Biscuit Roulade with Strawberries

This week seems endless. I almost can't believe it's only Friday and only few days have passed since the quake on Tuesday morning. Schools stayed closed whole week. The scenes around the town are so unusual. Although the town of Modena hasn't suffered direct damages, despite the fact it's only 20-30 km from the smaller towns completely destroyed, what you see everywhere is tents in the courtyards, in the parks, even at the supermarket parking lots. People sleeping in their cars for fear of another strong quake that the experts have been anouncing. My daughters don't quite understand all this, although the older one is pretty frightened, but they keep critisizing us for not "going camping" like everyone else.
I don't think I'm being either courageous or unconscious as someone may think. I'm just trying to be rational. The house is not damaged, and considering my conditions, I simply cannot imagine spending a night with two kids in a car. My bed has been pretty crowdy these couple nights because we prefer keeping the kids near at night in case of emergency - so limited space and my belly haven't been the perfect conditions for resting and sleeping... but still, thinking of poor people who have lost their dears, their houses and everything they had, I cannot but be grateful we are not in their place. The nerves are still a little shaky, there are moments when I'm not sure if I felt another aftershock or it's just me shaking, or it's the baby that gave me a kick and I wake up staring at the ceiling thinking, not being able to go back to sleep.
I wish I could do more for people suffering in this moment. I cannot stop thinking how lucky I am after all, because I'm at home, baking bread, cooking lunch, while they are desperate. I really hope they get all the help and consolation they need in this moment.

Life in my kitchen has been pretty basic and simple these days. The dessert I'm offering you today dates a couple weeks backwards, but it was really delicious... so give it a try when you get a chance and want something simple, and yet delicious and even elegant looking.

Biscuit Roulade with Strawberries

Biscuit cake:
* 70 g sugar
* 75 g egg yolks
* 8 g honey
* 125 g egg whites
* 20 g sugar
* 55 g AP flour
* 20 g unsweetened cocoa
* 30 g potato starch


 Cream:
* 120 g sweetened condensed milk
* 120 g butter
* 120 g white chocolate
* 120 g cream cheese
* 1/2 TBspoon honey
* about 200 g fresh strawberries

For detailed instructions for biscuit cake, check this recipe.
Prepare a 30x40 shallow roulade pan and a piece of parchment paper the same size as the baking pan.
Mix and sift together the flour, the potato starch and the cocoa.
Separate the yolks from the egg whites.
Put the egg yolks with 70 g of sugar and honey into a mixing bowl and beat at high speed until pale and foamy.
Put the egg whites and 20 g of sugar into another mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.
Add the egg whites to the egg yolks mixture in several additions alternating them with the flour mixture, mixing very delicately with up and down movements using a hand whisk.
Transfer the batter onto the prepared piece of parchment paper and using a long knife of spatula distribute it evenly.
Bake the cake for 5 minutes in an oven preheted to 230°C (205°C if using a fanned oven).
Remove from the oven and slide the cake with the parchment paper immediately to the table.
After one minute flip it onto another, clean piece of parchment paper and remove the one the cake baked on.
Wait until the cake has cooled down to fill it with the cream.
For the cream, put the condensed milk, the butter and the white chocolate into a saucepan and melt everything on low heat, stirring, until smooth.
Set aside to cool completely stirring frequently.
Once the mixture is cold, add the cream cheese mixed with the honey and whisk everything together. Let the cream cool in the fridge for a couple hours to set.
Wash, hull and dry the strawberries. Cut them into small pieces.
Take 2 or 3 spoonfulls of cream for decoration and set aside. Mix the strawberries into the rest of the cream.
Spread it evenly on the biscuit cake leaving the two edges along the longer side empty.
Roll it up gently. Spread the cream left apart all over, sprinkle with shredded dark chocolate and a couple halfed strawberries.
Let the roulade cool in the fridge before serving.
Keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Rotolo alle fragole

Pan di spagna al cacao:
*  70 g di zucchero
* 75 g di tuorli
* 8 g di miele
* 125 g di albumi
* 20 g di zucchero
* 55 g di farina "00"
* 20 g cacao amaro
* 30 g fecola di patate


 Crema:
* 120 g di latte condensato zuccherato
* 120 g di burro
* 120 g di cioccolato bianco
* 120 g di formaggio philadelphia
* 1/2 cucchiaio di miele
* circa 200 g di fragole

