Chocolate mousse cake roll
My mum is a huge fan of cake rolls. I guess it’s because she used to make them quite often when I was a kid, but when I took over the dessert making in the house, she totally forgot about her famous cake rolls. But I sure did not, I was just waiting for an opportunity to make them and it finally came – a regular day, just like any other, except the fact that I was chosen for an internship on AdiHadean.ro and it was announced just today. Adi Hadean is one of the Masterchef judges here, in Romania, his blog is one of the most visited with over 2000 recipes written and explained and I was chosen to write a recipe on his blog every week for one year starting from March. It’s a pretty good feeling considering that there’s been 250 recipes sent and only 3 of us were chosen. I’m happy, it feels like a huge accomplishment at the moment as I’ve been working hard for the last year, learning a lot, taking in every piece of information I get my hands on and never losing faith in my skills and my knowledge.
But back to our cake roll now, shall we?! The recipe is pretty straight forward and it consists of a sponge cake enriched with butter, a chocolate mousse flavored with strawberry bits and a chocolate ganache to cover it all. It’s easy to make, but divine with its richness. Like my previous Red Wine Chocolate Cake, it has a fair amount of chocolate, but no one minds it, right?! It’s a dessert for you, chocoholics, so enjoy it!
Chocolate mousse cake roll
Ingredients
Chocolate sponge:
- 4 eggs
- 110 g white granulated sugar
- 110 g all-purpose white flour
- 25 g Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1 g salt
- 30 g butter (melted and chilled)
Chocolate mousse:
- 150 g dark chocolate (chopped)
- 70 g heavy cream
- 150 g heavy cream (whipped)
- 5 g vanilla extract
- 150 g fresh strawberries (diced)
Ganache:
- 120 g dark chocolate (chopped)
- 80 g heavy cream
- 5 g vanilla extract
Instructions
Chocolate sponge:
- Preheat your oven to 350F and line a baking tray with parchment paper (30x40cm). Place aside.
- Mix the eggs with sugar in the bowl of your mixer and whip for 8-10 minutes until tripled in volume.
- Sift the flour with cocoa powder and salt then fold the flour into the whipped eggs. Add one spoon at a time and fold with a spatula.
- Take a few tablespoons of batter in a small bowl and stir in the butter.
- Transfer the mixture back to the bowl and fold it in slowly and gently.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or just until the top is set and springs back is pressed slightly. Don’t bake more than 15 minutes as it will dry out.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool completely.
Chocolate mousse:
- Melt the chocolate and 50g heavy cream in a heatproof bowl over a hot water bath.
- Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
- Stir in the vanilla then fold in the whipped cream. Place the mousse in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- Spread the mousse over the chocolate sponge and top with diced strawberries.
- Roll the sponge tightly and place on a platter. Place in the fridge until the ganache is ready.
Ganache:
- Bring the cream to the boiling point in a saucepan and remove from heat.
- Stir in the chocolate and mix until melted.
- Add the vanilla and let it cool completely. At this point, you have two options: either you pour the ganache over the roll or you place the ganache in the fridge and let it set then spread it with a spatula. I chose the second option as I wanted to create the look you see, but it’s up to you.
- Decorate the roll with chocolate shavings and fresh strawberries and serve it chilled.
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