Chocolate Orange Swiss Roll Wreath

Merry Christmas! Hope this festive season is kind, what a couple of years it's been. Christmas baking is in full swing here; I started out making a Yule log, but took a detour along the way, and here we are with a wreath, I'm not disappointed. It's a terrific dessert for a celebration; it's pre-portioned, you can make it ahead, and takes up little of the highly contested, very precious fridge space.

The chiffon sponge is very light and flexible, and rolls really well. I made 2 rolls, one filled with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream, the other filled with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. You'll need some berries for decoration, I used a punnet each of raspberries, strawberries, red currants and some very festive dried orange slices.

sponge

35g cocoa powder

50g caster sugar

95g plain flour

5g baking powder (just over a teaspoon)

1/2 teaspoon salt

zest of an orange

110ml freshly squeezed orange juice

7 jumbo egg yolks

80g canola oil

1tsp vanilla paste

8 jumbo egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

butter for greasing

• preheat your oven to 150ºC, grease and line 2 swiss roll pans with baking paper, then lightly butter the paper
• combine the cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt, sift into a the bowl of a stand mixer, if you have one, and with the paddle attachment mix through the 50g caster sugar 
• make a well in the centre of your flour mixture, add the orange zest and juice, egg yolks, oil and vanilla paste, mix until smooth
• in another, really large bowl whisk the 8 egg whites until foamy, add the cream of tartar then mix until you have soft peaks, gradually add the additional 50g caster sugar, whisking until you have firm peaks and the sugar has dissolved
• fold the egg whites into the batter in three stages
• divide the batter between the tins and bake for 12-15 minutes; check after 12 minutes, the cake should spring back when gently pressed, if not, put it back in for the extra few minutes

• leave the cakes in their tins for 5 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks, remove the paper and leave for a further 5 minutes

• take a clean piece of baking paper, approximately 20cm longer than the cake, and place it on top of tone of the warm cakes, flip the cake and lay it on the paper on your bench, roll up the sponge from the short end with the paper inside, and leave to cool completely. Repeat with the other sponge.

• while the sponges cool, prepare the fillings

• carefully unwrap the cake rolls, spread one with the vanilla buttercream, roll the sponge into a log then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to firm up. Repeat the process with the other cake roll and chocolate orange filling.

• give the rolls an hour in the fridge then make the ganache. Sit a wire rack over a tray, unwrap the cake rolls and place seam side down on the rack. Pour the ganache over the rolls and leave to set, the tray will catch the excess making clean up a little easier.  Once the ganache has firmed up, slice the rolls, place on your serving board in a wreath pattern, decorate with red berries, red currants and dried orange slices. Enjoy!!

Vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream

3 large egg whites

180g granulated sugar

230g butter, at room temperature, cubed

pinch salt

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

• combine the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, place over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until the temperature reaches 72ºC 

• return the bowl to the stand mixer and whisk on medium high until the mixtures cools, has doubled in size and forms stiff peaks (if you don't have a stand mixer, a hand held electric mixer will be fine, I wouldn't attempt by hand)

• add the butter a piece at a time, mixing to incorporate each piece, the mixture may look alarmingly curdled but keep mixing and it will magically come back together

• once all the butter is incorporated add the salt and vanilla bean seeds, mixing on slow until combined

Chocolate Orange Swiss meringue buttercream

3 large egg whites

180g granulated sugar

230g butter, at room temperature, cubed

pinch salt

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

85g chocolate (I used 60%), melted

1 tbsp finely zested orange zest 

• combine the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, place over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until the temperature reaches 72ºC 

• return the bowl to the stand mixer and whisk on medium high until the mixtures cools, has doubled in size and forms stiff peaks (if you don't have a stand mixer, a hand held electric mixer will be fine, I wouldn't attempt by hand)

• add the butter a piece at a time, mixing to incorporate each piece, the mixture may look alarmingly curdled but keep mixing and it will magically come back together

• once all the butter is incorporated add the salt, vanilla bean seeds, melted chocolate, and orange zest mixing on slow until combined

Ganache Coat

150g chocolate, finely chopped (again I used 60%)

110ml cream (approximately35% fat)

• tip the chopped chocolate into a heat proof jug

• pour the cream into a small pan and bring to the boil.

• pour the hot cream over the chocolate, stir to ensure all the chocolate is submerged, leave for 5 minutes then stir until smooth