Gluten-free Mini Bûches de Noël

Think of these as fancy festive mini rolls. Swap the Cointreau for extra zest, for an alcohol-free version. Use standard plain flour if you don’t need the recipe to be gluten-free. Hands-on time 1hr, plus cooling and chilling. Cooking time about 20min. Makes 8

Butter, to grease

5 large eggs

100g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla bean paste 60g gluten-free plain flour, we used Freee

40g cocoa powder

FOR THE GANACHE

150g dark chocolate, chopped 150g milk chocolate, chopped 300ml double cream

FOR THE FILLING

150ml double cream ½tbsp Cointreau

1tbsp icing sugar Finely grated zest ½ orange

TO DECORATE, OPTIONAL

8 chocolate orange segments Pared orange zest

1 Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Grease and line a 23 x 33cm Swiss roll tin with baking parchment. Using a freestanding mixer or a large bowl and a handheld electric whisk, beat the eggs and caster sugar until extremely thick, about 5min. Beat in vanilla.

2 Sift over the flour and cocoa powder, then gently fold in using a large metal spoon. Scrape into prepared tin and gently spread to level. Bake for 15min, or until sponge is firm to the touch.

3 Lay a piece of baking parchment on a wire rack and carefully invert the sponge on to it. Remove tin and gently peel away the top lining parchment. Using kitchen scissors, slice sponge and base parchment in ½ lengthways. Using the base parchment to help and starting from a long edge, tightly roll up the sponge halves separately, leaving them seam-down to cool completely on the wire rack (rolled).

4 Meanwhile, make the ganache. Put both chocolates into a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small pan until almost boiling. Pour into the chocolate bowl, leave for 2min, then stir until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool and firm up to a spreadable consistency.

5 Make the filling. Whisk cream, Cointreau and icing sugar to firm peaks. Fold in the orange zest. Chill until needed.

6 Once cool, gently unroll both sponges and spread ½ the filling over each. Re-roll and cut each into quarters, to make 8 mini roulades. Transfer to a large board and spread ganache over each using a palette knife. Gently pull a fork or cocktail stick through the ganache to resemble bark. Decorate with orange segments, if using. Chill for 30min.

7 Scatter over some pared orange zest, if you like, and serve.

PER ROLL 639cals, 11g protein, 46g fat (27g saturates), 43g carbs (37g total sugars), 2g fibre GET AHEAD Make up to end of step 6 up to a day ahead. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Complete recipe.