Tag Archives: christmas dessert

I love my pumpkin roll recipe. It’s one of my favorite parts of baking in the Fall. I’ve been highly unsuccessful, however, in finding a chocolate cake roll recipe that I love- either it tastes great but cracks like crazy, or it rolls well buts tastes like cardboard. One of my goals over the past 2 years of blog-absence was to create a chocolate cake roll recipe that works AND tastes great.

This is it! It rolls beautifully (I had only one small crack) and tastes like a rich, but not-too-sweet, fudge brownie. Perfect!

Of course you can fill this roll with a multitude of things, but I chose a creamy Dulce de Leche caramel filling with cinnamon.

Ready to try this? Here’s the recipe: (printable version)

Ingredients: 

Cake:

• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt
• 5 eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Filling:

• 3 sticks (1.5 cups) of salted butter, softened to room temperature
• One can (13.4 oz) Dulce de Leche (I used Nestle’s La Lechera)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Topping:

• 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder (mix them together in a small dish)

Directions:

Cake:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly spray a 17 x 12 inch jelly roll pan with non-stick cooking spray. Line the pan with parchment paper with about an inch of extra paper on the 17-inch sides (so you can lift the cake out of the pan easily once it bakes). Note: make sure your paper is nice and flat- the non-stick spray will help hold it down. Mine folded a little and you can see a few bumps on my roll where the batter baked over the fold.
• Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl stirring gently until just combined.
• In a large bowl, beat eggs and granulated sugar for about 1 minute until thick. Add in the oil and vanilla extract, and beat together until combined.
• Add dry ingredients to wet, and mix gently until just combined. The batter will be like a runny brownie batter.
• Spread the batter evenly into prepared pan, and bake for 12-16 minutes, or until top of cake springs back when touched.
• Carefully lift the parchment paper and cake out onto a flat (and heat-safe) surface. Then slowly, using your hands (careful, it will be hot!), roll the cake  – rolling from one short (12-inch) end to the other— until it is completely rolled up.
• Wrap tightly in a towel and place in refrigerator until completely cooled (an hour or so).

• While the cake is cooling, make the caramel and cinnamon filling (see below).
• Once the cake has cooled completely, place it on a flat surface, remove the towel, and unroll it carefully until it is flat again (it’s ok if the ends curl up a bit).

Filling: (make while cake cools)

• Place butter in mixing bowl and beat on high until whipped and smooth.
• Add Dulce de Leche and cinnamon to butter and beat on high for about 2 minutes until smooth and creamy.

Assembly: 

• Spread the filling evenly over unrolled cake, leaving a small border on all sides (the filling will spread out as you roll it back up).  Then carefully re-roll the cake, gently peeling away the parchment paper as you roll until you can completely remove and discard it. Tightly wrap the chocolate roll in plastic wrap or Press-n-Seal and refrigerate at least one hour until completely set.

• Lightly dust with cocoa powder and cinnamon mixture (you could also add a chocolate glaze to the top if you have cracks or you want the dessert to be sweeter).
• To serve, remove and unwrap the chocolate roll, transfer it to your serving dish and slice.
• Keep leftovers tightly wrapped and refrigerated for up to 4 days.

My thoughts: Yum! I loved this cake roll- I almost feel like it should be called a brownie roll because it is so dense and rich. This is not a super sweet dessert- my husband said it would be better with a sweet chocolate glaze on top- but I loved the rich cocoa/cinnamon flavor. If you like a not-so-sweet but rich and cocoa-y dessert, this one’s for you! Enjoy!! ~r