Maple Spice Chocolate Roll Cake with Caramelised Nuts

 

Possibly the best recipe ever to be posted on Delicious Delicious Delicious...

So, several weeks ago, our friends Lucy and Rich asked us over for dinner. They have a toddler and I never know how they manage to get him bathed and in bed, cook a three course meal and host dinner in a lovely clean house for all of us on a Wednesday evening, but somehow they consistently manage. I suppose it's possible that they lock the little one up in a cage upstairs, tired and dirty, but if that is what they do, they won't be able to get away with it for much longer because he's going to start talking soon. Therefore, new tactics might prove necessary in coming months.

 

I confess that I ate quite a lot of these and had to caramalise more. Sue me.

Anyway, last time we went round, the pudding was hands down the best thing we've eaten for ages - a spiced pumpkin and caramelised pecan pie, with maple syrup whipped cream. I am going to say that last part again, in case you missed it, and also because it gives me great pleasure: maple syrup whipped cream.

I haven't been the same person since, and knew without a doubt last week that I had to come up with some kind of cake (I'm no pie guy) that would make this maple and spice combination the star of the show. I am quite excited to present this bad boy, the result of my efforts, to you all for your approval.

I have rather lazily simplified the whole spice fandango, unlike the pie Rich made: there'll be no fine grating of nutmegs for this beauty. I noticed in Miami that lots of shops were selling 'pumpkin pie spice'; we don't get that here, so I opted for Schwartz's  'mixed spice', which has a little bit of everything you want in it. This made me feel really nostalgic, because my Mum's spice rack was always full of those cute little spice bottles, with their distinctive shape and lids.

I also seem to remember she always had celery salt in plentiful supply. I'm wondering as I type this if she was a secret Bloody Mary drinker the whole time? It would explain a great deal.

Anyway, I hope you try this. The spiced chocolate and nuts go so well with the maple whipped cream that it would be a pity if you never found it in you to whisk a few egg whites. If you can't be bothered with the rolling, simply bake the mixture in a 20cm greased and lined deep-sided tin for around 25 minutes, and when cool, frost with the whipped cream and top with the nuts. For me, it's the Swiss roll, every time.

Maple Spice Chocolate Roll Cake with Caramelised Nuts

You will need:

35g cocoa plus a little extra for dusting
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp Schwartz mixed spice
30g unsalted butter
60ml boiling water
135g sugar
6 eggs, separated
  
A generous handful of pecans and walnuts
50ml maple syrup

250ml double cream
125ml maple syrup

1. Pre-heat the oven to (you guessed it!) 180°C. Cut a generous piece of baking parchment (you want some overhang at the edges, to assist in rolling later), grease it well and lay it on a regular sized shallow sided baking tray. Mine measures 45cm by 30cm, so that's what I mean by 'regular'. You can make this as a round cake too - see above.
2. Put the cocoa, vanilla, mixed spice, butter and boiling water into a small bowl and stir until the butter has melted and you have a thick, brown cream. Set aside for a moment.
3. Beat the egg yolks and around half the sugar until creamy, pale and thick. This will take around three to five minutes with a regular hand whisk, a little less if you use machinery. It's your choice, and we're all friends here, so don't think I'll judge you for pulling out the stand mixer.
4. Whisk the egg whites in another, large bowl. When they start to froth, start adding the remaining sugar gradually, continuing to whisk until they reach the stiff peaks stage.
5. Now, we amalgamate. Add the cocoa slurry to the yolk mixture; stir until well mixed. Then fold the egg whites into the chocolatey egg yolks. Fold gently and keep at it until there are no streaks of white left and all is chocolate brown in colour. Pour the mixture onto the parchment-lined tray, spread it out using a spatula, and bake for just under twenty minutes. It will be light and springy when done.
6. Wet a clean tea towel and ring it out well. Take the cake out of the oven and, leaving it in the pan, place it on a cooling rack to cool. Sprinkle a little cocoa powder evenly all over the cake and cover with the damp dish towel. Allow to cool completely.
7. Meanwhile, toast the nuts in a dry pan, over a low flame. Just warm them through, stirring often. When nicely toasted (don't let them burn!), add the 50ml maple syrup and stir to coat them as it heats up. Turn them out to cool onto a piece of baking parchment and then chop them into small chunks.
8. Whip the cream until softly peaking; add the syrup and whip just a little more. Then, remove the tea towel from the cake and spread the cocoa dusted sponge with the maple cream. Sprinkle with the chopped nuts. 
9. Gently roll up the cake, using the parchment to lift, peeling it away as you go. This is much easier than it sounds so do not be scared as the cake is very flexible. This will keep in the fridge for at least three days. Serve generously in thick slices.Yum!

Whipped Cream Bundt

Or, 'The Von Trapp Bundt'.

You know, the point of this cake tin - isn't the shape of cake it turns out just beautiful? - was actually to be a sort of anniversary marker. I got it on honeymoon and thought it would be nice to bake a cake in it every September 16 as part of a special, celebratory dinner. But I can't seem to resist its pull every time I feel the urge to get out the flour, sugar and eggs. And so this is its third outing on these pages. Try not to get bored of it, because I suspect there will be many more.

Today's cake is one that has been screaming 'Bake me, you bitch!' at me for years. I've resisted, until now, because of the method. It's made without butter, instead relying on the butterfat found in whipped cream to tenderise the crumb. Since I've never really been big on whipped cream, it never quite made its way into pole position on the 'to try out' list I keep filed away in my temporal lobe, and really only did last week because I offered to take a cake over to some friends' place and had a pot of double to use up.

It's actually pretty good, and came together very quickly, which is useful if you need a cake pronto. Light and very moist, with a soft hit of vanilla, I would definitely bake it again, especially if cost was a concern. I mean, butter ain't getting any cheaper after all. But the real reason I wanted to post it is that it is perfect without icing.


When I was younger, I thought icing (especially buttercream) was just the business. I even used to love the vile, plastic textured rolled fondant that you get on supermarket birthday cakes, which now actually makes me feel sick to look at and touch.

My absolute favourite, and this really is disgusting, was the brightly coloured glacé icing that encases French Fancies. I probably would still eat one of those, out of nostalgia (my mother never had them in the house, so they were stolen treats at other children's parties), but would doubtless lapse into a sugar coma shortly thereafter.

As I grew older, my tastes changed, and now I am all about the cake itself, largely ignoring whatever it is frosted with. So cakes like this one are perfect for my tastes. It strikes me, all of a sudden, that this is directly comparable to a conversation I had with a work colleague recently about none other than Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'The Sound of Music'.

We discussed how much we both loved the film as children, and had secret crushes on Rolfe, the telegram boy who turns Nazi (ouch!) and betrays the Von Trapps. ('Liesl's Lucky Escape!')


Now, I don't feel too bad about all that. He was blonde and sang nicely, wore a uniform, and, as a youngster, I didn't really understand what The Third Reich was. However, more recent viewings have shown that really, our hearts belong to the Captain himself. You can lose yourself in the saccharine sweetness of singing telegram boys, yes, but really, what you need in life is a man who wears well-cut collar and dances a mean Ländler when you need one.

♥Christopher Plummer♥

I hope I do not need to spell it out for you that Rolf is the frosting.

You can get the recipe for this cake here, so I am not going to bother reproducing it. Just know that I used regular, UK plain flour and all was well.

Please make. And eat watching 'The Sound of Music'.

What's your favourite song from the film? I always liked 'I Have Confidence', though frankly, there are no bad ones.