Chocolate Roulade with Orange-Vanilla Filling

Roulade are basically small thin sponge cakes that you layer with a tasty filling, roll up, and frost. They are so much fun to make. The first time I tried yule log I was so apprehensive about will I be able to make these rolls, will my rolls crack, what is the entire cake is a disaster…? so many question, but I was super excited to see my cake coming our perfect.
This week I challenged my self and wanted to bake some thing. And I wanted to use oranges in my cake, though I can’t eat oranges I wanted to try as my hubby loves orange. He also mentioned he loves the combination of chocolate and oranges, so that’s when I decided to make a chocolate orange cake, to make it a bit more challenging I decided to go with roulade. For the second time I made a log cake/swiss roll cake/roulade(what ever it’s called) it came out just perfect. And hubby simply LOVED it! Happy me 😀

Recipe Source – finecooking

Ingredients-

For the chocolate sponge cake:

75 gms bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 Tbs. warm water
Softened butter for the pan
Flour for the pan
9 large eggs, separated
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tbspns Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted; more for dusting
⅛ tsp. table salt

For the filling:

2 large egg whites
½ cup plus 2 Tbs. granulated sugar; more to taste
10 Tbs/250 gms unsalted butter, completely softened at room temperature
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped, pod saved for another use
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 orange

For the chocolate glaze:

3 Tbs. heavy cream
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup plus 1-½ Tbs. water
½ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp. unflavored powdered gelatin

For serving:

Sweetened whipped cream
½ cup candied orange zest
Method of preparation-

1. Pre heat the oven to 180 C. In a large bowl melt chocolate with warm water, mix it well until fully melted, keep aside to cool to room temperature.

2. Take an 18×13-inch rectangular baking pan (a standard half sheet pan) and grease it with the softened butter. Line the pan with parchment paper and apply butter all over and then flour the parchment.

3. In a clean and dry bowl beat egg whites on medium speed until they turn frothy, then increase speed, gradually add ½ cup sugar and keep whipping until soft peak forms. Remove the egg whites into another bowl, keep aside.

4. Next add egg yolks to the bowl of your beater, whip the egg yolks on medium-high speed until light in color and beginning to thicken. Add ½ cup of the sugar and whip until very thick and pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate. With a rubber spatula, stir in the cocoa and salt until blended.

5. Add half of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, Using a rubber spatula, fold the whites. Add the second half and fold it gently into the chocolate mixture. Be very gentle while folding, mixing just until the batter is evenly colored with no streaks of white. Don’t overmix. Scrape the batter into the baking pan, gently spreading and smoothing it to make sure it’s level. Bake until the top springs back lightly when touched, 22 to 25 minutes.

6. While the cake is in oven you can do the prep for rolling the cake. Place a parchment paper(size bigger than the cake) on your counter and sprinkle some cocoa powder on top. This will keep the cake sticking to the paper after rolling.

7. Roll the cake and let it cool:
Immediately after taking the cake from the oven, run a small knife around the inside edge to loosen it from the pan. Invert the cake pan onto the towel in one quick motion. Remove the pan. Carefully peel off the parchment. Using both hands and starting from one of the short ends, roll up the cake and the towel together. Let cool to room temperature.(instead of kitchen towel I used parchment paper dusted with cocoa powder it works fantastic)

8. Make the filling
Heat water in a wide pan. Add egg whites, ½ cup of the sugar and a generous pinch of salt into a heat resistant bowl and whip is until blended. Set the bowl in the pot of hot water, make sure the water comes up to at least the level of the mixture in the bowl. Start to whisk until the mixture is almost hot which takes approximately, about 90 seconds. Take the bowl out of the water. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whip the whites until cool and thick. Reduce to medium speed, add the butter, 1 Tbs. at a time, and mix until the butter is completely incorporated. The filling should be soft and loose, it will firm up as it chills. With the mixer on low speed, blend in the vanilla bean seeds, vanilla extract, and orange zest.

9. Fill and roll the roulade:
Once you filling is ready and cake has completely cooled, Carefully unroll the cake. Spread the filling over the cake, covering it evenly, leave out 2 inches of the edges, if the filling goes till the edge it will ooze out while you re roll, which we clearly dont want to happen, so remember to leave 2 inch(or atleast 1 ½ inch) space at the egdes. Reroll the cake, this time without the parchement paper. If still the filling squishes out of the ends a bit, that is fine. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and set a wire rack on the foil. Slide two large metal spatulas (or a spatula and your hand) under the roulade and transfer it to the rack. (Or, if working ahead, transfer it to a large sheet of plastic, wrap it snugly, and refrigerate for up to a day; transfer to the rack before glazing.)

10. Glaze the roulade
In a large saucepan, combine the cream, sugar, ½ cup of the water, and the cocoa. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer, whisking often, until very thick, like hot fudge sauce, 8 to 10 minutes from when the mixture began simmering. Pay close attention: This mixture boils over easily. Remove the pan from the heat. While the mixture is cooling, bloom the gelatin in the remaining 1-½ Tbs. of water. Melt the bloomed gelatin over very hot water or in the microwave. Whisk the gelatin into the chocolate mixture and strain the glaze through a medium sieve into a metal bowl. Let the glaze cool at room temperature until thick but still pourable, about 5 to 10 minutes; the glaze should be about 110° to 120°F. (If you’ve made the cake ahead, unwrap it and put it on a rack set over a foil-lined baking sheet.)

Pour the glaze over the roulade, using an offset spatula to help the glaze cover the top and sides evenly. Don’t worry about covering the ends; they’ll be trimmed later. Refrigerate uncovered for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.

11. Make Ahead Tips
You can make the cake and filling and assemble the roulade (without the glaze) a day ahead. Wrap the unglazed roulade with plastic, refrigerate it, and glaze it the next day. You can prepare the garnishes ahead, too, but whip the cream close to serving time.

Enjoy!