I had surplus mincemeat from Christmas and decided to use some in a pudding. I have made chocolate roulades for some time and felt sure that swapping the cocoa for flour and using mincemeat and perhaps some apple too as the filling, as well as cream, would work very well. And indeed it did, this is the delicious result of that experiment.
I found that ordinary flour gave a sponge that could have been more tender, so tried using cornflour which worked perfectly, and also made it gluten free.
The roulade will sit quite happily for several days, so is great for a party, or any occasion when you would like to prepare some things in advance.
How to make a roulade
Pre-heat oven to 180C/150 fan, Gas Mark 3
Line a Swiss roll tin, 29cm x 18cm and about 2.5cm deep with greaseproof paper and oil very lightly.
For the roulade
Whisk egg whites in a very clean and dry bowl until they reach the soft peak stage. Your whisk and bowl, and anything else you use when whisking egg whites needs to be free of any trace of grease as this will prevent the whites from whisking as much. I’ve also found that everything needs to be dry as well.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until thick. Sift in cornflour, mixing well, then gently fold in the whisked egg whites, keeping as much of the air as you can.
Pour into the lined tin and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin, where it will sink dramatically.
This is the roulade straight out of the oven
And 10 minutes later, when it had cooled, and shrunk
When the roulade is cool, place a piece of greaseproof paper on the worktop and dust with icing sugar.
Now tip the roulade onto the sugared paper, and remove the lining paper on the bottom.
Spread on mincemeat and the cooked Bramley apple
Top with the cream.
For more, smaller servings, firmly grasp the long edge of the greaseproof paper and tip the roulade over, starting a Swiss roll shape. Using the paper to help you, continue to roll the roulade, forming it with the paper when you need to, and gently squeezing to help create a firm roll. It might split, but that’s fine, it adds to its charm. For fewer, larger servings, grasp the short edge of the paper and roll.
When you serve it, dust the whole thing with icing sugar.
What was this easy roulade recipe like?
Light and delicious! I first made it with ordinary self raising flour. It was lovely, but I felt that the sponge could be a little lighter, so next time, I used cornflour instead, making it gluten free as well. This gives me more lovely pudding options for my coeliac brother.
Variations for a dessert roulade
There are a great many different ways to enjoy a roulade recipe.
- swap the cornflour for cocoa powder and fill with cream, and/or chocolate mousse
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for Christmas, stir in some dried cranberries and fill with sweetened chestnut puree and cream.
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for autumn, fill with spiced pumpkin puree and cinnamon cream, maybe serve with cinnamon ice cream.
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for spring, I was thinking maybe a lemon one. Add lemon zest, fill with cream and lemon curd. How good would that be served with raspberry ice cream!
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and for summer, it has to be strawberries and cream.
Or how about this rather wonderful variation – cranberry sauce. The sauce wasn’t quite as sharp as I was anticipating, so next time I think I’ll use fresh cranberries.
What else can I do with a roulade
Then of course, there are all the savoury options. I’m thinking about how to do those and will be writing up something soon – watch this space!
Other puddings you might like
Lemon Cheesecake – Cheap Family Recipes
Ingredients
Roulade
- 4 whole eggs
- 150 g sugar
- 50 g cornflour
Filling
- 200 g Bramley apple
- 330 g mincemeat
- 225 ml double cream whipped
Instructions
Prepare baking tin
- Line a Swiss roll tin, 29cm x 18cm and about 2.5cm deep with greaseproof paper and oil very lightly.
Roulade
- Separate the eggs into whites and yolks
- Put the whites into a squeaky clean and dry bowl. Whisk the whites until they are hold soft peak. If you are using a stand mixer, place the whites into another bowl.
- Now put the yolks into the emptied bowl with the sugar and whisk until they thicken.
- Sift the cornflour and whisk into the beaten yolk mixture.
- Carefully fold in the soft peaked egg whites being careful to preserve as much of the air as you can.
- Tip all the mixture into the prepared tin
- Bake at 180℃/150℃ fan, Gas Mark 3 for 20 - 25 minutes
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely still in the tin. It will sink dramatically which is perfectly normal
- When the roulade is cool, place a piece of greaseproof paper on the worktop and dust generously with icing sugar.
- Now tip the roulade onto the sugared paper, and carefully remove the lining paper on the bottom.
Topping
- Peel and cook the apple. This really needs to be a sharp one, a Bramley if you can get one
- Whip the cream until it holds it shape
- Spread the roulade with the mincemeat
- Top the mincemeat with the cooked apple
- Finally spread the whipped cream on top
- Now firmly grasp the long edge of the greaseproof paper and tip the roulade over, starting a Swiss roll shape. Using the paper to help you, continue to roll the roulade, forming it with the paper when you need to. It may split, but that’s fine, it adds to its charm.Roll it as tight as you can, squeezing gently through the paper to keep a nice tight roll.
- The roulade keeps very well for several days
Equipment Needed
Carola – I seem to have missed that out don’t I. I put the peeled and sliced apple in a covered dish in the microwave and cooked it for a minute at a time until it was soft
If memory serves, it took about 4 minutes
I’ll correct that later today, thanks for spotting it
This recipe looks great. However, I have one question….how do you cook the Bromley apple and how long for?