Banoffee Roulade | Bake Off Bake Along

Well that was a tense time in the tent. I've never been so nervous because of mousse. I definitely was not brave enough to tackle that challenge this week. 

I’d be perfectly okay with eating one of them though.

Some of the bakers had the right idea with putting jelly on top; they looked so professional and swish. Jane and Andrew were the standouts in the showstopper for me, both their desserts looked beyond perfect and the flavour combinations were just bloody delicious.

I missed out on botanical week last week because I was burning sunning myself in Mykonos for almost a week. The Scottish blood in me means I’m doomed to just never get a tan. The most I can get is a light glow and about a hundred more freckles on my face.

Jumping right back into the kitchen, I got inspired by one of my favourite quick and easy things to make: a Banoffee Pie. And then I turned it into a roulade.

A light vanilla sponge, filled with caramel, whipped cream and sliced bananas; a classic combination that you just can't say no to. Well, at least I couldn't.

Banoffee Roulade

Ingredients:

Sponge:

3 eggs, room temperature

60g caster sugar

25g light brown sugar

85g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

Filling:

200ml double cream

Caramel (I used all that Sally's Baking Addiction Homemade Caramel makes - roughly 200ml?)

1 banana, chopped

100g melted dark chocolate to decorate

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to gas mark 6/-/- and grease and line a swiss roll tin. Alternatively, if you don't have a swiss roll tine, like me, you can use a large rectangle tin of roughly 25x35cm and line so greaseproof hangs over the edge. 
2. First make your sponge by whisking together eggs and sugar, until mixture is thick and lighter in colour (roughly 5 minutes on electric whisk). Then fold in the flour and baking powder gently until combined. Pour into line tin, don't spread the mixture with your spatula, but instead tilt the tin until the mixture meets all corners and base is evenly covered. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown and springs back.
3. Remove from the oven and sprinkle some caster sugar onto a strip of greaseproof paper. Flip your sponge over onto the caster sugar and tightly roll up and set aside to cool. 
4. Next, prepare your fillings. I made homemade caramel, using Sally's Baking Addiction (link above) and removed the salt. You can use caramel from a jar or tin as filling. Whip the cream and set aside for later. Chop 1 banana up into small chunks to scatter. 
5. Once the sponge has cooled, it's time for the assembly! Carefully unroll your now cooled sponge and peel back the greaseproof on the inside of the roulade. Spread a layer of caramel (reserving some for the top), followed by a layer of cream, and then finally sprinkle the chopped bananas on top. 
6. Using the greaseproof paper, roll your sponge back into a spiral. Drizzle some of the reserved caramel and the melted dark chocolate across the top of the roulade and serve! 

This roulade is best served and eaten the same day, due to the bananas going brown after being open to the air in the cake. However, for a twist, you can remove the bananas and keep in fridge to stay fresh, with no brown bananas!

What did you make for this weeks Bake Off Bake Along? Let me know!