If you’re the parent of little people (or little person) and you’ve managed to escape the endless variety of germs currently doing the rounds – congratulations! Unfortunately we’ve not been so lucky. We were meant to have friends over a couple of weekends ago but sadly sickness meant we had to postpone (when I’d already made another cheesecake – but that’s a story for another post!) so we rearranged. After eating a lot of cheesecake last week we couldn’t face more so I decided to try a roulade instead. I think this might be the first time I’ve made one but was surprisingly pleased with how well it went as meringue can sometimes be my nemesis. This is a Sainsbury’s Magazine recipe that I had seen which seemed fairly simple and didn’t require any ingredients I didn’t already have.
This received high praise with one of my little birdies declaring tonight that the meringue was ‘as fluffy as a cloud’ which is praise I will gratefully accept. The meringue can be made the day before, and the roulade assembled a few hours before serving. I assembled mine the night before Sunday lunch and it kept well in the fridge. You will need a 33 x 23cm Swiss roll tin. You could of course make your own mini meringue decorations, I opted to buy mine from Waitrose instead to make life easier. You could double the amount of macerated strawberries if yyou’d like extra to spoon over the roulade when serving.
Ingredients
- For the filling
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 160°C, fan 140°C or gas 3. Line a 33 x 23cm Swiss roll tin with enough baking paper to stand about 4cm high at the sides.
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Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks in a large mixing bowl, using an electric whisk or mixer (make sure your bowl is clean). Gradually add the sugar, a spoonful at a time, beating well between each addition, until you have a smooth, glossy and stiff mixture. Beat in the cornflour, vinegar or lemon juice and a tiny pinch of salt.
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Spread the meringue out evenly in the tin. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until it has a light golden crust. Leave to cool in its tin for 5 minutes (it will deflate a bit).
- Once it has cooled slightly, put a large sheet of baking paper on the worktop and dust with the icing sugar. Turn the meringue out onto the paper and leave to cool, with its lining paper still in place.
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Keep back 4 small strawberries for the top, then chop the rest and mix with the icing sugar. Leave to macerate for 5-10 minutes, to bring out the flavour.
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Whip the cream until fairly firm but still soft enough to spread easily. Peel away the lining paper from the meringue and spread with most of the cream, leaving a 3cm border free along one long side, but spreading all the way up to the other edges. Spoon the strawberries evenly over the cream (be careful not to overfill as otherwise this will make rolling it tricky and some won't fit in as I found). Keep the rest of the whipped cream chilled, to decorate the top.
- Using the paper to help you, roll up the roulade like a Swiss roll, towards the cream-free long side. Leave the roulade wrapped up in its paper and chill for 2-3 hours to set before serving.
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To serve, unwrap the roulade and transfer to a serving platter. Spoon the reserved cream along the top of the roulade and top with the mini meringue shells and the reserved strawberries, halved. Dust with extra icing sugar to decorate and slice with a serrated knife.
