I LOVE watching all the baking TV shows on Food Network. Every Spring and Fall they have the baking championships and those are definitely my favorite ones to watch, HANDS DOWN! So last night, when I was watching the Spring Baking Championship and I saw they were doing cake rolls, I got super excited! Then….when I saw they were doing pattern cake rolls, I KNEW that is what I wanted to attempt next! It was something I had never done before and there were techniques I had never tried. I couldn’t wait!
So first, I searched for recipes that I thought would work. With cake rolls, you want to find a recipe that is going to be easy to work with. Meaning, that when it comes time to roll, it’s pliable and soft enough that it won’t crack when you try to roll it. Cracks are no bueno.
So the recipe I found for the cake is below.
https://lifemadesweeter.com/vanilla-sponge-cake-roll/
I really liked this recipe because it was relatively easy and I had all the ingredients on hand. Plus, it came out yummy!
Next, I decided to just do a plain chocolate whipped cream for the filling because all I had on hand was heavy whipping cream. Next time, I would love to try a pasty cream, custard, or jam. But that is for another day!
Here is the link for the whipped cream. I love how she has lots of different variations!
Once I had those two items figured out I used the tutorial from this link to help me get started:
This gave me a basis of how to complete the pattern and how to roll the cake. I was disappointed though because the link for the batter to be used for the pattern didn’t work. So I had to search for a different one myself, which took a while. But I finally found one. Here is that link:
So to start off, I made my pattern first. Once that was completed I made the batter to do my design. Once I got going, I found, that for me, it was easier to just free hand it. I was shaky and had a hard time following the lines that I drew. However, when I kind of just did my own thing the lines came out cleaner and I had more fun. So next time, I probably won’t draw out the pattern before hand.
I’ll also probably quadruple the recipe for the design batter next time because I ran out and had to make it twice anyways. That was kind of annoying, but you live and learn right??
Once the pattern is done, you stick it in the freezer to set. While it was setting I made the batter for the sponge cake. That took about 15 minutes which was perfect. Once your batter is done for your sponge cake, you spread it out over the top of your design! I used a spatula to spread it out to all the corners of my pan (which is 12x16x1). Then you bake! I think I baked mine a little too long, so that is something I will definitely watch carefully next time.
Then comes the tricky part. When you take it out of the oven, you need to roll it immediately. So I took a towel covered in powder sugar (so the cake doesn’t stick to the towel) laid it over the cake while it was still in the pan, then used my lightening fast ninja moves to flip it over onto the counter! Now I could take the parchment paper off the bottom of my cake and see my pretty design!
Then you need to flip your cake again, so that when you roll it the design is on the outside of the cake instead of the inside. This link tells you how to do just that:
Once I had it all rolled, I stuck it in the freezer to cool. While it was cooling, I made the whipped cream. After about 30 minutes, I carefully unrolled the cake, filled it with the whip cream and chocolate chips, because…. I love chocolate! Then I carefully rolled the cake back up and chopped off the ends! Viola! I was worried it would crack because I overcooked it, but luckily that didn’t happen. I can’t wait to try it again and already have a million ideas running through my head of different patterns and designs I want to try!
The best things in life are sweet! 