THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW SIGNATURE CHALLENGE: HEATH BAR SWISS ROLL

Well, it’s been a long week.

I don’t know about you, but I know I am bored when cleaning my house seems like a fun activity.  Fortunately, I have The Great British Baking Show Challenge to keep me going.

Season One, Episode One on Netflix   (Which if you are a true fan  of the show you know is not the very first season) was all about cakes.  It was a nice way to get started on this game because I know something about British cakes having lived there for seven years.

I choose the Signature Challenge, a Swiss Roll, for my bake.  And then I made it American with a chocolate butter cream filling with chocolate chips and Heath Bar baking bits.

For the cake I had no choice but to use a recipe from Mary Berry (with some added flavoring).

Start with four eggs, sugar and some vanilla.  Put them in the bowl of your mixer and beat them together for three or four minutes until they are very thick and light in color.  When you lift the beater the batter dripping off it will make a trail in the mixture.

The eggs will get quite thick leaving a visible trail when beaten

Sift in some flour and fold it in.  (Folding is the act of taking a rubber spatula and turning the batter gently so that the flour gets mixed in without deflating the egg mixture).

Prepare a small sheet pan.  Grease the pan first, place the paper in it and grease the paper. Spread the batter evenly in the pan and make sure you get into the corners.

Bake it for about ten minutes until the cake is golden and starting to shrink away from the sides of the pan.

My cake is slightly overcooked. It should be a light golden brown on top

Place a clean dish towel on the countertop and put another piece of parchment paper on top of it.  Carefully turn the pan over and hopefully the cake will drop out of the pan onto the parchment paper. Mine didn’t and I had to go back and run a knife around the pan edge to loosen it.

Now roll the parchment paper up with the cake starting from one of the short ends.  The dish towel should help keep the paper in place as you roll it.

Turn out the cake onto a piece of parchment paper and remove the parchment paper from the pan if it stuck to it. Roll the cake and parchment paper together from the short end into a tight roll

Let the cake sit and cool for an hour or so.

Leave the cake rolled in parchment paper to cool

Make the American buttercream by beating powdered sugar, butter and cocoa powder together with two to four tablespoons of milk or cream.  I didn’t have any cocoa powder because, you know, coronavirus scarcity, so I grated a bitter chocolate bar into it.  I also added a tablespoon of coffee but that’s optional.  If you use coffee adjust the amount of milk accordingly.

Beat it together for four or five minutes.  It will look ready after a minute, but you will find that it continues to get fluffy and lighter as you beat it.  It’s worth the extra time.

I didn’t have any cocoa and I used grated chocolate which explains the speckled effect!

Carefully unroll the cake. Spread the interior with a nice layer of icing and sprinkle it with chocolate chips and Heath Bar chips.

single layer flat cake spread with buttercream, chocolate chips and toffee chips

Use both hands to roll it back up evenly.

Hopefully your cake won’t crack like mine did. If it does, don’t worry the icing will hide it!

Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for an hour to set.

When you are ready, take the cake out of the frig and place it on a serving plate.  Finish icing the exterior of the cake and use your hands to pat more Heath Bar bits all over the outside.

How did I do?  I asked my daughter what she thought and she went full-on Paul Hollywood on me. She says it has nice crumb and the roll is good.

Of course she hadn’t tasted it so I took some over and left it on her doorstep.  I had to or I would have eaten the whole thing!

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HEATH BAR SWISS ROLL

Author Susan Murray, www.awomancooksinasheville.com,

Ingredients

For the cake

• 4 eggs
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup self-rising flour

For the buttercream

• 3 ½ c powdered sugar
• ¼ c cocoa powder
• ½ cup 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 2-4 tbs milk see note
• 2 tbs coffee optional
• Pinch salt
• 1-2 cups Heath Bar Toffee chips
• 1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Make the cake

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 9X13” rimmed baking with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper as well.
2. Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together until they are light in color and thick enough to leave a trail (or ribbon) when the whisk or mixer is lifted.
3. Sift the flour and add it to the egg mixture. Fold it in gently being careful not to deflate the eggs.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, spreading it to the edges.
5. Bake in the center of the preheated oven for ten minutes until the cake is golden and springs back when touched.
6. Place a clean dishtowel on your countertop and put a piece of parchment paper on top of it.
7. Use a knife to loosen the edges of the cake if needed then carefully flip the cake out onto the parchment paper. Remove the parchment from the bottom of the cake.
8. Starting on one of the short ends of the cake roll the cake up in the parchment paper. Then leave it to cool in a roll.

Make the buttercream

1. Put the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, butter and half of the liquid in the bowl of a mixer. Mix together and add more milk as needed to make it smooth and spreadable.
2. Beat the icing at medium speed for as much as five minutes until it is quite smooth and spreadable.

Assemble the Swiss Roll

1. When the cake is cool, unroll it carefully. Spread buttercream icing on the top, reaching all the sides and edges. Sprinkle with Heath Bar Chips and Chocolate Chips.
2. Using both hands carefully roll the cake back up tightly. Wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for an hour.
3. Remove the roll from the refrigerator, unwrap and place it on a platter. Cover the cake all over with the remainder of the buttercream and use your hands to place a coating of Heath Bar Chips on the top and sides.

Recipe Notes

Note: If you don't want to use coffee in your buttercream, increase the amount of milk by 1-2 tablespoons