A simpler and more manageable variant of Beth Le Manach’s bûche de Nol is this chocolate Swiss roll. It takes time, but the effort is worthwhile.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 40 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 1 Swiss roll |
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 3 large eggs
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ tablespoons melted butter
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (such as Nutella)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Spray a jelly roll or rimmed sheet pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
- Make cake: Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl.
- Beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until tripled in volume, about 5 minutes. Mix in vanilla. Beat in flour mixture on low speed in thirds, alternating with melted butter, until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan (the thickness should be less than 1/4 inch).
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 8 to 9 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
- Flip cake upside-down out of the pan onto a new sheet of parchment paper. Remove the used parchment paper gently from the top of cake. Roll cake, starting at one end of the paper, into a tube until it is completely rolled into the parchment. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Make filling: Whip cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla together in a bowl with an electric mixer until medium peaks form. Mix in chocolate-hazelnut spread until well combined.
- Unroll cake and spread evenly with filling. Roll up cake with filling, keeping in mind that cake might crack or tear easily. Dust with cocoa powder if you like.
- If you have leftover filling, add it to the cut slices of cake when serving.
- You can use a bread knife to cut the cake to make sure it won’t squeeze while cutting.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 270 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 19 g |
| Cholesterol | 147 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 11 g |
| Sodium | 209 mg |
| Sugars | 13 g |
| Fat | 20 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I was pleased as far as the cake being moist, and rolling without cracking, etc. I will double this in the future for the size of pan I had, it seemed a little thin. I added a little cocoa powder and coffee powder to make a mocha filling and felt it could have used more sugar in the filling.
Taste is delicious but made it twice and there was no way I could save the batter from deflating making the roll soooo thin. Folded it very carefully even. Thinking I should double it next time. Second time doubled the whip cream filling to give it more volume and left it plain. Spread raspberry jam on the bottom first as per Luanna’s suggestion. Delicious!
I did it!!! I was very skeptical that this would not turn out. The pan I used was about 15×12 and it was the perfect size. I did as others suggested rolled while warm (in a towel) and placed it right into the fridge to cool. Then I peeled off the parchment. It was easier than I imagined.
Followed the recipe. Did have difficulty rolling it back out and then up again without it cracking and breaking. I thought it tasted good, but lacked something. I probably will make it again.
To keep the batter light, I folded the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Also, I laid the baked cake onto a cotton towel dusted with powdered sugar before rolling to prevent sticking as is my usual habit when making a cake roll.
When making a swiss roll, turn it out onto a cloth/towel dusted in powdered sugar and dust the cake too, to prevent sticking. Then roll the cake WHILE HOT and cool it in that position. While hot the cake is much more pliable; a roll will be nice and tight and less prone to cracking. Once cooled, you can unroll the cake, ice, and re-roll.
Thought this was a great recipe! I did do some alterations though. I did not use the nutella, but instead I added homemade apricot jam (which I thinned out a little with water) and spread it over the whipped cream…then rolled it up and covered it with ganache. It was outstanding! I’m actually making it later today. This time though, when I add the dry ingredients alternating with the butter…I’m going to “fold” it in by hand not mixer. It lost a lot of it’s fluffiness! My husband loved this! Oh, and I’m also going to try a mixture of apricot and pear jam this time as well!