Preparate una teglia grande da forno (30x40 cm) e un foglio di carta da forno delle stesse dimensioni (senza ungerlo o infarinarlo)
Setacciate insieme la farina, la fecola e il cacao.
Separate i tuorli dagli albumi.
Montate i torli con 70 g di zucchero e il miele finché la massa diventi chiara e spumosa.
Contemporaneamente e subito dopo montate gli albumi con 20 g di zucchero a neve soffice.
Aggiungete gli albumi e la miscela di farine e cacao al composto di tuorli alternandoli e mescolando molto delicatamente con una frusta a mano.
Versate il composto sulla carta preparata e usando una spatola lunga distribuitelo in uno strato uniforme.
Infornate a 230°C (205°C se il forno è ventilato) per 5 minuti.
Togliete dal forno e fate scivolare subito il biscotto con la carta sul tavolo per fermare la cottura.
Dopo un minuto rovesciatelo su un foglio di carta pulito e togliete quello usato in cottura.
Lasciatelo raffreddare e poi farcitelo subito. Se non avete intenzione di farcirlo subito potete arrotolarlo vuoto insieme alla carta e farlo in un secondo momento.
Per la crema, unite in un pentolino il latte condensato, il burro e il cioccolato bianco. Fateli sciogliere a fuoco basso mescolando.
Togliete dal fuoco e lasciate raffreddare la crema - se notate che il grasso del burro tende a separarsi mescolate energicamente con un cucchiaio o con una frusta e la crema diventerà di nuovo liscia.
Quando la crema e fredda unite il formaggio mescolato bene con il miele.
Trasferite la crema nel frigo per un paio d'ore.
Prelevate circa 2-3 cucchiai e lasciatela da parte per decorare il rotolo. Nel resto della crema aggiungete le fragole tagliate a pezzettini.
Spalmate la crema con le fragole sul pan di spagna lasciando i due bordi più lunghi liberi. Arrotolatelo delicatamente partendo dal lato più lungo. Decoratelo con la crema tenuta da parte, scaglie di cioccolato fondente e qualche fragola.
Conservate in frigo per un massimo di 2 giorni.

Puno je toga bilo na umu, kad su u pitanju jagode, ali ne ide sve uvijek onako kako to zamislimo.
Ipak imam nekoliko recepata s kojima želim sudjelovati u svibanjskom krugu igrice Ajme koliko nas je, čija je domaćica bila Zoka s bloga Pans and Pots.


Rolada s jagodama


 Biskvit:
*  70 g šećera
* 75 g žumanjaka
* 8 g meda
* 125 g bjeljanjaka
* 20 g šećera
* 55 g mekog brašna
* 20 g gorkog kakaa
* 30 g škrobnog brašna


 Krema
* 120 g zaslađenog kondenziranog mlijeka
* 120 g maslaca
* 120 g bijele čokolade
* 120 g krem sira
* 1/2 žlice meda
* oko 200 g jagoda


* Za detaljniji opis pripreme ovog biskvita za roladu pogledajte ovaj recept.
Pripremite komad papira za pečenje veličine velikog pleha (30x40 cm). Ne treba ga ni mastiti ni brašniti. Prosijte skupa obje vrste brašna i kakao.
Stavite u zdjelu žumanjke, med i 70 g šećera. Umutite dobro mikserom dok smjesa ne postane svijetla i pjenasta.
U drugu zdjelu stavite bjeljanjke i 20 g šećera i umutite (ne previše čvrst) snijeg.
Umiješajte umućene bjeljanjke u smjesu od žumanjka dodajući ih u dva ili tri puta naizmjenično sa smjesom od brašna, i miješajući laganim pokretima gore-dolje ručnom pjenjačom.
Istresite smjesu na pripremljeni papir i rasporedite u ravnomjernom sloju uz pomoć spatule. Pecite biskvit u pećnici zagrijanoj na 230°C (205°C ako je ventilirana) 5 minuta.
Izvadite iz pećnice i papir s biskvitom odmah skliznite na stol da se zaustavi pečenje. Nakon otprilike minutu preokrenite biskvit na čisti komad papira na pečenje i odlijepite onaj na kojem se pekao biskvit.
Biskvit nafilijute i smotajte čim se ohladi. Ako ga nećete odmah filovati, smotajte ga zajedno s papirom.
Za kremu, stavite kondenzirano mlijeko, maslac i nakidanu čokoladu u šerpicu i zagrijavajte miješajući na laganoj vatri da se svi sastojci otope i sjedine. Maknite s vatre i ostavite da se ohladi - često promiješajte (ako se odvoji masnoća samo žustro izmiješajte žlicom ili pjenjačom i smjesa će se ujednačiti).
U ohlađenu smjesu dodajte krem sir koji ste prethodno dobro izmiješali pjenjačom s medom. Sjedinite smjesu i stavite u hladnjak na sat-dva. Po želji ohlađenu kremu malo umutite mikserom.
Od ukupne količine kreme odvojite par žlica za premazati roladu izvana, a u ostatak umiješajte nasjeckane jagode. Namažite kremu s jagodama na biskvit i smotajte ga u roladu. Omažite roladu izvana preostalom kremom (bez jagoda) i ukrasite po želji (ja sam posula krupno naribanom čokoladom i ukrasila prepolovljenim jagodama).