Frankenstein Minty Rolls

Do you remember Cadbury’s Mini Rolls? I do. Oh boy, did I love them when I was little. It was always a good day when I would find an individually wrapped mini chocolate and vanilla Swiss roll coated in yet more chocolate in my lunch box. Imagine my sheer childish delight in discovering how simple they are to make yourself and how not-so-scary cute they look when dressed up like Frankenstein’s monster. Enter my Frankenstein Minty Rolls. 

Yup, inside these little monsters are these naturally gluten free chocolate Swiss rolls. I add plenty of mint extract to the filling and it permeates the whole confection with flavour once finished. Dark Green Candy Melts are a super easy way to get the perfect monster green.

I love these Edible Monster Eyes and of course a few Mint Matchmakers to make the monster’s “bolts”. I promise they are easy and quick to make – so what if the Candy Melts or the chocolate looks a little uneven, surely that just adds to the effect?!

I use my roasting pan to make the chocolate sponge in but any tin with a bit of a lip that is approximately 10 x 14 inches in size will do. Go measure your existing tins before you buy a new one (although I do love mine, it’s brilliantly nonstick and easy to clean). Check out my tips on how best to work with Candy Melts and what else you can do with the leftovers too.

Don’t be put off by the the length of the recipe, I promise you’ll be jolting your own little monsters to life in a jiffy in time for this Halloween!

And p.s. there’s no reason why you couldn’t stop at the stage of the completed mini roll – I think they would be *perfect* after a dinner party (if that is your thang). They freeze well too, in case you don’t feel safe with a whole batch in your cake tin…

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Frankenstein Minty Rolls

Chocolate rolls, filled with mint flavoured buttercream, dipped and decorated to look like not-so-scary Frankenstein monsters! Mwuahahaha!

: 2262 kcal

Author: Just Jo

Ingredients

For the rolls

• 3 large eggs
• 75 g caster sugar
• 25 g cocoa powder

For the filling

• 90 g very soft butter
• 150 g icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp mint extract

To decorate

• 340 g dark green Candy Melts
• 1 tsp vegetable shortening I use Trex
• 75 g dark chocolate
• Edible monster eyes
• A few Mint MatchMakers for the bolts you could use pretzels as an alternative
• A tube of brown coloured or chocolate flavoured writing icing

Equipment

• A roasting dish or baking sheet with a lip approx 10x14 inches big
• A heat proof jug no bigger than 1 pint/500ml
• A small saucepan and bowl which fits in it to make a Bain Marie
• A small piping bag
• Greaseproof paper
• A clean tea towel

Instructions

1. Make the chocolate sponge first. Line your baking tin with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 180˚C.
2. Separate the eggs and whisk the whites to stiff peaks then in a separate bowl, whisk the yolks and caster sugar until thick, pale and much increased in size.
3. Sift the cocoa over the egg yolks and sugar, fold it in and then fold in the egg whites in three additions until well incorporated and no streaks of white remaining.
4. Level the mixture so it is even and flat and bake for 11-12 minutes until it is fully baked - the centre should spring back when lightly pressed.
5. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes only before inverting the sponge onto another piece of greaseproof paper. Remove the layer of paper which the sponge was baked on and cover immediately with a clean tea towel to prevent it drying out.
6. Meanwhile make the filling by beating the icing sugar, butter and mint extract until creamy and fluffy in texture. By this time, the sponge should be cold so remove the tea towel and spread the filling all the way to all sides.
7. Neaten up the edges of the sponge now with a sharp knife and divide into 8 rectangles approximately 5 by 3.5 inches in size. Roll each mini roll up firmly and place on a plate or tray. Cover with cling film and pop in the fridge until ready to decorate (they are fine in there over night).
8. Melt the Candy Melts in a bowl over simmering water and then beat in the vegetable shortening to loosen up the texture a little. Scrape into your jug and then I pop this into the saucepan, topping up with recently boiled water (ensuring nothing splashes into the Melts) to keep it fluid and easy to dip.
9. Place some greaseproof paper (the reverse of the second piece from before is fine) on a baking tray big enough to accommodate all the Frankensteins with plenty of room around each.
10. Now, take each chilled mini roll and dip it into the Candy Melts, to about 3/4 of their length then transfer to the greaseproof. Straight away, pop on two edible eyes about half way down and then push two short lengths of MatchMakers (or pretzel sticks) into the sides a little lower than the eyes to make Frankenstein's bolts. The Candy Melts set so fast it is much better to do one at a time or it will crack as you try to decorate each.
11. Repeat until all the mini rolls are dipped - see the notes box for what to do with the excess Candy Melts (these rolls don't leave crumbs so the Candy Melts are fine to turn into fudge or truffles).
12. When completely set, melt the dark choc and place in the piping bag. Allow to cool a little then pipe "hair" onto each Frankenstein - don't forget the exposed end and don't worry about it looking messy, it's part of their charm!
13. Now to finish, use your icing pen to pipe smiles/gasps etc onto each Frankenstein to give them each their own monstrous personality. They are ready to serve when the chocolate and icing is set.

Recipe Notes

These keep extremely well once dipped in an airtight container for a few days at least.
With the leftover Candy Melts, you can either pour it into a small dish and press extra eyes in to make a slab of monster "fudge" or when not quite set, roll it into balls and decorate with the eyes for monster "truffles"!

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