This strawberry cake rolled with vanilla buttercream and dark chocolate ganache is not only a pretty Valentines Day treat, but such a yummy one! Plus, it looks A LOT harder to make than it really is!
February 1st. How can the first month of this year be gone already? I had already written a post for for this week when I looked at the calendar and thought, oh my- it’s time for a Valentine’s dessert! I had an unexpected day off of work this week and decided to experiment with turning an ordinary cake mix into a cake roll. I absolutely loved the results! Cake rolls will always be a little fussier than plain old cakes, but look at how cute it is…! If you’ve never made a cake roll, I will try to explain it as we go. I have a few pictures, but if you want a few more click here for my pumpkin roll recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
- One boxed strawberry cake mix (I used Pillsbury this time)
- Water, oil and eggs (we will adjust the amounts from the box just a bit!)
- 1/2c. heavy whipping cream
- 1 c. dark chocolate chips
- 2 sticks (8 oz) butter
- 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
- 1 T. clear vanilla flavoring.
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees
- Make boxed cake mix, but add just a little less oil and water. The Pillsbury mix called for 1 cup of water and 1/3 cup of oil. I used 3/4 c. water and 1/4 c. oil instead. I used the same # of eggs (3)
- Cover the bottom of a standard jellyroll pan (mine is about 12″ by 17″, and about 1″ deep) with waxed paper- allowing the paper to extend just a bit over each end.
- Lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Pour cake batter into pan and gently spread it out to cover the entire bottom in a thin, but even layer of cake.
- Bake at 350F degrees for 15-20 minutes- checking often to make sure it isn’t browning too much.
- Remove pan from oven, sprinkle a clean kitchen towel with powdered sugar, lay it powder side down on the top of the cake and holding the towel in place, flip the pan over onto a flat surface. You will have your powdered towel, the cake on top and wax paper on top of the cake.
- Peel the wax paper off and gently roll the cake up in the towel, rolling from one short end to the other- keep the towel on the bottom and wrap it up with the cake.
- Refrigerate for one hour.
- While this is in the fridge, make your ganache and butter cream.
- For the ganache: heat 1/2 c. of whipping cream in a medium saucepan until it starts to bubble around the edges. Turn off the heat. Add the dark chocolate chips and cover for 5-10 minutes. Stir until smooth and creamy.
- For the buttercream: Place (softened) butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat on high until very fluffy and creamy.
- After chilling for one hour, remove cake roll from fridge and gently unroll on a flat surface.
- Gently and evenly spread ganache over entire surface of the cake roll.
- Gently and evenly spread the buttercream over the ganache. This part was a little tricky- I wanted to make sure I didn’t mix the two layers, so I scooped the buttercream in little bits all over the top and then spread it a little at a time.
- Gently roll the cake back up, leaving the towel behind. Carefully lift it on to a large plate and refrigerate it until the buttercream and ganache harden up.
The 1st time I made this it rolled beautifully and I just sprinkled it with powdered sugar….then when I made it for taking photos it cracked as I rolled. This sometimes happens with cake rolls and there’s an easy fix: make another batch of ganache and pour it right over the top! I think I actually liked it better this way! You can’t even tell it cracked, see:
When it is chilled, slice it and serve it with whipped cream and maybe even some chocolate covered strawberries? So yummy!!!!
My thoughts: I really had fun making this dessert. There’s just something about the pink cake and all that gooey chocolate that makes me smile! I hope this cake brings a smile to the faces of all the ones you love this Valentine’s Day! Enjoy!!! ~r
Want some other fun Valentines Day ideas? Click on the picture to be taken to the recipe.
This is beautiful, Ruthanne! I love that you adapted it from a boxed mix too – very clever. I STILL have your pumpkin roll on my baking to-do list! Great job, again.
Thank you so much Leah- I love boxed mixes. Soooooo much. Such a time saver! That pumpkin roll is so yummy…oh my. Let me know if you try it and what you think! I think you will love it!!!
Gorgeous! Oh my goodness I love this: such a unique Valentine’s Day dessert. I have yet to do a rolled cake but it’s on my baking bucket list for sure
I was really afraid to try one. My mom always made the most amazing pumpkin roll and she kept telling me it was easy…but it “looks” so hard..! Its not– you should definitely try one!! I, by the way, love your blog. I’ve been waiting all day to have a few minutes to go and read your collection of photo tips and now that I’m FINALLY done with all the responsible things I am headed there….can’t wait!
That is so gorgeous!! I need to make this. Today! But I will have to wait, but I need it! Thank you for the recipe!!
Haha! You’re welcome. I know that feeling of just wanting to try something *right now*. Sometimes I see an idea and I can’t get it out of my mind until I make it myself…
I can’t get the cake mix here, so this will have to be on my list. And it will kill me waiting!
Ahh….
that is the one down side to using cake mixes…my poor international friends. My best friend Angie lives in Prague and she has done the most creative “fixes” to my recipes!
Allan is flying out to a conference in two weeks and I am adding a strawberry cake mix (or two!) to the shopping list!
Fingers crossed he actually looks at the list!!
Thousands times yummy! This is gorgeous
Thank you– your desserts are SO gorgeous that I am always honored to get a compliment from you
That is so nice to say! Thank you!
hummmmm nice,nice,nice !
Thank you!
I have nominated you for the Versatile blogger Award. See the details on my blog. Congratulations.Have a nice weekend,my dear.
This is awesome! And… I figured out how I thought you did it before scrolling down this time (this is a new challenge I set myself for your posts). But I do wonder at my ability to roll that cake up without breaking it.
Aimee…oh my… You crack me up. Lol. I will have to post more and more challenging things for you
. You could roll this- promise!!
A GREAT recipe. I made it for our superbowl party and one guy said that if I make all of your recipes, he wants to come over more =).
Heather- I’m so glad you tried it and loved it! Thanks for sharing a picture with me on Facebook- you did a great job!!!
. Yay!!
Ruthanne!
what a cute strawberry roll cake!! I’ve been watching youtube videos of how to make a roll cake and it always seems….intimidating! I will definitely have to try it one day (god give me the courage pls!)
Thanks for always sharing all these lovely baking tips! btw, the Chinese New year reunion dinner with my family was a success, so thank you for sending the good energy my way!! (i’ve blogged about it – couldn’t wait to share how the dinner went! )
have a greatt week!
love,
felicia
Yay!!!!!!! I seriously have been thinking about you all weekend- I’m SO glad it went well! It just makes me happy that you are finally with your family:). I’m off to read your post right now!! {hug}