Christmas Chocolate Orange & Meringue Roulade

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 200°C, Gas 6.
• Line a 21cm x 30cm Swiss roll tin with baking parchment and brush well with melted butter.
• Separate the eggs, place the yolks in a mixing machine with the castor sugar, orange zest and whisk on a high speed until very thick, this will take about 15 minutes.
• Add the chestnut puree and whisk again to incorporate well, finally fold in the arrowroot, cocoa powder and mixed spice.
• Whisk the egg white and cream of tartar over a medium speed or by hand until not too thick but foamy.
• Add the 40g castor sugar and whisk again to just incorporate.  The meringue must be soft and silky not too stiff.
• Carefully fold the two together and spoon into the prepared Swiss roll tray. This amount of mixture will fit exactly into the tray.
• Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until springy to the touch and well risen.
• Turn out onto lightly sugared baking parchment to cool.
• To finish, fold into the cream the cocoa powder, icing sugar and meringues together.
• Spoon onto the sponge and carefully roll up Swiss roll style using the parchment, if the roulade splits slightly then don’t worry, it’s all part of this unique cake.
• Freeze on a cling film lined baking tray, then cover with cling film.
• Defrost best overnight in the fridge.
• Carefully transfer to a long plate and chill well.
• Just before serving, drizzle with the melted chocolate and dust with icing sugar.