Rose's Heavenly Cakes, Page 163: Chocolate Apricot Roll with Lacquer Glaze
This recipe is 5-pages long...and by the time i'm on last page, i forgot the what i read on the first page..LOL! So i had to read each section on its own and make the related ingredients required on different days.
Day 1 (Wed): Decided that i should make the Lekvar first since i had no idea what it was but nonetheless i like apricot so figured i should just make it instead of going for the 'short-cut' suggested in the book. So, after work, i got ready the ingredients and soaked the dried apricots. Only then did i realized that i have to soak for 2 hrs which by that time will be midnight so i left the apricots to soak overnight in the fridge.
Day 2 (Thurs): Realised that after soaking for 24 hrs, the apricots were very soft. But i still followed the instructions to boil the apricots till soft and process it. Couldn't stand the sight and idea of not knowing what to do with my skinless lemon after zesting it, i added the lemon juice into the processed apricot. :p Didn't do any harm i guess cos my jam still tasted great and very apricot-y.
Seriously, imo DO NOT skip making this! Believe me..lekvar is amazing stuff! I realised I still had plenty of time before bedtime, did more reading of the recipe and ended up making the apricot ganache filling, apricot syrup and lacquer glaze :)
Day 3 (Sat): Baked the Biscuit Roulade. Pretty easy & quick. The half-sheet pan i own was like 1/2-inch shorter on one side...can't remember which side but i guess it didn't do much harm. Baking at 230c was kind of a torture (in my small kitchen can feel the oven heat!) since the weather here has been at around 34c-37c but thankfully it was only for about 6 mins. This is my 2nd time making swiss roll so i was a bit apprehensive of rolling the roulade but everything went on smoothly. :)
Above pic: Spreading the syrup, lekvar & ganache. You can see at room temperature, my ganache was way too soft! I guess room temperature probably was at 31c..lol! Rolling the roll with soft ganache was quite difficult..cos the ganache tends to ooze out from the sides and thus i couldn't roll it too tightly. Next time i'll have to use ganache straight out of the fridge instead of leaving it to room temperature. Pouring the lacquer glaze wasn't that bad either..maybe because of our weather, it allowed me time to smooth it with a spatular and still remained smooth & shiny. I used Hersey's special dark cocoa powder for the lacquer glaze in case any one of you wonder why my glaze is so dark.
VERDICT: SIMPLY HEAVENLY!! The lekvar blends very well with the apricot ganache and compliments the soft biscuit roulade. The sweetness was just nice. Cake has a lightness to it and can eat a few slices and not feel sick. I love it the hint of apricot with chocolate. The best part of the cake is the lekvar. I'm so glad that i took the time to make it - now i have a huge bottle of it left, i can find ways of using it. :D. My family loved the cake and said it is very good. Worth all the effort making it! :)
22 comments:
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Looks great. Your lekvar looks amazing. Mine did not turn out so well.
That looks so good! I love how shiny the glaze looks! :D
Yours turned out just like the book, Faithy. Very pretty. I'll have to try the lekvar next time. I followed the shortcut and used (good-quality) apricot preserves.
Faithy it's gorgeous! I wasn't going to make it as it sounded too sweet and rich but now I am after reading your description.
faithy!
gosh .. i'm green with envy. why or why did I decide to skip this?
and the weather's been super hot too .. I agree with you .. everytime room temperature is called for, I always shudder ..
*great job, babe!*
That looks really yummy! And love how shiny the glaze looks.
This looks like a lot of effort - but very rewarding to have. yum! I use lots of lemon zest so I always have lots of lemons leftover. I just juice them and pop them into ice cube trays. Then I use them for lemonade or cooking when I need them.
Faithy, your cake looks sooooo good :) Wish I could taste it.
Woah...I need to get me some of this! That glaze looks like pure heaven!
Amazing roll....looks neat and delicious. I wish I can have some!
Beautiful Faithy. And your Lekvar is so not like concrete! Very impressive.
I am just waiting to make the glaze...so far, so good and relatively easy.
Faithy,
As always I read your post and turn green with envy!! Beautiful. Looks better than the photo in the book.
What an amazing job. Seeing I'm just baking simple cakes this month, a 5 page recipe seems daunting. But you always know the effort is certainly worth it - just if you have the time! I love the flavours of chocolate and apricot toogether. Delicious. Well done!
That looks fantastic! I like the glossy glaze, never seen anything like that.
mmmm..I have always thought that rolls were hard to make, but you make it look so heavenly I have to try sometime soon.
have a happy week Faithy
♥
Faithy... it looks great. I totally agree it was so well worth the effort and like you I have lots and lots of Lekvar left over.
Wow very fancy roll cake! Look so yummy!!
Thanks everyone for your lovely comments! Thanks Juanita for your tip on the lemon cubes..i never thought of that! :)
Wow! That's a long recipe, probably the closest competitor I've seen now against l'Opera! Oh, I love Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa and chocolate chips! But, still can't seem to find any here ... Luckily, I brought with me 2 canisters of it from the States.
The idea of dark chocolate & apricot is heavenly! The roulade looks decadent! Once again, great job! I really admire your persistence and patience! Keep it up!
faithy!! way to go, girl! 5 pages = well worth it. looks delicious.
Hey Faithy
Did you encounter any problems making the chocolate glaze? Mine was too thin and did not cover the sides of my cake adequately. Did you pour at 26C? any reason why you used hersheys instead of alkalised cocao powder as stated in the recipe? did u leave it to set at room temperature or in the fridge? any help is appreciated! many thanks.
@ Insomniac: i made the glaze the day before and left it in the fridge. But took it out the next day and left it at room temperature before i used it. I don't know at what temperature but the glaze was slightly more than sufficient to cover the entire cake..not a lot more but enough glaze. The Hersey Special Dark i used is alkalized cocoa powder and not the usual Hersey cocoa-powder they sell in the supermart here. I stocked up a whole lot of them when i saw them at the supermart last year...lol!..i like the darkness of it. Now i don't see them on the shelves anymore though..:(
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