Pecan Roulade with Caramel mousse

This is a recipe I got from the Susan Spicer cookbook, Crescent City Cooking.  Highly recommended if you want to cook Cajun and Louisiana food from New Orleans, though be careful as it has US weights and measures.  I've made a few changes to the recipe, but not that many.  It's really excellent, but maybe make it a day ahead if you're cooking lunch!

Ingredients
Cake
100g pecan nuts
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs, separated
50g golden granulated sugar
Unsalted butter for lining baking paper
Caramel Sauce
200g white caster sugar
60ml water
200ml double cream
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon rum or brandy
Mousse
100g cream cheese
220ml syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3/4 teaspoon powdered gelatine
200ml double cream, whipped

Method

Sponge
Heat the oven to 180C.  Line a 22.5cm x 30cm baking tray with buttered baking paper.  Toast the pecan nuts in a dry drying pan until they are just starting to brown further, then grind them to a medium fine flour - don't make it too fine as the coarse texture works really well in this recipe.  Add them to a large bowl and add the baking powder and give it a good stir to mix.

Whip the egg yolks with half of the sugar until they turn pale and creamy, then add the nut mixtre and stir to mix well but down whip.  Clean the whisk and now do the whites (if you get any yolk into egg white they won't whip) in a large bowl until peaks begin to form, then add the rest of the sugar while still beating.  When stiff peaks form (stop the beater and withdraw the beaters, if the peaks remain, you're good to go) the whites are ready.

Gradually fold the whites into the nut mixture until well combined, then spread the mix out evenly in the baking tray.  Bake for 10-15 minutes until the top is browned but not burning, cover with a layer of tinfoil and a tea towel and leave to cool.


Caramel mousse 
First, make the syrup.  Add the sugar and water to a small saucepan and bring to the boil, then swirl to mix and turn the heat to medium.  Keep an eye on this as it will take some time (10-15 mins) to start caramelizing, but once it starts to brown it turns really quickly.  While this is boiling, put the cream into another pan and heat until it starts to bubble, then take off the heat before it boils and place on a cool surface. 

Once the caramel syrup is a light to mid brown (about the colour of light oak furniture) tske it off the heat, stir briskly and set aside.  Now add the cream to the sugar, whisking briskly as you go ideally with a balloon whisk (careful, this is really hot, you'll burn yourself if you splatter it about)! 

Pour off 220ml of the caramel sauce and put into the 'fridge' to cool.   Add a teaspoon of vanilla essence and rum or brandy to the remaining mix and keep this for your sauce.

Now make the mousse.  Dissolve the gelatine in a tablespoon of warm water.   Put the cream cheese to a large bowl and lightly whisk, then while whisking slowly add the caramel sauce, beating all the time to mix everything evenly.  Now add the vanilla essence and gelatine to the mix, making sure it's all well combined.  Finally, fold in the whipped cream gently until you have a gorgeous caramel cream mousse!

Assembly
First, turn the cake over and remove it from the tin carefully by turning it upside down on the tea towel and foil, tea towel on the bottom, then the foil.   If it sticks, ease the edges away from the paper with a blunt knife.  Spread the caramel mousse evenly on top of the cake, then take one of the sohrt edges and gently start rolling it over.  Slow and steady is the watchword here, if you bend t too fast or too tightly it will crack, so take care.  Once you've done this, put the sponge on to a plate, dust with icing sugar and put the cake in the 'fridge' to cool and set. 

To serve, tidy the edges with a sharp knife (make sure you slice it with a sharp knife and try not to saw too much as it will mix the cream and cake together), cut into generous portions and don't forget the caramel sauce you set aside.   All you need to do now is to sit back with a tipple of your choice and wait for the admiring oooh's and aahhh's to roll in.