Soft chocolate sponge cake roll, filled with whipped cream and jam, and covered in chocolate icing!
Guys...I made a cake roll!
It's funny how certain things remind you of your childhood, even when it's something you haven't had in forever. Chocolate cake roll is one of those things for me. We used to always have it for my Mum's birthday, so as it was her birthday last week and she came to visit over the weekend, I thought it would be the perfect cake to make her!
I grew up knowing it this awesome dessert as chocolate log, however 1 bathroom related joke from Josh when I told him what I was making was enough to make me change my mind. After a bit of googling I found out that it can also be called Swiss roll, Yule log, roulade or cake roll. Well, I like to keep things simple around here. It's a cake and you roll it up, so from now, any cake that is of the rolled variety, will be known as a cake roll.
I'm glad we got that sorted.
The thought of making a cake roll can be quite an intimidating thing. I had never made one before so did not know how it would turn out, but it was easy! From what I had read, the key is to roll the cake as soon as it is out of the oven so that it is less likely to crack. It is also really important to make sure the tea towel that you will be rolling the cake up in has a nice thick layer of icing sugar on it, so that the hot cake doesn't stick to it.
I don't think it matters if you roll from the long end or the short end. I had 100% decided to roll from the short end, then I made a split second decision when I put it on the tea towel to do the opposite. I guess it depends if you want a short fat cake, or a longer skinny cake. I went for the long skinny option...next time I'll roll from the short side and let you know how it goes!
Let it cool completely in the tea towel. When cooled unroll the cake gently, remove the tea towel and fill with jam and cream and cover with chocolate icing. Roll it back up and leave it to set for 30 minutes or so, and then sprinkle with icing sugar, slice and serve!
It's a great alternative to a regular cake and with only 10 minutes baking time, is a quick option too.
I've created a monster...now I want to make allllll the cake rolls!
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Chocolate Cake Roll
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- For the filling:
- ⅓ cup cream whipped
- ⅓ cup jam
- For the icing:
- ½ cup icing sugar
- 1.5 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1.5-2 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Whisk eggs for about 3 minutes until thick and foamy. Add sugar and vanilla and whisk together.
- Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a medium sized bowl and fold gently into the egg mixture until just combined.
- Line a 12" x 8" sponge tin with baking paper and pour the batter in. It will be quite sticky so use a rubber spatula to spread it to the edges.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes at 180 degrees C until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, lay out a clean tea town and cover an area a little bit bigger than the size of the cake in icing sugar.
- As soon as you pull the cake out of the oven, turn it out of the tin onto the part of the tea towel covered in sugar. Roll the cake up tightly in the tea towel from the long side, leaving the tea towel wrapped in the cake. Leave the cake to cool completely (1-2 hours) and then gently unwrap, removing the tea towel.
- Spread with jam and whipped cream, and roll the cake up again.
- Icing:
- To make the icing sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl and add the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the icing is smooth and spreadable.
- Ice the cake, sprinkle with icing sugar and leave to set for 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Nutrition
Can you roll it on baking paper instead of a tea towel... or would it go soggy
Hi Jeanette, I would recommend using a tea towel as the tea towel does help it to not go soggy as it cools and it also has a bit of weight to it which helps hold it in the roll shape. I haven't tried with baking paper but I wonder if it might just unroll. But if you really wanted to try it would be an interesting experiment!
Ha! I laughed out loud at that comment! These remind me of my childhood too, my Nan used to make the BEST Raspberry Cake Roll.
Haha I just had to put it in there...what's life without a bit of immaturity! Oh yum a raspberry one would be so good
YUM! Your cake roll looks delicious. Found your blog via Fabulous Foodie Fridays. So pleased I did!
Thanks Kirsten! Great to have you here 🙂
Wow these look great! Swiss rolls, as I know them, seem intimating too cook because I feel like it would crumble but yours came out perfectly
Thanks Dani! Do you know I think they can be a bit fickle...I wouldn't be surprised if my next one crumbled but I think as long as you roll it as soon as it comes out of the oven it should be fine. And if all else fails, cover it in frosting right? 🙂
This cake roll looks amazing, Laura!! In my part of the world (Brisbane, AU) when I was growing up, we called them Swiss rolls. I remember them as very chemical-tasting, though...I'm suspicious they didn't require any refrigeration despite containing "cream". This one looks sooo fluffy and fresh - homemade is always best. Yum!! x
Haha that's so funny because I just saw one at the supermarket yesterday not refrigerated either...very suspicious!