Cherry Chocolate Roll

While I have hundreds dozens of cookbooks, I rarely cook from any of them - but you can easily tell the ones I do use. Bits of food will be on the pages…like for example, smudges of chocolate. This cherry chocolate roll is an easy if you modify the long instructions in the book, so I make it a lot. It's also good with berries and the recipe can be easily halved.

200 grams cherries
Same amount of dark chocolate
80 ml coffee
7 eggs
150 grams caster sugar
300 ml thickened cream
1 1/2 tablespoons icing sugar
20 ml kirsch
cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Make the coffee, and melt with the chocolate over in a saucepan placed in simmering water.

In a bowl beat egg yolk with sugar. In a mixer beat the egg white until stiff.

Mix in melted chocolate to egg yolk and sugar and then mix in the egg white.

Line a tray (29cm by 24cm) with baking paper and put the mixture into the pan. Bake for 15 minutes or so, and then turn the oven off, open the door slightly and leave for another 10 minutes.

While you're waiting for the cake to cool, pit the cherries. By now only 4 of your 10 minutes is up, so check out something on the internets before grabbing the cake bit from the oven and cover it with a damp tea towel. I don't know why you cover it with a damp tea towel - but just do it. 

To kill a bit more time, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Do not over whip. I repeat - do not over whip. Mix in the icing sugar and kirsch to the cream and then throw in the cherries and fold it all together.

Get rid of the tea towel and dust the sponge with cocoa if you can be bothered. Turn tray onto a piece of baking paper and peel off the paper it cooked in (if you get what I mean). Spread the cherries and cream mix onto the cake and using the new paper - roll. It'll crack a bit, but that's okay because it's supposed to.

Now you are done! And the best part is this cherry chocolate roll is better if you make it the day before, so if you are organised, chuck it in the fridge 24 hours before serving. I was not organised and I also forgot to take a photo of it at the end, and lets be honest, while there is still some left in the fridge it seems like such effort to take a photo now. So you know, it looked just like it does in the book. Promise.