Triple Chocolate Swiss Roll

The rainy weather over the past few days has made me lethargic and lazy. I was sitting in front of my laptop aimlessly going through my blog materials when I found this draft post amongst my few other long overdue drafts. I'm not sure how other bakers do, but I often find myself saving my draft recipes when I couldn't think of what to write. Somehow, I feel "obligated" to share something meaningful in my blog post, or at least the reasons behind each bake before I publish a recipe. Not that my other published blog posts are all that meaningfully or wonderfully written, but I find my mind blocked especially when my bake is kind of impromptu for no special occasions or planned intentions. And this is one of the times...

Triple Chocolate Swiss Roll

So amongst my few draft blogposts, I have decided to share this Triple Chocolate Swiss Roll which I have baked sometime back. Triple because it's a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream coated with chocolate rice! *Grin* Anyway, it seems like my mood has been pretty much affected by the gloomy weather of late, and looking at this swiss roll just seems to bring back those good old memories of family and friends in younger days as this used to be my childhood sweets.

How does this Triple Chocolate Swiss Roll remind you of your good old memories?

Triple Chocolate Swiss Roll
The Dream Baker's Creation

Ingredients Required

Cake
Recipe referenced and modified from: Vivian Pang's Kitchen

Group A
4 egg yolks
20 grams castor sugar
30 grams vegetable oil
40 grams milk
50 grams cake flour
20 grams rice flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Group B
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon lemon juice
40 grams castor sugar

Chocolate Buttercream
Recipe referenced and modified from: Savoury Sweet Life

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), softened at room temperature (but not melted)
1 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk, or more as desired

1 - 2 cups chocolate rice, for coating

Bakeware Used

Two baking sheets with dimensions 15.25"x10.25"x0.75"

Preparation Steps

1. Grease one baking sheet and line with parchment paper extending up from all sides. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.

Cake

1. Combine and sift both flours and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, whisk egg yolks and castor sugar (from Group A) in a large bowl till mixture becomes thick and pale yellow in colour.
3. Stir in vegetable oil and mix well.
4. Add sifted dry ingredients and milk to egg yolk mixture in two batches alternately, starting with the dry and ending with the liquid ingredients. Fold till just combined after each addition and fold until mixture is well combined after the final addition. Set egg yolk batter aside.
5. In a separate large bowl, beat egg whites till foamy using an electric mixer.
6. Add lemon juice and half portion of castor sugar to the egg white and continue beating until egg white texture becomes glossy.
7. Add remaining sugar and continue beating the egg white till stiff peaks form.
8. Spoon 1/3 of the stiff meringue into the egg yolk batter and fold to combine using a spatula. This helps to aerate the egg yolk batter without deflating the meringue.
9. Gently fold the remaining meringue into the egg yolk batter in two additions until batter is well combined. 
10. Pour batter onto the baking sheet lined with parchment paper and smooth out surface to an even layer. Gently drop the baking sheet on the table top two to three times to release any trapped big bubbles.
11. Place the other empty baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven and fill with water to 2/3 full. This acts as the water bath to steam-bake the cake which helps the cake to stay moist.
12. Place the baking sheet filled with batter on the middle rack of the oven above the water bath and bake in the preheated oven for  approximately 12 to 15 minutes (baking time varies across different oven). Cake should be done when springs back when pressed gently or when toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
13. Once done, remove cake from oven. Invert cake onto another sheet of parchment paper placed over a wire rack and let cool flat for about 3 to 5 minutes.
14. Carefully peel off parchment paper from the back of the cake. Gently roll the cake (width wise) along with the parchment paper and let cool over wire rack completely.

Chocolate Buttercream

1. Sift powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter using an electric mixer until light and fluffy 
3. Add sifted dry ingredients to the butter in small quantity in multiple additions and mix using the electric mixer on low speed (so that the dry ingredients do not get blown out everywhere) until all dry ingredients are absorbed by the butter.
4. Add vanilla extract, salt and milk and whisk until mixture becomes smooth. If buttercream needs a stiffer consistency, add a little more powdered sugar and whisk till combined. If buttercream needs to be thinned out, add additional milk, about 1 tablespoon at a time and whisk till desired consistency is reached.

Assembling the Swiss Roll

1. Reserve about half cup of buttercream and set aside.
2. Unroll the cake and spread the remaining buttercream evenly on the cake up to about 1-inch away from the furthest end of the cake.
3. Re-roll the cake tightly, without the parchment paper this time.  
4. Spread an even layer of the reserved buttercream on the outer surface of the swiss roll.
5. Sprinkle chocolate rice over the buttercream until the outer surface of the swiss roll is entirely coated.
6. Refrigerate the swiss roll for at least 30 minutes or longer.
7. To serve, trim off both ends of the wise roll and sliced into desired thickness.

The Dream Baker's Experiment

1. The original source recipe suggests using a swiss roll pan of approximately 11.8-inch by 14.2-inch but I'm using my own size of baking sheet which works just as well for the amount of batter from this recipe.
2. I first prepared the buttercream and set aside in the fridge before preparing the baking of the cake layer.
3. I used medium-large eggs that weighed approximately 57 grams each (with shell on).
4. I used granulated sugar instead of castor sugar. The original source recipe called for 50 grams of sugar to be added to the egg whites but I used only 40 grams in my above recipe. The sweetness of the cake will not be affected as the overall sweetness is compensated by the sweetness from the chocolate buttercream (in my personal opinion). Depending on personal sweetness preference, more or less sugar may be added accordingly.
5. I used 2% reduced fat milk throughout my above recipe.
6. I baked the cake layer for approximately 13 minutes before removing from the oven (baking time varies across different ovens).
7. The ingredients for the chocolate buttercream in my above recipe is half of the original source recipe. The original source recipe yields approximately 3 cups of buttercream which is twice of what is required for the size of this swiss roll.
8. I added an additional tablespoon of milk (total 3 tablespoons) to my buttercream to thin out to a more spreadable consistency. This may vary depending on the type of milk used. It is advisable to start off with the suggested 2 tablespoons in my above recipe and add in incremental of 1 tablespoon, if necessary, to achieve at the desired consistency. The original source recipe suggested using heavy cream as a substitution of milk.
9. It is easier to cut into the cake after it has been chilled in the fridge as the buttercream sets.

I am sharing this post with Tea Time Treats (April 2015: Chocolate!) hosted by Karen of Lavender and Lovage and Jane of The Hedgecombers. This Triple Chocolate Swiss Roll can't be more appropriate for this month's theme. ^_^

I am also sharing this post with Foodie Friday organised by Helen & gang of Casa Costello and Otilia of Romanian Mum;

CookBlogShare hosted by Lucy of Supergolden Bakes, sharing without boundaries;


monthly link up party, Our Growing Edge (April 2015) hosted by Nikki of Everyday Life Mother and Wife, an event that aims to connect food bloggers and inspire us to try new things; and

 

last but not least, Family Bakes hosted by Jenny of Modern Family Baking.

Dare to dream.

The Dream Baker