Serves: 8–10

What You’ll Need:

• 200g dark chocolate (53% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
• 200g butter
• 300g packet cooked beetroot, juices reserved, roughly chopped
• 100g icing sugar
• 150g cream cheese
• 5 eggs
• 175g light brown soft sugar
• 
75g self-raising flour
• 10 cherries, stalks left on
• For the chocolate cream

• 300ml double cream
• 200g dark chocolate (53% cocoa solids)

What To Do:

• Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas mark 5 and line a 23cm x 33cm Swiss roll tin with a sheet of silicone paper.
• Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering (not boiling) water. The bowl should not touch the water. Heat to melt, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• Place the chopped beetroot and juices in a food blender and blitz to a fine purée. Pour all but 125ml of the puréed beetroot into the warm chocolate.
• In a separate bowl, beat the icing sugar and cream cheese together until smooth, then beat in 75ml of the puréed beetroot. Set aside with the 50ml puréed beetroot in the fridge while you make the cake.
• Whisk the eggs and sugar in a kitchen mixer, or in a large bowl with electric beaters, until very thick and pale in colour. Carefully pour in the cooled chocolate-and-beetroot mixture and whisk until just combined. Sift the flour into the mixture then gently fold in, making sure it has all been incorporated.
• Pour into the prepared tin and bake for
10–15 minutes until risen. The sponge should spring back when pressed lightly. Lift the sponge out of the tin and leave to cool slightly.
• Meanwhile, heat the cream in a saucepan until just simmering, then remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring all the time until the mixture is smooth. Pour into a large bowl to cool. When the mixture is at room temperature, whisk until it just holds its shape.
• Spread the chocolate cream over the cooled sponge, leaving a 2cm border around the edge. Score a line 1cm in from one of the longest edges and bend this border over gently. Spoon all but 2 tbsp of the beetroot cream in a line 2cm wide inside the border. Using the silicone paper underneath, roll up the sponge quite tightly, making sure the filling stays inside. Pull the paper towards you as you roll the sponge away from you.
• Roll the sponge onto a serving plate – the bottom will be uppermost, giving a smooth finish. Pipe or drizzle over the remaining beetroot cream and puréed beetroot. Finish with a line of cherries down the centre.

Recipe from the BBC Good Food Show Summer London where James will be demonstrating his cooking skills and signing books for visitors at the ExCel on Friday 20^th May- Saturday 21^st May.