Recipe: Jemma Melvin’s Lemon Swiss Roll and Amaretti Trifle from The Jubilee Pudding: 70 Years in the Baking

Superb Southport baker Jemma Melvin won the BBC One programme – The Jubilee Pudding: 70 Years in the Baking on Thursday night, with a pudding fit for The Queen – and now you can make it at home with her winning recipe below. 

Jemma’s Lemon Swiss Roll and Amaretti Trifle was awarded the title of Platinum Pudding for The Queen’s Jubilee celebrations in a unanimous decision by judges in the show.

Bakers across the world will now be making their own versions at home, and we would love to see yours  – please post your pictures in our Stand Up For Southport Facebook group and let us know what you think of the recipe! 

Jemma’s Lemon Swiss Roll and Amaretti Trifle beat competition from the four other creative and passionate bakers, Kathryn, Sam, Shabnam and Susan in the Fortnum & Mason Platinum Pudding competition to take the title. Her winning recipe becomes part of British food history, following in the footsteps of the Coronation Chicken and the Victoria Sponge.

Fortnum & Mason, which has a longstanding history with the Royal Household, and in conjunction with The Big Lunch Charity – an official partner of the Platinum Jubilee Weekend, challenged the people of the UK to create a recipe fulfilling the criteria of being fit for a queen, have a memorable story, taste just right, is perfect for home bakers and has the potential to stand the test of time and become Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Pudding.  

Now you can make this at home, with the recipe on the BBC website. 

For this recipe you will need 2 Swiss roll tins, measuring approximately 24cmx34cm/9½inx13½in and a trifle dish with capacity of approximately 3.5 litres/6 pints. However, you could always halve the recipe to serve 10. For shortcuts to this recipe, see the handy tips below.

Southport home baker Jemma Melvin has won the BBC One programme – The Jubilee Pudding: 70 Years in the Baking. Photo: BBC

Ingredients

For the Swiss rolls

• 4 large free-range eggs
• 100g/3½oz caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 100g/3½oz self-raising flour, sieved
• butter, for greasing

For the lemon curd

• 4 large free-range egg yolks
• 135g/4¾oz granulated sugar
• 85g/3oz salted butter, softened
• 1 lemon, zest only
• 80ml/2½fl oz fresh lemon juice

For the St Clement’s jelly

• 6 gelatine leaves
• 4 unwaxed lemons
• 3 oranges
• 150g/5½oz golden caster sugar

For the custard

• 425ml/15fl oz double cream
• 3 large free-range egg yolks
• 25g/1oz golden caster sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp lemon extract

For the amaretti biscuits

• 2 free-range egg whites
• 170g/6oz caster sugar
• 170g/6oz ground almonds
• 1 tbsp amaretto
• butter or oil, for greasing

For the chunky mandarin coulis

• 4x 298g tins mandarins
• 45g/1¾oz caster sugar
• 16g/½oz arrowroot (2 sachets)
• ½ lemon, juice only

For the jewelled chocolate bark

• 50g/1¾oz mixed peel
• 1 tbsp caster sugar (optional)
• 200g/7oz white chocolate, broken into pieces

To assemble

• 600ml/20fl oz double cream

Southport home baker Jemma Melvin has won the BBC One programme – The Jubilee Pudding: 70 Years in the Baking. Photo: BBC

Method

• To make the Swiss rolls, preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease and line the 2 Swiss roll tins with baking paper. In a large bowl, beat the egg and sugar together with an electric hand whisk for approximately 5 minutes or until light and pale. Using a metal spoon, gently fold in the flour. Divide between the two tins and bake for 10–12 minutes or until the sponges are lightly golden and cooked through.

• Sprinkle some extra caster sugar on two sheets of baking paper then turn the sponges out onto the sugared paper. Peel off the paper from the underside and, while still warm, roll them both up from the short end into a tight spiral using the paper to help. Leave to cool.

• To make the lemon curd, place the egg yolks, granulated sugar, butter, lemon zest and lemon juice in a glass bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water). Whisk until combined and whisk continuously as the curd cooks until thickened. This should take about 15 minutes. Pour into a clean bowl and set aside to cool.

• To make the St Clement’s jelly, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes to soften. Using a vegetable peeler, peel 6 strips from a lemon and 6 strips from an orange and put these into a saucepan with the sugar and 400ml/14fl oz water. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and discard the peel. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine and stir into the pan until dissolved then leave to cool. Squeeze the lemons and oranges, so you have 150ml/5fl oz of both lemon and orange juice. Stir into the pan then strain the jelly through a fine sieve into a jug and chill until cool but not set.

• To make the custard, place the cream in a saucepan over a gentle heat and bring it up to simmer, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and lemon extract, then gradually pour the hot cream into the bowl whilst whisking continuously. Immediately return the whole lot back to the saucepan and continue whisking over a gentle heat until the custard is thick and smooth. Pour the custard into a jug or bowl, cover the surface with greaseproof paper and leave to cool.

• To make the amaretti biscuits, preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until firm. Mix the sugar and almonds gently into it. Add the amaretto and fold in gently until you have a smooth paste.

• Place some baking paper on a baking tray and lightly brush with butter or oil. Using a teaspoon, place small heaps of the mixture approximately 2cm/¾in apart, as they will expand during cooking. Bake for approximately 15–20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

• To make the chunky mandarin coulis, strain two tins of mandarins. Discard the juice and put the fruit into a saucepan with the sugar and heat gently until broken down. Remove from the heat. In a small bowl, slake the arrowroot with 2 tablespoons cold water then add to the warm mandarins. Add the lemon juice and mix well before pouring into a large bowl. Strain the remaining two tins of mandarins and add the fruit to the bowl then leave to cool completely.

• To make the jewelled chocolate bark, if the peel feels wet or sticky, roll in the caster sugar to absorb any moisture. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl sitting over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Pour the white chocolate onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and scatter over the mixed peel. Leave to set then break into shards.

• To assemble, unroll the cooled Swiss rolls and spread with the lemon curd. Roll back up again and slice one into 2.5cm/1in slices and place upright around the bottom edge of the trifle dish so the swirl is visible. Slice the other Swiss roll into thicker pieces and use these to fill the bottom of the dish, ensuring the top is roughly the same level as the slices that line the edge. Use off-cuts of sponge to fill any gaps.

• Pour the St Clement’s jelly over the Swiss roll layer and set aside in the fridge to completely set. This will take approximately 3 hours. Once set, pour over the custard then arrange a single layer of amaretti biscuits, keeping a few back for the top. Pour over the mandarin coulis. In a large bowl, whip the double cream until soft peaks form then spoon this over the coulis. Crumble over the reserved amaretti biscuits and decorate with the chocolate bark shards.

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  Southport home baker Jemma Melvin has won the BBC One programme – The Jubilee Pudding: 70 Years in the Baking. Her trifle is bottom left. Photo: BBC

Recipe Tips

As a shortcut for this recipe, you can use ready-made versions for most of the components and just make the Swiss rolls and mandarin coulis from scratch. For the lemon curd, use 300g/10½oz ready-made lemon curd. Instead of the St Clement’s jelly, use 1 packet of lemon-flavoured jelly and follow the packet instructions to make 568ml/1 pint. For the custard, use 500ml/18fl oz ready-made custard. For the biscuits, use 100g/3½oz ready-made amaretti biscuits.

Instead of making the jewelled chocolate bark, you can finish this trifle by scattering over the reserved amaretti biscuits, mixed peel and 50g/1¾oz white chocolate chunks.

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