Wednesday 18th November 2020.
A taste of Christmas.
Christmas lunch is predictable. People expect sprouts, parsnips, pigs in blankets. This takes some of the pressure off, having rehearsed it every December before now. After a while I find you get into some sort of 'Christmas dinner rhythm' that is triggered for just the one day every year. Dessert on the big day is another story. The infamous Christmas pudding puts a 50/50 split down the centre of the household and so rarely makes an appearance, but I can't bring myself to just serve a mince pie with an Irish coffee and pass it off as pudding. That said, I don't want to spend all of Christmas Eve/Christmas Day in the kitchen feeling antisocial and so I came up with my rather sweet gingerbread roulade recipe. It can be made a day (or even two) in advance and will sit happily in the fridge until needed. The spice of stem ginger provides a welcome break in flavour from the richness of the main dinner. Not too sweet, but still decadent with its filling of whipped double cream, no one is going to be disappointed when you bring this to the dining table.
Ingredients
- 125g soft brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 125g plain flour, sifted
- 2 tsp ground ginger
For the filling:
- 300ml double cream
- 6 balls stem ginger, diced, plus 4 tbsp of the syrup from the jar
- 3 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
To finish:
- Miniature gingerbread men
- The remainder of the syrup from the stem ginger
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/ 180 for fan. Grease and then line a 32cm x 23cm Swiss role tin and put to one side.
Using an electric hand mixer, in a large bowl, whisk the sugar with the eggs for about 10 minutes until fluffy (you should be able to draw a figurer of 8 on top of the mixture without it disappearing straight away. This is what gives your sponge its rise).
In a separate bowl, sift the flour and ginger together then add half to your sugar and egg mixture before gently folding with a large metal spoon. Once incorporated add the remaining flour and pour into the prepared tin.
Bake for about 10 minutes until golden and springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Lay a large sheet of greaseproof paper out and dust generously with caster sugar. Turn the sponge out onto the paper and carefully roll lengthways with the greaseproof between the layers. Leave to cool completely while you make the filling.
In a large bowl, whisk the double cream with the icing sugar until it is thick, but still spreadable. Add the chopped stem ginger and the syrup before folding in to incorporate. Place in the fridge until required.
Unroll the cooled sponge from its paper. Spread 3/4 of the ginger cream evenly across the underside of the sponge, leaving a 1cm border around the edge. Carefully re-roll lengthways, don't worry if some cream oozes out the ends. Trim either end to neaten up then place on your serving plate.
Brush the remainder of the ginger syrup from the jar over the sponge then pipe the remaining ginger cream on top. Decorate with mini gingerbread men and place in the fridge for an hour before serving.
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