Chocolate Roulade

Rolled up. Protected. Sweet inside. Will it crack and break apart? 

a The word roulade (roo-LAHD), originating from the French word rouler meaning "to roll," refers to a culinary technique involving rolling a filling inside a base. Whether savory or sweet, roulades are a delightful way to combine textures and flavors in a visually appealing dish.

On the savory side, roulades typically feature a thin slice of meat rolled around a stuffing of breadcrumbs, cheese, mushrooms, or even vegetables. For a more adventurous option, you can experiment with sushi-style roulades.

On the sweet side, a roulade involves a soufflé-like batter spread on a jelly roll pan, baked until firm yet moist. The cake is then rolled up while warm with a sweet filling, and served in circular slices. This sweet version is often called a jelly roll or "Swiss" roll, although its origins trace back to Central Europe, not Switzerland.

From Soufflé Roulade to Devil's Food Cake Roulade
The recipe I started with contained four ingredients. I've noticed that recipes with fewer ingredients can be tricky. Take, for example, pâté à choux, mayonnaise or sabayon!

Cookie roulade. That's what my attempt at the Chocolate Roulade from Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection (affiliate link) looked like. Unrollable. I may need to get expert assistance from a pastry chef for that recipe.

Instead, I turned to a food blogger and chef I admire: Shuna Lydon from Eggbeater. She wrote about her Devil's Food Cake recipe back in 2007 at Bay Area Bites so I thought I'd give it a try as a roulade.

"Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Through the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run"
"To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell

Recipe: Devil's Food Cake

Shuna Lydon from Eggbeater seen at Bay Area Bites

1 cup sugar
12 tablespoons cocoa
¾ cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
1 egg
2 egg yolks
½ cup hot coffee
½ cup buttermilk (I used ½ cup milk plus ½ tablespoon lemon juice)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
splash pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Butter and flour 9" round cake pan or individual ramekins or jelly roll pan for roulade. If you have parchment paper, cut out a circle and place it on the bottom of the buttered pan. Butter and flour over parchment, if using.

In a bowl, sift cocoa, sugar, cake flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add salt and whisk to achieve a uniform mixture. Create a "well" in the center. Brew coffee, measure and drop cubed butter in hot liquid, whisk to melt, and combine. (Do not let the mixture cool too much.)

Pour cracked egg and yolks into the well and whisk briefly. Pour in the coffee-melted butter mixture, and whisk briefly. Then pour in buttermilk and whisk thoroughly to incorporate the mixtures. Attempt to eliminate any lumps. Add a splash of pure vanilla extract. The batter will be very loose, and pourable.

Pour batter into prepared baking vessel(s) and set on a baking pan. (This ensures heat will be better distributed than if you just put the cake pan directly on the rack of the oven.) Set the first timer for 20 minutes. At the 20-minute mark, turn the pan around, and set the timer for another 10-15 minutes. (If you choose not to turn the pan around it will most probably rise lopsided.) The cake is done when a skewer or sharp knife inserted in the middle comes out clean and/or when the sides pull away from the pan and the middle bounces back to the touch.

Cool the cake pan on a cooling rack until room temperature. Turn the cake out to cool. Roll with whipped cream.

Recipe for Chocolate Roulade

2 eggs
¼ cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
You can find the recipe for Chocolate Roulade in the Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection (affiliate link) (page 413).

Tasting Notes
While the Devil’s Food Cake alone had a slightly bitter taste, the addition of sweetened whipped cream transformed it into a perfectly balanced dessert. Whether you prefer savory or sweet roulades, these rolled treats are sure to impress with their delicate texture and versatility.

Links
• Pumpkin Roulade Cake from Cakespy
• Lemon Meringue Roulade from Baking Bites 
• Strawberry Roulade from My Kitchen Treasures 

"And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea," [the roulade!]
"Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"--
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: "That is not what I meant at all;
That is not it, at all."
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliiot

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $5.01 + $6.69 (both cakes) = $11.70

Butter used so far: 5 tablespoons

Next recipe: Dacquoise (Nut cake) Spiced Pear Dacquoise with Chocolate and Red Wine Sauce

Less than 3% complete Basic Pastry

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