The first week's theme was cake. I've learned a bit more about the preparation for the different rounds and I think I could maaaaybe get through the first two challenges but holy guacamole, show stoppers. Definite weak spot. Initially I was going to just make a cake and be all sorted. But instead, I opted to go for the technical challenge.
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These would definitely not pass the criticism of the bake off judges as they are definitely not symmetrical although they do have a nice swirl, in my amateur opinion. I also just couldn't bring myself to make more dirty dishes and melt white chocolate for the drizzle. We'll live.
Other things to keep in mind:
- Yes, you need parchment paper even if it means going back into the store and waiting in line again
- Yes, the egg whites will eventually become stiff peaks even if you've been beating them for 10 minutes already and think it will never happen
- Yes, you need a bigger bowl
- Yes, you can lose some of the crunchy edges to make the cake easier to roll
- No, the world won't end if there's no white chocolate drizzle
Recipe
from GBBO website
Cake
- 30g butter, melted (keep the wrapper for greasing)
- 60g cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 Tablespoon boiling water
- 6 large eggs, separated
- 150g sugar (divided into 100g and 50g)
Filling
- 150g butter, softened
- 300g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (or not if you think it will taste like toothpaste)
Topping
- 200g plain chocolate
- 200g milk chocolate
- 100g white chocolate (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a deep baking dish (or jelly pan or brownie pan, just don't fill it all the way up) with butter and parchment paper. Also grease the parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, mix the melted butter with the cocoa powder, boiling water and vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, beat together the egg yolks and 100g of sugar until smooth. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat until incorporated.
- In a large bowl, beat the egg whites for eternity until stiff peaks form. The egg whites need room to expand and become fluffy. Add the 50g of sugar after the peaks form, whisking until combined.
- Mix 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture to increase the volume and loosen the cake mix. Fold in the remaining egg whites until incorporated.
- Pour the cake mix into the prepared pans (if you only had one pan, use half the mixture and then repeat for the second round). The cake mix shouldn't spread too much on its own so spread it evenly in the pan. The mix will rise during baking but then settle back in so will be relatively thin and as deep as you pour it.
- Bake until firm, 15-20 minutes.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before doing the filling and rolling.
- For the filling, beat together the butter, icing sugar and peppermint until fluffy.
- Once cooled, place the cakes on a cutting board or other clean surface. Carefully peel back the parchment paper and discard.
- Spread the filling evenly across the cakes.
- Gently roll the cake from the short end 2-3 times, until you reach the middle. Repeat on the other side of the cake so one sheet makes two rolls.
- Cut the cake rolls where the two sides meet. Cut the rolls into even sections so you have 6 mini rolls per pan.
- Allow the rolls to set while you prepare the chocolate topping by melting the plain and milk chocolate together in a double boiler.
- Pour the chocolate over the rolls to coat. It's neatest to do this on a cooling rack with a tray beneath to catch the excess chocolate.
- Lastly, melt the white chocolate on its own and pour into a piping bag (or ziploc bag with the corner cut off). Drizzle each roll with the white chocolate.
- Enjoy! And put your feet up because this is a lot of steps.
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