Recipe: Almond and Lemon Roulade

I've mentioned hundreds of times before that I adore meringue, and, after sampling my friend Andy's delicious chocolate roulade, I knew it was about time that I tried my hand at making one.

source

Because I'm fond of sharp, citrussy flavours, it had to be a lemon one, an almond and lemon one to be exact. I borrowed the recipe from the BBC Good Food website (the reason why I no longer buy any new cook books - this website is a life saver)

It's pretty straightforward to make and there's no need to buy a special Swiss roll tin. I just used an ordinary baking tray, just make sure it has the correct dimensions of 23 x 30cm, as you don't want your meringue to spread too thinly.

Serves 8

Ingredients

4 large egg whites
225g caster sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp white wine vinegar (you can't taste this. It's role is alchemy -  adding vinegar gives the meringue a lovely, chewy texture)
50g ground almonds
300ml double cream
1-2 tbsp icing sugar
6 tbsp lemon curd
1 tbsp toasted flaked almonds

1. Heat the oven to 170C and line the baking tray with baking parchment.
2. Whisk the egg whites in a spotlessly clean large bowl until stiff. Slowly add the sugar, still whisking, until stiff and glossy.

3. Fold in the almond extract, vinegar and ground almonds until lightly incorporated.

4. Pour onto the tray and tap gently to remove large air bubbles.

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden and feels firm and set.

6. Remove from the oven, cover with baking parchment and a damp tea towel. Leave to cool.
7. To serve, whip the cream up until thick. I stupidly forgot to do the next step which is why there is no picture of the final finished roulade. You MUST invert the the roulade onto a large sheet of baking parchment sprinkled with icing sugar. I didn't and had the ugly side facing outwards.
8. Carefully peel off the lining paper and spread over the lemon curd and then the cream.
9. Roll up the roulade carefully, using the paper to help you. Decorate with flaked almonds.