directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a 23cm x 23cm Swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper, grease with a little butter or non-stick spray and set aside.
2. Sponge: In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until thick and creamy. Add the sifted cocoa over the egg mixture and mix very well.
3. In a clean dry bowl with dry beater paddles, whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold a third of the egg whites into the cocoa mixture, and then gently fold in the rest until evenly mixed.
4. Pour into the prepared tin and spread evenly. Bake for 25 minutes or until well risen and just beginning to shrink away from the sides of the tin. Remove from the oven, loosen the edges and turn out onto greaseproof paper sprinkled with sugar. Trim the edges and spread jam all over. Roll up the Swiss roll (on the long side) and keep covered.
5. Filling: For the ice-cream log, put a large piece of Clingfilm on your work surface, put the 1lt ice-cream on the Clingfilm and slightly press down. Cover with Clingfilm and roll into a long sausage shape. Around the same length as your Swiss roll (33cm) return to freezer, to harden.
6. After about an hour, unroll the cooled Swiss roll and put the ice-cream log on the end side. Sprinkle with grated chocolate and then roll up into a log, trim the edges and wrap in Clingfilm and freeze until hard (at least 5 hours).
7. Italian meringue: This is made just before serving. Put sugar and water into a pot and bring to the boil, stir until sugar is dissolved and boil until sugar reaches 115 degrees Celsius on a thermometer.
8. Put the egg whites into a large mixing bowl and whisk until soft peaks, continue whisking at high speed, while slowly adding the warm sugar syrup. The meringue will begin to thicken and become glossy after at least 10 minutes. Continue to whisk until meringue has cooled down to warm, add in the vanilla.
9. Fill a piping bag with a star nozzle, with meringue. Take the log out of the freezer and either keep whole or cur off ¼ of the end on the diagonal. Place on the side of the longer piece to look like a log/branch. Pipe the meringue in lines down the length of the log to look like wood. Put the log onto a serving platter and brown/scorch with a kitchen blow torch. Serve immediately. Great served with berry compote.

Cooks Tip! Log can be browned under a preheated oven grill, if you don’t have a blowtorch. Just keep a watch out for burning, don’t leave it too long