Rhubarb roulade for coffee and tea time, the Sunday special, published in the Chef’s Handyman food blog!
When I was a child, I loved to spend the summer holidays together with my relatives in Austria. My aunt is still a great pastry baker. My brother and my cousins could hardly wait until the cakes had been baked and were ready to be eaten. My aunt and uncle had a lot of fruit trees in their garden. We could harvest apricots, cherries and different types of plums. They had also berries. I will never forget the smell, when the door of the oven had been opened. Even outside in the garden a light sweet breeze did touch the nose, when the cakes were placed for cooling on the kitchen table next to the window. Roulades are easy to prepare and great in taste.
Chef’s Handyman’s favorite for coffee and tea: Rhubarb cake with chocolate
To make filling: Peel rhubarb and cut into pieces. Cut strawberries in half. Place all pieces in a pan. Add preserving sugar, a dash of salt and black pepper. Cook on medium heat until the mixture does thicken. If not so, add more preserving sugar. When finished add 1 tbsp. of rose water and cool rhubarb filling.
To make sponge cake, separate eggs, cream yolk, sugar, lemon rind and vanilla pod seeds until light. Add flour. Beat egg white with a dash of salt and sugar until stiff. Fold into the dough. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread dough on baking tray. Make sure the mixture does have the same high on each side. Dough might not cover whole space on sheet. Bake at 425°F (220°C) in oven for 5-10 minutes or until golden. Then, carefully turn them out onto a damp kitchen towel sprinkled with sugar. Gently strip away the base lining paper. Roll biscuit together with kitchen towel and cool. If the ends of the sponge are stiff, trim them off.
Unroll biscuit. Spread filling on top. Roll up biscuit and kitchen towel together loosely from narrow end.
Bring water to the boil. Combine 1 tbsp. of butter and the chocolate in the top of a double boiler, or in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water. Stir until the chocolate melts. Pour chocolate in a piping bag. Decorate cake with chocolate. Cool for one hour.
Shopping list for one cake:
Baking Ingredients: 3 oz. sugar, 100 g or 4 oz. of preserving sugar, 1 tbsp. rose blossom water, 100 g or 4 oz. chocolate, 1 tbsp. vanilla
Flour: 3.5 oz. bleached flour
Dairy Products: 1 tbsp. butter
Eggs: 3 x eggs
Spices: 2 pinch salt, black pepper
Fruits: 100 g or 4 oz. strawberries, 600 g or 18 oz. rhubarb, 1 lemon (organic)
Have a great weekend yours Chef’s Handyman team!
