Whether for a special occasion or as a daily dessert, this Chocolate Cake Roll is a perfect and simple decadent chocolate treat!
This chocolate cake roll can pass for a delicious occasion cake, but it is also simple enough as a stand by dessert at home when you feel like indulging.
As with any chocolate cake, the flavor deepens and gets better the longer the cake sits so we enjoyed a slice of this cake for days and the flavor and texture are still amazing.
The chocolate filling can’t be more simple. It is just heavy cream, cocoa powder and icing sugar. Beat this together on a stand mixer until you attain a thick, fluffy mixture. You can adjust the icing sugar to be more or less, depending on how sweet you want the icing. For me, 3 tablespoons each is the perfect balance of bitter and sweet.
Chocolate Cake Roll: The Process
- Make the chocolate cake batter. Melt the chocolate, together with the water and cocoa powder. Stir occasionally, until smooth. Remove from heat and cool completely.
- Sift together: flour, baking powder, baking soda and sugar. Add salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the egg yolks, oil, and the cooled chocolate mixture. Add the dry ingredients to the yolk batter and stir until the resulting mixture is smooth and thick.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
- Add about 1/2 cup of the meringue to the chocolate batter to thin the batter down. Stir until uniform in color. Fold the remaining meringue in three additions to the chocolate batter using a rubber spatula.
- Pour and scrape the chiffon cake batter onto the prepared baking pan. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted at the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely by placing the pan on top of a wire rack.
Assembly and Rolling of Chocolate Roll
- Once cool, sprinkle cocoa powder across the surface of the cake. This prevents the cake from sticking. Cover the cake with a piece of parchment paper, then top it with a baking pan of the same size.
- Turn everything over and gently peel off the parchment paper from the cake. Reposition that parchment paper over the cake and top the cake again with a baking pan. Turn everything once more, so that the cake is facing up again.
- Spread the chocolate whipped cream across the cake. To roll the cake, start to lift the parchment paper that is on the short edge close to you.
- As you lift the parchment, roll the cake forward, moving the parchment along with it. Wrap the rolled cake in the parchment paper.
- Transfer the cake onto a serving plate and gently unwrap. If you desire, trim off the uneven edges of the roll for presentation (it’s a great way to taste test too!).
Pointers:
- For the cream, use the ones marked as 35% fat whipping cream.
- The eggs used are large-sized ones. They should be at room temperature for better whipping.
- To fold is to combine two mixtures with different densities. Essentially, it is adding a light mixture (the meringue in this case) to a denser mixture ( the yolk batter) and incorporating them as one.
- To fold, add the meringue to the thick batter and use a rubber spatula to cut through the mixture. Scrape the spatula down the bottom of the bowl and bring it back up to the surface, basically incorporating the ingredients through repeating this motion. The resulting batter should be uniform and streak-free.
Do you love cake rolls? Here are more:
- Coffee Swiss Roll
- Vanilla Cake Roll
- Ube Cake Roll
- Mocha Cake Roll
- Mango Cake Roll
- Dulce de Leche Cake Roll
Chocolate Cake Roll with Chocolate Whipped Cream
Whether for a special occasion or as a daily dessert, this Chocolate Cake Roll is a perfect and simple decadent treat!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder plus more for dusting the cake
- 1 and 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 and1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 6 egg whites
- 1/2 cup sugar
Chocolate Whipped Cream
- 2 cups whipping cream, chilled
- 6 tbsp cocoa powder
- 6 tbsp or more icing sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Lighty grease a 10x15 inch baking pan and line it with parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment paper.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the chocolate chips together with the water and cocoa powder. Stir occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
- In a bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the salt. In a large mixing bowl, beat together egg yolks with canola oil. Stir in the cooled chocolate mixture. Add the dry ingredients to the yolk mixture in the bowl and whisk using a wire whisk until smooth.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar until stiff peaks form. Add about 1/2 cup of the meringue ( beaten egg whites) to the yolk batter and stir. Gradually fold the remaining meringue in three additions using a rubber spatula. Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Use an offset spatula to level out the surface.
- Bake the cake at 350 F for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted at the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely on top of a wire rack.
Make the Chocolate Whipped Cream
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cream, icing sugar, and cocoa powder. Start to beat at low speed until the powders are moistened. Increase speed to medium-high and beat the mixture until it is thick and fluffy.
Assemble the Cake Roll
- Once the cake has cooled, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder all over the top. Cover the cake with a piece of parchment paper then top it with another baking pan of the same size. Turn everything over so that the cake is now facing down. Peel off the parchment paper from the cake.
- Reposition the parchment paper on top of the cake and place a baking pan again on top. Turn everything over once more so that the cake is now facing up again. The cake should now be resting on top of an inverted baking pan.
- Spread the chocolate whipped cream on top of the cake leaving about half an inch border at the top. To roll the cake, carefully lift the parchment paper that is at the short edge close to you. As you lift, roll the cake forward using the parchment paper to move the cake along. Wrap the cake with the parchment and use your hands to reinforce the shape.
- Transfer the cake to a serving plate and carefully remove the parchment paper. You can slice off the uneven edges of the cake if you prefer.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 603Total Fat: 37gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 166mgSodium: 560mgCarbohydrates: 63gFiber: 2gSugar: 53gProtein: 8g
This incredibly delicious cake made a spectacular presentation!!!
The beaten egg whites folded into the cake made the cake
just the right texture For this type of cake.
Some of the guests asked to take home slices, that tells you how much we all enjoyed it.
The cocoa whip cream filling ….so nice!
The whole cake is super chocolatey, and worth the extra effort indeed!
Hi Sanna
For this cake ..to roll it do I roll it starting at the small side and have a small fat cake, or do we roll it starting at the long side and have a long but not as fat cake.
Thanks!
Terri
Hi Terri! Roll this starting on the short side to make a fat, short cake ❤️
Hi!
With the chocolate cake roll recipe when it says icing sugar do I use powdered sugar?
Thank you so much
Terri
Hi Terri! Yes that will be powdered sugar. Enjoy!