Chocolate Sponge Cake

In this sophisticated Spanish take on Swiss roll, a tangy lemon sponge is rolled around a smooth filling of chocolate-rum ganache, forming a pretty spiral for slicing. Impressive as a dinner party dessert.

Prep time: 45 min

Cooking time: 8 min

Chilling time: 6 hours

Ingredients:

• Butter (for greasing
• 175ml double cream
• 150g caster sugar
• 125g dark or milk chocolate
• 5 eggs
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 45g plain flour
• 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1½ tbsp dark rum (optional)
• 60g icing sugar
• Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F/Gas 7).
   Line the base of the tin with a baking parchment sheet and grease. Mix 100g caster sugar with the egg yolks and lemon zest. With an electric whisk, beat for 3-5 minutes until thick. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Add the remaining sugar and whisk until glossy. Add salt to the yolk mix, then sift and fold in the flour, and the egg whites.
2. Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet and spread it almost to the edges. Bake near the bottom of the oven for 7-9 minutes until firm and golden brown (check the cake has shrunk away slightly from the sides of the tin, this shows it is ready).
3. Turn out onto another baking sheet, leave to cool for 5 minutes and remove the parchment.
4. For the ganache, put the chocolate in a large bowl. Heat the cream with ½ teaspoon of cinnamon in a saucepan until almost boiling. Turn the heat off and add chopped chocolate or Melt’s buttons and stir until melted. Let cool and add the rum if desired. Whisk the ganache for 5-10 minutes until thick and fluffy.
5. Spread the ganache. Mix half the icing sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and evenly sieve over the ganache. Then carefully roll up and wrap with parchment (To help you out, make an indent with the back of a knife along one short side, 2cm from the edge and use the indent to start it off).
6. Chill for 6 hours until firm. Unwrap the cake, trim each end and sift over the remaining icing sugar.