How to Make a Chocolate and Chestnut Roulade
Italian Style Alternative to Traditional Christmas Pudding: Recipe
Nov 8, 2009
Fancy an alternative to Christmas pudding this year? Then try this festive recipe for chocolate rum roulade, filled with Italian ricotta cheese and chestnut puree.
This delicious chocolate roulade makes an impressive – and indulgent - ending to any special meal. It’s ideal for Christmas dinner. The chestnut pureé and ricotta cheese give it an Italian flavour, and the rum gives it a festive kick. The recipe for this rich roulade comes from Secrets from an Italian Kitchen, a new cookery book by Anna Venturi (pub. Pavilion £9.99). It appears here with permission. The chocolate roulade is perfect for organised cooks: it can be prepared in advance and also freezes well.
Chocolate Roulade with Chestnut and Ricotta Filling – Recipe
Ingredients – Serves 8
For the biscuit:
- 6 large eggs, separated
- 150g/ 6 oz/ ¾ cup caster (superfine) sugar
- 60g / 2oz /¼ - ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- Vegetable oil, for greasing
- Icing (confectioner’s) sugar, for dusting
- 4 tbsp rum
For the filling:
- 1 x 250g / 9 oz tin unsweetened chestnut pureé
- 250g / 9 oz / 1¼ cups ricotta cheese
- A few drops of vanilla extract
- 6 tbsp icing (confectioner’s) sugar
- Marrons glacé, for decoration
Method
- To make the biscuit, use an electric mixer to beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a large bowl for about 5 minutes until the mixture is thick and pale and forms a ribbon when the beater is lifted. Add the cocoa powder and keep beating a little more to mix. Set aside.
- Heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas 4. Line a baking tray with a large sheet of parchment paper and brush it with vegetable oil.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold them into the yolk mixture and spread evenly over the paper, smooth over the surface, and bake for 20-25 minutes. Leave to cool before rolling.
- To prepare the filling, pass the chestnut pureé through a mouli-legumes or a sieve into a bowl. Add the ricotta cheese and mix well to a nice creamy texture, then add the vanilla and icing (confectioner’s) sugar to taste.
- Dust a new sheet of parchment paper with icing sugar. When the biscuit is cold, turn it over onto the new sheet of parchment. Mix the rum with 4 tablespoons of water and brush the mixture over the biscuit. Spread the chestnut filling on top.
- Working from the long side, roll up into a cylinder using the parchment sheet to help curve it round. Wrap the roulade tightly in foil and refrigerate. When ready to serve, dust the roulade with more icing sugar and trim off the ends to give a neat finish. (Eat the scraps to reward yourself!)
The copyright of the article How to Make a Chocolate and Chestnut Roulade in Italian Baking is owned by Rebecca Ford. Permission to republish How to Make a Chocolate and Chestnut Roulade in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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