“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”
Julia Child 
ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS OF THE CHOCOLATE KIND!
Its amazing how simply you can get inspired from foodies on the wonderful web. And most certainly distracted too. Doughnuts of every kind have been doing the rounds & I have scribbled recipes endlessly trying to zero in on the one I was to make this morning. I had one from Susan’s, another from Aparna’s & a 3rd from Madam Chow…but I got terribly distracted at the bazaar & picked up fresh strawberries instead of yeast! Perils of an overactive mind!
DH’s voice last night rung in my head! Hmmmmm…the kids had been on my case to make a strawberry swiss roll (requested the daughter) & a chocolate one (pleaded the son)! How about both…a 2-in-1…like my friend in babushka land mentioned the other day! So I did a strawberry sponge with strips of differently flavoured creams.
ALL ROLLED UP & WAITING TO BE DRESSED…
Roll now ready, I thought I would drizzle melted chocolate over it or a ganache…but got inspired by something I had seen on Art You Eat…chocolate art by both Arfi & African Vanielje. So here’s what’s for dessert tonight…An artistically inspired swiss roll served with a strawberry whipped cream! 
Light, airy, beautiful…
I love the idea of a swiss roll. Minimum ingredients, no recipe pages needed after you make it a couple of times, baking time of 10 minutes, & dress it or don’t…it tastes great both ways. Play around with flavours; my next one is probably going to be a coffee sponge with a mocha filling!
Ingredients:
Eggs – 3
Castor sugar – 1/2 cup
Flour – 1/2 cup
Strawberry essence – 1 tsp
Filling:
Whipping Cream – 200ml
Strawberries – 200gms (Reserve 5-6 for serving)
Castor sugar 3-4 tbsps (adjust according to tartness of berries)
Dark chocolate for topping
Method:
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Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line, grease & dust a swiss roll tin.
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Beat the eggs, essence & sugar till mousse like (almost 10 minutes).
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Lightly fold the flour in 3 goes in figure 8 movements (so as no to release the air bubbles).
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Gently turn into prepared tray & bake for 10-12 minutes till light brown & spongy.
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Turn onto a kitchen cloth sifted with castor sugar. Remove lining & roll the cloth into a firm roll.
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Leave to cool. Unroll only once cooled.
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Chop up about 150 gms of strawberries.
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Beat the cream with castor sugar till it holds peaks. Spoon a line in the centre of the roll & grate chocolate over it.
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Mix the chopped strawberries into the remaining cream, & spoon over the rest of the roll. (see picture). Don’t spoon in too much cream or it will ooze out. Reserve left-over cream.
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Gently roll back, taking care not to squeeze the filling out. Place onto serving platter & sift castor sugar over it.
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Drizzle over with dark melted chocolate. Chill well.
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Hand blend remaining cream with essence & a drop of red food colour (optional) to make strawberry cream. Adjust sugar according to taste.
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Slice & serve with strawberry cream & sliced fruit.
Food art…the swiss roll was my canvas!!
A slice I wish I could have shared!
Thank you, all great folk, who have written such wonderful comments. Especially for Ben, who always has a slice reserved for him, & for Pat, who’s got the fork ready!
Deeba, you should call yourself a food artist. How do you do this? It’s fantastic. I made your almond cookies yesterday (double dose), but the only almond essence I had was of bitter almond but they came out great. We can’t stop eating them. Thanks a lot for sharing this.
I ‘d like to be at your place for dessert…your are so creative girl….You have a steady hand…evident from your filigree design on the roll.great job!
That is just absolutely beautiful!! Spectacular.
Another masterpiece! It’s so pretty that I probably couldn’t eat it. Or I’d eat it after taking at least 100 pics of it 😀 Happy V-day!
Nice art work Deeba! looks like mehendi:) Happy valentine’s Day to you girl!
Goodness, You just keep on amazing me 🙂
This is far too beautiful to eat Deeba. Of course it will be delicious and have to be eaten…thank goodness for photography 😀
That is absolutely gorgeous!
‘A thing of beauty is joy forever’-the roll looks del, fusion of swiss roll n indian henna pattern makes it look like a ‘Dulhan’s Hand!’Too good shots!!
Very creative! I’ll just go get a fork…
I can’t beleive something that looks so extravagant is so simple to make! I like that you didn’t use many weird ingredients! Thank you. I will try this soon!
you are indeed a passionate baker!! i admire you!! the love and passion you put in making this one..i’ve never seen something beautiful like this!!:-)i bet this is sinfully delicious too
Absolutely fabulous….. You are a real artist. The henna pattern is very cool 🙂
ooh. what a beautiful swiss roll!! -kk
Hi Deeba, am a regular stalker of your blog. Your creativity in an Indian kitchen astounds me… I know how limiting that is sometimes. But this one takes the cherry! Simply beautiful.
Its a got to try for me. I never ventured into swiss rolls, but will do so this weekend. Tried the shortbreads for Christmas, they were buttery and rich and decadent. Thks for sharing. Angela
That is gorgeous. You make it sound so easy.
hey!!!!!!!!!!!!
was totally inspired by this….
had been staring at this page for many days…. then by chance someone gave me a strawberry sauce bottle thinking I’ll russel up something with it for sure…. How right they were 🙂
n lo behold…. this is what i made without the awesome chocolate designing but decorated it with chocolate pips and the strawberry filling itself…..
came out very well….. will post it soon.
thanks 🙂
and what did little miss muffet do after a strawberry swiss roll….. she made lemon swiss roll….
substituted the strawberry with lemon tart filling and did a topping of chocolate shavings as pips were over in the last one….
people have licked the container in which i took it to work……
thanks for this amazing recipe.. 🙂
Check this out 🙂
You Can Kiss My Fingers – Strawberry Chocolate Swiss Roll & Lemon Chocolate Swiss Roll