Back when I was young in the 1980 or 1990 these swiss roll cakes were the big thing around and everyone had those in their lunches. In Quebec, the Vachon bakery was king and they made these amongst other pastries. Over the years, those pastries have lost a lot of ground with the emergence of higher quality, better but most importantly fresher products.
I have not eaten one of those in at least 20 years but figured it would be fun to recreate and pimp those a little.
You need
Chocolate ganache
- 88g dark chocolate chopped or couverture ( best)
- 118g heavy cream ( 35%)
Cake
- pinch of salt
- 3tbsp cocoa powder*
- 1tsp baking powder
- 4 eggs ( separate the whites from the yolks)
- 130g sugar
- dash vanilla extract
- 65g all-purpose flour*
- 55g melted butter ( cooled)
*Optional but I recommend sifting both cacao powder and flour for this cake for a better result.
Filling
55g heavy cream (35%)
200g marshmallow fluff ( you can make it homemade)
28g melted vegetable shortening (you can also use coconut oil but it will give a small coconut hint)
85g room temperature butter
130g icing sugar
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine the baking powder, cocoa powder, salt and flour. Reserve.
- Put the egg white into a stand mixer bowl with about 1/3 of the sugar, no need to be precise. Whisk until you get stiff peaks. This will take a few minutes so while you wait, in a mixing bowl whisk the yolks, vanilla extract and all that is left of the sugar. Whisk until the mix get creamy and paler ( light yellow).
- Pour the melted butter and yolks mixture into the dry ingredients bowl and whisk until combined. You then need to fold the egg whites. To lighten the mix, add about 1/4 into it and mix it in, doing this will make it easier to fold the egg whites in without deflating them. Add half the remaining egg whites and gently fold them in. Repeat another time. Avoid overmixing.
- Line a parchment paper in a baking tray and butter it up, this will prevent any potential sticking. Pour the cake mix onto the parchment paper and using a cake spatula lay the batter evenly into the pan.
- Bake 10 minutes at 350F and immediately take it out of the oven. Line a second baking tray with parchment paper and place it on the top (see picture) of the one out from the oven. Flip it 180 degrees, this will transfer the cake to the cold baking tray. Remove the hot baking tray and the parchment ( it should not stick to the cake but do it gently in case). Gently start rolling the cake unto itself and allow it to cool completely (about 20 minutes ).
- It’s now time to do the filling. In the stand mixer bowl combine the butter and the shortening and cream it. At this point add the cream, sugar and vanilla extract and whisk you to get some stiff peaks. At this point add the marshmallow fluff and mix it in.
- Now we need to unroll the cake, do it slowly and carefully else it will break. Spread the filling evenly ( not too thick) on the top of the cake ( you will want to leave a little border without filling so it doesn’t overflow) and then re-roll the cake. Note that the extremity will appear without cream which is expected because we left a border without any in the previous step. You can chop it before putting the ganache.
- To make the ganache, heat the cream to a near boil and pour over the chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir with a spatula until all combined. Let it cool for 10 minutes and cover your cake
- Place in refrigerator at least a good hour so it settles and then it’s good to go. Eat within 2 days