Dark chocolate & cranberry roulade

Dark chocolate & cranberry roulade

This is a fantastic cake to serve as a dessert or at teatime over the festive season and can be made up to a day in advance

Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 10

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 50 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 mins

Ready in 1 hour 10 minutes plus cooling

Method

  1. Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Butter a large (approx 30cm x 40cm) Swiss roll tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment. Lightly butter the parchment, dust with the plain flour and tip out any excess.
  2. Sift the self-raising flour, baking powder and cocoa into a bowl and mix in the ground almonds. Put the eggs and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat, using an electric hand-whisk or tabletop mixer, for 5-10 mins until pale, thick and trebled in volume. The mixture should leave a trail when the beaters are lifted out. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture using a large metal spoon. Pour into the prepared tin, then tip the tin from side to side until it is covered in an even layer of batter and the corners are filled. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 12-15 mins or until firm to the touch. Meanwhile, lay a sheet of baking parchment on the work surface and sprinkle with caster sugar.
  3. Allow the sponge to cool for 1 min before turning out onto the sugared paper. Peel away the backing paper and, with the short side facing you, roll the sponge away from you so that the sugary parchment is rolled inside the roulade. This will help you to fill and roll it later. Set aside until completely cold.
  4. To make the filling, beat the mascarpone with the orange zest. Unroll the sponge, discard the inside paper and evenly spread the mascarpone over, leaving a finger-width border around the edges. Cover with the cranberry sauce. Using the outside baking paper to help, roll the sponge away from you as tightly as possible. Transfer to a serving platter, cover loosely and chill while you prepare the frosting.
  5. For the frosting, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of just-simmering water, or microwave on High for 2 mins, stirring halfway through. Set aside for about 10 mins until cooled, but still soft.
  6. Meanwhile, beat the butter and icing sugar together until pale and smooth. Pour in the chocolate and stir thoroughly to combine. Set aside for 20 mins to firm up slightly before using a palette knife to cover the roulade in frosting. Mark with a fork to create a log effect. To decorate, arrange the cranberries and bay leaves along the length of the log. Dust with a little icing sugar just before serving. Cut into slices, removing cranberries and bay leaves to serve. The roulade can be made up to a day ahead. Take it out of the fridge at least 30 mins before you want to serve it, to allow the filling and icing to soften.

Per slice

691 kcalories, protein 9g, carbohydrate 48g, fat 52 g, saturated fat 29g, fibre 2g, sugar 30g, salt 0.45 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, December 2005.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • Binder photo emy

    26 December 2007

    emy commented on this recipe

    It wasn't a real sponge, so it didn't become a roll, but anyway it was delicious and a great success in the family.

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  • Binder photo Pam

    28 December 2007

    Pam commented on this recipe

    A few cracks appeared in the cake when being rolled - didn't matter as the chocolate frosting covered them up. It looked impressive and tasted great - it's very rich. Glad I made it the day before - too much else going on in the oven to do it on Christmas Day.

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  • Binder photo Pam

    13 January 2008

    Pam rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • Binder photo Riley

    02 May 2008

    Riley rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    The cake is great but it got even better when I used ganache as frosting instead of the greasy tasting frosting suggested here.

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  • Binder photo Donna

    28 May 2008

    Donna commented on this recipe

    Everyone loved it!!!!!!!! The 'sponge' did crack but was easily pieced back together with the frosting which tasted absolutely beautiful!!!!!!!!! However it did seem to consume much more than 1hr as i was so concentrated on getting it absolutely right. I even used this recipe as a basis to make cupcake versions - they went down very well indeed!

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  • Binder photo Donna

    28 May 2008

    Donna rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo janet

    30 June 2009

    janet rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Whenever I have made this it has always cracked but I think it is more to do with the size of the tin I am using. This does not spoil the taste and my neighbour often asks me to make this when we get together.

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  • Binder photo Lesley J Ross

    27 December 2010

    Lesley J Ross commented on this recipe

    This was absolutely delicious. I used cherry conserve instead of cranberry sauce, omitted the orange rind and served with cherries in kirsch.

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  • Binder photo ZobeyCooks

    04 February 2011

    ZobeyCooks commented on this recipe

    This recipie was brilliant! I loved coioking and rolling it. afew cracks appeared in the cake but that was probablymy fault as i put the wrong sugar into the mix in the wrong quantity. all in all though a great recipie enjoyed by the whole family :D

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  • Binder photo ZobeyCooks

    04 February 2011

    ZobeyCooks rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • Binder photo Irene

    16 March 2012

    Irene commented on this recipe

    I sprinkled kirsch over the cranberries. A delicious cake!!!

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Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 10

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 50 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 mins

Ready in 1 hour 10 minutes plus cooling

Ingredients

FOR THE SPONGE

  • 1 tbsp plain flour , for dusting
  • 50g self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 25g good-quality cocoa powder (we used Green & Black's)
  • 50g ground almonds
  • 5 large eggs
  • 100g caster sugar , plus extra for turning the cake out

FOR THE FILLING

  • 2x 250g tubs mascarpone
  • grated zest 1 orange
  • 300g jar good-quality cranberry sauce (or use homemade)

FOR THE FROSTING

  • 200g good-quality dark chocolate , broken into pieces
  • 175g unsalted butter , softened
  • 50g icing sugar , sifted

TO DECORATE

  • cranberry and bay leaves, optional
  • icing sugar , to dust
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Per slice

691 kcalories, protein 9g, carbohydrate 48g, fat 52 g, saturated fat 29g, fibre 2g, sugar 30g, salt 0.45 g

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