CookEat Recipe
Salame Inglese Checkerboard Sponge Roll
A rolled sponge enclosing strips coloured with clear rosolio, alchermes and chocolate, held together with fruit preserve to reveal a multicoloured checkerboard when sliced.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 6 eggs, separated; 200 g caster sugar; 180 g plain flour: 170 g for the sponge and 10 g for the tray; 10 g butter, only for greasing the tray; 60 ml colourless rosolio di cedro, divided; use a clear prepared sweet citrus liqueur; 30 ml alchermes; 15 g plain chocolate, very finely grated; 180 g smooth apricot, peach or quince preserve.
Step 2
Heat the oven to 170°C. Grease a large shallow tray about 40 × 45 cm with the butter and dust with the reserved 10 g flour. Separate the eggs. Beat the six yolks with the sugar until very pale and thick, about 30 minutes by hand or 8–10 minutes with an electric whisk.
Step 3
Whisk the six whites separately to firm peaks. Fold them gently into the yolk mixture, then sift the 170 g batter flour over it in several additions, folding without knocking out the air. Spread into the tray in an even layer about 8–10 mm thick. Bake for about 12–18 minutes until lightly golden, springy and fully set but still flexible; do not dry it into a biscuit.
Step 4
Turn the warm sponge carefully onto clean baking paper. From one side, cut nine strips about 2 cm wide and the full 45 cm length, leaving a broad uncut sheet about 22 × 45 cm as the wrapper. Keep the wrapper covered with a clean slightly damp cloth while preparing the strips, so it remains supple. Work while the sponge is warm enough to bend.
Step 5
Set aside 30 ml clear rosolio for the yellow strips. Mix the other 30 ml with the finely grated chocolate over a bowl of warm water, stirring until evenly dark, then let cool to lukewarm. Brush three strips with plain rosolio, three with alchermes and three with the chocolate-rosolio mixture. Distribute each measured liquid over its three strips without soaking them until they break. The resulting colours are yellow, red and dark brown.
Step 6
Warm the preserve briefly just until spreadable and smooth. Spread a thin layer over the wrapper and along the contact faces of the strips. Stack the strips lengthways down the middle of the wrapper in three rows of three, alternating the colours between adjacent pieces and rows. Gently press the pieces together. Lift both long edges of the wrapper around the filling with the paper to form one continuous log, overlapping the edges underneath; trim only excess overlap if needed.
Step 7
Wrap snugly in the paper and let settle, seam down, in the refrigerator at 4°C or colder for about 1 hour. Unwrap and slice across with a serrated knife to reveal the coloured checkerboard. Serve plain, or use one of the separate finishes below. Keep covered and refrigerated and eat within 2–3 days. The liqueurs are added after baking and the finished cake contains alcohol.
Step 8
For the simpler family roll, use half the sponge quantities: 3 eggs, 100 g caster sugar and 85 g batter flour, with 5 g butter and 5 g flour for a tray about 30 × 40 cm. Beat the yolks and sugar, fold in the whipped whites and sifted flour as above, and spread thinly. Bake at 170°C for about 10–15 minutes until flexible and set. Brush the whole warm sheet with about 30 ml clear rosolio, spread with 90 g smooth fruit preserve and scatter 30 g very thinly sliced candied citrus peel. Roll the whole sheet up from a short edge with baking paper. Chill, seam down, for 1 hour, then slice into about 10–12 servings. Do not cut or colour checkerboard strips for this alternative.
Step 9
For a simple white icing finish, stir about 100 g icing sugar with 15–20 g commercially pasteurized egg white, adding the white gradually to make a very thick icing. Spread thinly or pipe a pattern over the cold roll and let the surface set. For the separate dark finish, mix 60 g icing sugar with 30 g finely powdered chocolate, then enough commercially pasteurized egg white, about 20–30 g, to make a thick spreadable coating. Use one finish only and keep the finished roll refrigerated. These icing ingredients are additional to the plain roll, and the egg white must be commercially pasteurized.
Step 10
For the cooked chocolate coating described in the related glazing recipe, use 50 g grated chocolate, 100 g caster sugar and 45 ml water instead of either egg-white icing. Melt the chocolate with the water over gentle heat, add the sugar and simmer while stirring to the early thread stage, about 110°C at sea level. Check with a candy thermometer and a cooled spoonful in cold water, never hot syrup between fingers. Adjust the target for altitude by the difference between the local water boiling point and 100°C. Put the pan in cool water and stir until a thin dull film begins to form, then spread over the roll. Set briefly in a moderate oven at about 150°C for 2–3 minutes, then cool and refrigerate. The related white coating can instead be made with 1 commercially pasteurized egg white, 130 g icing sugar, juice of ¼ lemon and 1 tablespoon clear rosolio; beat thick enough to coat, spread over the cold cake and let set. Alchermes may replace the rosolio for a pink coating.
Step 11
For the alternative sponge mixing order, use exactly the same six eggs, 200 g sugar and 170 g batter flour: beat the yolks and sugar first, work in the flour thoroughly, then fold in the six whipped whites last. Bake and assemble as above. This borrows the order of mixing from the Genoese sponge reference, not its butter, starch or different egg quantities.
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