Chocolate Roulade

Possibly to make up for the fact that the birthdays of my youth mostly came and went with minimal fuss, underlined with an invisible cake (hear the violins), my kids get to have two birthday cakes each. This is cake No. 1 for my oldest's recent 9th birthday, in his favourite flavour, chocolate.

The second gateau (gateaux, rather, as they were cupcakes) made their debut at his garden party with 9 mates. The recipes for those will follow soon!


For the sponge cake layer:

• cocoa, 3 tbsp, heaped
• eggs, 3, large
• brown sugar, 3/4 cup
• salt, pinch of
• flour, 1/2 cup

1. Preheat oven to 375F, 180C
2. Prepare a roulade pan by spraying with Pam or spreading with butter and lining with parchment
3. Beat eggs and sugar till mixture becomes pale and fluffy
4. Add flour at the end and mix further
5. Fold in sifted cocoa and salt gradually
6. Pour into pan and bake 10 minutes or till done
7. On a clean muslin, sift fine sugar over and turn the done cake onto it
8. Carefully roll up with the muslin (without removing the parchment)
9. Allow to cool for 1-2 hours

For the filling:

• dark chocolate, 4 squares of, or 4 ounces
• brown sugar, 1/2 cup
• vanilla, 1 tsp
• heavy cream, 1 cup
• icing sugar

1. Melt the chocolate in short bursts in the microwave on High
2. Stir some cream in to the chocolate, add vanilla and sugar to combine. Allow to cool
3. Whip the remaining cream till stiff
4. Fold the chocolate mixture into the cream in as few strokes as needed to combine
5. Unroll the roulade, remove the parchment paper
6. Spread the chocolate cream and roll it up again
7. Place on a serving dish
8. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow roulade to hold better together ;)
9. Before serving, dust with icing sugar

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