I don’t want to go jinxing anything but we may have got one step closer to buying the house that I have ALL of my hopes and dreams (that comment is mainly to see if my husband is reading this) set on. So now I’m in a peculiar limbo of pseudo excitement, too scared to be fully giddy. But I’m feeling pretty positive at the very moment so I’m going to go with that.

This week’ post arises from the bungled return of sister #5 from Madagascar. Ma ended up waiting for 4 hours in Dublin airport thanks to the kindness of Air France. Eek. Anyway, I thought that I could at least try to ease that unpleasantness by having some dinner ready for ma and #5.

I made #5’s supposed favourite dinner. Forgot how manky it truly is. Mad 80’s as well. Curry powder, ground mace, ground ginger, whiskey (?) and flambéed pineapple. Nice. To counter that vomit-inducing dish I thought a bit of dessert would be necessary. Stocks were a little low so I was working mainly with eggs and blackcurrants. Ma is not the most dedicated fruit and veg grower you’ll ever meet (she excels in more floral selections) but her blackcurrant bushes and apple trees are the bees knees.

The only thing I was able to/arsed making was a chocolate roulade. I’ve never made one before but always though it a little complicated. Not at all my friends. Takes minutes to whip up the batter and it’s cooked in approximately a cup of tea time.

So off we go.

Oven Temperature 180 Celsius

The cakey bit;

Dark chocolate       40g

Eggs                           4

Caster sugar            150g

Self raising flour    80g

Cocoa powder          50g

The filling;

Whipping cream     180ml

Creme fraiche          200g

Icing sugar                1 tablespoon

Blackcurrants – or any fruit you so choose – enough to generously scatter inside

Preheat the oven and line a baking tray with baking parchment. I think it’s a good idea to put a spot of oil or butter on the tray, under the parchment, to keep it in place.

Grate the chocolate and don’t eat it.

Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk on a high speed till the very frothy eggy mix becomes thick and pale and the bubbles become smaller and fewer. It took me about 4mins.

Add the caster sugar in three go’s, whisking very well after each addition. Keep beating for another 2mins.

Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and scrape in the grated chocolate.

Fold everything, gently together.

Pour into the prepared tin and smooth down, so it reaches all the corners, carefully.

Pop it into the oven for approximately 14mins or until the sponge is just beginning to be a bit firm but good and springy.

Take it out of the oven and leave it to cool completely.

In the meantime, in a biggish mixing bowl, whisk the cream till it forms stiff peaks and then whisk in the creme fraiche and icing sugar till it thickens up to a not pourable consistency. That’s that done. I put mine back in the fridge to firm up a little.

Back to the sponge. Tear off a piece of parchment a bit bigger than the sponge and place it down on the work-surface. Sprinkle some caster sugar over it and flip the sponge onto it.

Carefully remove the old piece of parchment from the sponge.

Spread the filling evenly over the whole roulade, leaving a gap of a centimetre or two along the edges.

Scatter over the blackcurrants.

Nervre-wracking bit.

Roll it. Roll it up starting at one of the short edges.

Keep rolling it, all the way onto a pretty serving plate.

No harm in popping it back in the fridge for another 20mins but it’s not essential.

Fancy ay?