Valentine’s Day chocolate-mint roulade

Cooking with chocolate is never a chore. So when I got wind of some recipes based on lighter-than-air Aero chocolate, I needed little persuading to give it a go. Before Christmas, I went along to the Bar Of Aero pop-up chocolate palace [video link] at the Truman Brewery in Brick Lane and marvelled at the bubbly creations a professional cocktail mixologist was able to conjure up. The hot chocolate fountain was pretty good too [see photo below]. 

Back at home, I wasn’t able to master the art of forcing enough air into whipped up Aero-based milkshakes to recreate those bubbly cocktails, but the idea of making fun recipes using the chocolate stuck with me. These recipes are a little simpler – and ideal for impressing your other half on Valentine’s Day.

Chocolate Aero Meringue Roulade - the professional version

Grating Aero is good fun. I recommend the larger cutter size on your grater (the one you’d use for cheese rather than lemon zest) as the chocolate can easily get stuck in smaller grater teeth. It’s surprising how much chocolate equals the 25g called for in the recipe I followed for a meringue roulade topped with Mint Aero.

I couldn’t resist adding some more grated chocolate to the meringue mixture itself to give it a lovely mint-choc flavour. 

You might need a couple of attempts at rolling up the meringue once you’ve smothered it with whipped cream and fresh strawberries, but the results are tasty. 

My first attempt at the Chocolate Aero Meringue Roulade

Here's the recipe

Chocolate Aero Meringue Roulade

25g coarsely grated Mint Chocolate Aero, plus some for the topping

3 egg whites

175g caster sugar

2 teaspoon of corn flour

1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar

1teaspoon of vanilla extract

284ml carton of double cream, whipped until stiff

300g strawberries

icing sugar 

- Preheat the oven to 140-degrees C or gas mark 2

- line a 33x23cm baking tray or flat tin with baking parchment

- whisk egg whites until really stiff peaks appear

- whisk in caster sugar a tablespoon at a time

- whisk in cornflour, white wine vinegar and vanilla extract

- whisk in the sneaky extra 25g of grated Mint Chocolate Aero [optional but recommended]

- spoon mixture into prepared baking tin and gently level out using a spatula

- bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes or until surface is just firm

- dust a sheet of baking parchment with icing sugar

- remove meringue from the oven and cover with a damp sheet of baking parchment for 10 minutes

- discard the damp parchment paper and turn out the meringue onto the icing-sugared parchment

- peel off the parchment the meringue was cooked on

- spread whipped double cream over the meringue

- hull and halve or quarter the strawberries, then scatter them over the meringue

- use the parchment underneath the meringue to help you gently roll it up

- carefully transfer your roulade on to a serving plate and sprinkle with more grated Mint Choc Aero

Trying the hot chocolate fountain
at the Bar Of Aero

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post, though I’d gladly have tried the recipes and written about them here anyway