the rolling.
• You will end up with the Swiss roll shape with the paper rolled inside and continued to cover the sponge to support it while it cools.
• Put to one side and allow to cool completely – this will take about an hour.
• Once the cake is cold, whisk the double cream so it holds its shape.
• Carefully unroll your cake, making sure you support it to help prevent cracking. Please don’t worry if it does crack the cream will help stick it together and if you are covering with the ganache this will hide the cracks.
• Spread the cream evenly over the unrolled Swiss roll leaving a 1cm border around the edges for oozing cream.
• Evenly spread the cherry pie filling over the cream.
• Carefully roll the Swiss roll back up. It should retake this shape quite easily.
• Pat it to the desired round roll shape and place on your serving plate.
• The cake should still be covered in the dredging sugar, you can add more if you are going to serve like this or you can cover in the chocolate ganache

Making the ganache

• This is so very easy to make
• Melt your chocolate in a heat proof dish over a saucepan of simmering water.
• Once completely melted pour in the cream and stir until thick and glossy.
• As soon as it is at a spreadable consistency spread carefully over your Swiss roll and decorate with crushed flake.

Because of the fresh cream it is best to keep any leftovers in the fridge – That’s if there are any!