Orange meringue roulade

Serves 6 You will need: A little sunflower oil, for greasing the tin 4 egg whites 225g caster sugar Icing sugar, for dusting 200ml orange curd — see recipe, below right 500ml whipped cream (measure when whipped) 1 You will also need a 2cm x 30cm Swiss-roll tin. Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F, Gas 4. Line the base and sides of the Swiss-roll tin with parchment paper or tinfoil, then brush with a little sunflower oil. 2 Put the egg whites and the caster sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk them for about 10 minutes until the mixture forms stiff peaks. See Note, below. 3 Spoon the egg white and caster sugar mixture into the prepared tin and spread it out evenly. Put the tin in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the meringue looks marshmallowy and lightly springy to the touch in the centre. 4 Remove the tin from the oven and dust the meringue with icing sugar. Turn the meringue out onto a sheet of baking parchment or tinfoil. Peel off the paper or foil from the base of the meringue and allow it to cool. 5 To assemble the roulade, first spread about half the cooled orange curd evenly to cover the meringue, then spread the whipped cream over the orange curd. Store the rest of the curd for another day. Gently roll up the roulade, starting at one of the long edges and rolling it away from you, to form a log shape. Transfer the rolled roulade to a long serving plate, making sure the ‘join’ is facing down. Dust it with icing sugar and decorate it with sprigs of holly or whatever you fancy. Cut into slices to serve.

Note:

When whipping the meringue for the roulade, keep an eye on it, and as soon as it is firm enough to hold stiff peaks when you lift the whisk out of the mixture and turn it upside down, stop whisking. If it gets over-beaten, or over-cooked, it’ll crack when you are rolling it out. If that does happen, a liberal dusting of icing sugar and some strategically placed holly sprigs for garnish should do the trick!