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Baking | Raspberry Pistachio Roulade … Spring Roll? Errr Swiss Roll! Recipe
by deeba rajpal

“I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.”

Ruth Stout

The Raspberry Pistachio Roulade captures the colours of spring nicely. It’s light, refreshing, moist and quick to make. Even better that you can make it ahead. I made it while experimenting with GF roulades. Made one with just almond meal and didn’t let it bake enough, so it stuck to just about everything in sight. I was really annoyed as I had baked in a hurry!

The word roulade originates from the French word “rouler” meaning “to roll”.

Sometimes you should just sit back and relax and bake with time on hand. Hurry does make curry and that’s just what happened. While the failed roll was baking, I got the filling together. The filling was finger licking good. {My earlier Gluten Free Strawberry Almond Roulade came out really well}

I did unroll the sticky roulade and dry bake it and served up some sort of Eton mess! Yet the filling played on my mind, so another normal Swiss roll was baked at leisure the next morning. The good thing was that the filling was ready!

So while the roll baked, then was rolled up, I spent the morning out with Coco in my little garden. While I was ’shooting’ ladybirds, she stuck her nose into every tomato plant, tried to catch a butterfly or two, begged for a game of ball … she’s a little busy body!

I love this part of the year, spring as it should be, but a little muddled up. The weather really warmed up 2 weeks ago and we thought we’d skipped spring altogether.

Then some ‘western disturbances’ etc hit the area, some rain, scattered hail etc. It’s pretty much like Spring now. Whatever it is, it’s nice.

The plants are happy. Tomatoes are GROWING, Thai chilis’ full of flowers, eggplant and lime are in full bloom, and the kumquat tree laden again. The oregano sprigs have taken root and look quite happy, as does the mint. Dill and coriander play home to ladybirds and bees as the flowers on them bloom. Pretty all the way!

Pretty was the roulade too. Baked, rolled, cooled and ready to go, it got put together in a matter of minutes. I dressed it up with a little leftover cream and sprinkles prior to serving.

I used a frozen raspberry fruit concentrate from Del Monte to add a touch of tang and flavour. I’ve used it in the Dark Chocolate, Raspberry & Quark Layered Cake & in the Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cake.

You could also use a berry preserve, maybe even a bitter marmalade. The filling was given a lift with some white baking chocolate that a friend sweetly sent, gifts like these a constant source of inspiration.

Pistachios went in for colour, and because I just love them! The good thing was that as the Raspberry Pistachio Roulade sat in clingwrap overnight, the cake and the pistachio nuts took in some moisture, the cake becoming beautifully moist. The nuts swelled up and added a nice texture to every bite.

You could just slather it with preserves and serve it for tea, fill it with whipped cream for a comforting dessert on the go, or give it an adult twist with a spiking the cream with your favourite liqueur. If you use kirsch, you could consider some balsamic cherries in the filling. Another good option might be frangelico and nutella, or maybe kahlua and coffee cream. Let your imagination lead you.

The Raspberry Pistachio Roulade was plated on this classic white ceramic platter from one of my favourite online stores Urban Dazzle. It’s actually a snack platter that accommodates a dip or relish on the side quite nicely. I use it often, and this time it doubled up as a dessert tray! White always works!!

Recipe: Raspberry Pistachio Roulade

Summary: The Raspberry Pistachio Roulade captures the colours of spring nicely. It’s light, refreshing, moist and quick to make. It’s a nice make ahead simple homey dessert. {serves 6-8}

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

Swiss Roll

Method:

Swiss Roll

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a Swiss roll tin with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites with 25g sugar to stiff peaks. Reserve.

In another large bowl, beat the yols with the reamining 50g sugar until thick and mousse like. Add the scraped vanilla bean and beat again.

Sift the flour over the yolk mixture and gently fold in.

Next gently fold in the beaten egg whites in 3 lots.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with sliced pistachio nute if you like.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes until light golden brown and firm to touch.

While this is baking, lay out a clean kitchen towel, bigger than the size of the tray, and sift sugar evenly over it.

Once the roll is baked {might look uneven but don’t worry. Mine was uneven, but came together quite fine}, overturn immediately {very carefully} onto the sugar sifted towel, and gently peel parchment off. Trim the edges if required.

Now roll with the towel lengthwise, and leave to cool completely. {The longer side will be the length of the roll}

Cream Filling

Place the white chooclate with 50ml cream in a heat proof bowl and run in microwave for 1 minute {until melted}. Stir until smooth, and then cool.

Beat the remaining 100ml cream and sugar until medium peaks form. Fold in the white chocolate mixture.

Assembling

Unroll the cooled cake, place on a sheet of parchment, and spread the raspberry fruit filling over it with an offset spatual.

Sprinkle over with chopped pistachios.

Sp

read the cream filling over it, leaving a little border right around to avoid the filling oozing out.

Now with the help of the parchment paper, roll it right back into a roll, pulling the paper slightly to make a tight roll.

Place seam down on clingwrap and chill for a couple of hours. {I left mine overnight}. Unwrap gently and lay seam side down on your serving platter.

Pipe over some left over cream filling, slivered pistachios and colourful sprinkles if you like.

Slice with a sharp serrated knife and serve! Happy SPRING!

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India