Orange mini rolls with vanilla filling

Today I'd like to share a recipe for orange mini rolls filled with cream and mascarpone.

  

The rolls are light as a cloud and melt in your mouth. Soft sponge has an intense orange flavour and aroma, with a hint of almonds. The filling is fabulously vanilla and rounds out the flavour beautifully. A pleasant, aromatic, simple dessert!

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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Ingredients

Sponge

• 100 g almonds
• 1 scant cup (~100 g) icing sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg whites
• Zest of 1 orange
• Orange colouring (optional)
• 2 tbsp (~20 g) caster sugar
• 2 tbsp (~20 g) wheat flour
• Pinch of salt

Filling

• 1 pack (250 g) mascarpone
• 125 g whipping cream
• 3 tbsp (~35 g) icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste

Decoration

• 100 g white chocolate
• 3 tbsp (~50 g) almonds

Method

1.  Prepare the filling. Into a bowl pour 125 g cold whipping cream and add in 1 pack mascarpone cheese, 2 tbsp icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla paste. Combine the ingredients with an electric mixer at low speed, increase the speed and whip until you get a thick, stiff filling. Set aside into a fridge as you work on the sponge.
2. Put 100 g blanched almonds into a blender and crush them into a fine powder. If you don't have a blender, skip this step and use almond flour instead.
3. Into a heatproof bowl add 100 g icing sugar, almond flour, zest of 1/2 large orange and 3 large eggs. Mix briefly with an electric mixer until uniform.
4.  Place the bowl with batter onto a pan with a small amount of boiling water. Beat the batter in the double boiler with an electric mixer until it doubles in size and thickens up. It took me around 10 minutes.
5. When the batter is light and fluffy, take the bowl off heat and continue beating for another minute or two. Add a small amount of orange extract and, optionally, orange colouring. Mix briefly to spread the extract and colouring in the batter evenly. 
6. Pour 3 large egg whites into a separate bowl and beat them with a mixer at low speed until slightly frothy. Add a pinch of salt, increase the mixer speed and whisk until soft peaks.
7. Add 4 tsp of sugar into the egg whites, one at a time, mixing after each tsp. Fold the egg whites into the egg and almond batter. Do it gently, in 3 batches, fully combining the ingredients each time. Be careful not to remove air bubbles. Once all of egg whites are in, the batter should be delicate and light as a cloud.  
8. Sift 20 g flour directly into the batter. Fold the flour in gently with a silicone spatula until it just gets incorporated.
9. Pour the batter onto a greased baking tray lined with baking paper (46 x 38 cm). Spread the batter evenly. Bake it in a conventional oven preheated to 200 deg C for 9 minutes, until beautiful and golden.
10. Take the sponge out of the oven and place it on a worktop. Cover the sponge with a large sheet of baking paper and turn it out. Peel off the paper the sponge was baked on and set the sponge aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.
11. After 5 minutes the sponge should be cool, but still elastic. Spread the filling evenly across the whole surface. Turn the sponge so that the shorter side is facing you and cut it into two parts. Roll each half into tight rolls, cover them tightly with baking paper and put into a fridge for at least 30 minutes, to set.
    
12. Take the rolls out of the fridge and remove baking paper. Cut off irregular ends with a sharp knife. Divide the rolls into 6 or 8 equal pieces and return to the fridge for 15 minutes.
13. Decorate the rolls. Chop 50 g of almonds roughly. Melt 100 g white chocolate. Dip one end of each roll in white chocolate and chopped almonds. Transfer the rest of white chocolate into a piping bag and pipe it out onto the rolls, creating a pattern.
14. Enjoy! 

Approximate nutritional value

100 g

• 495 kcal
• Carbs: 32 g 
• Fat: 35 g
• Protein: 11 g
• Fibre: 1 g

1 roll (recipe makes 6 rolls)

• 673 kcal
• Carbs: 44 g 
• Fat: 48 g
• Protein: 15 g
• Fibre: 2 g