Valentines Day. What a day. I had no idea that stores could even stock that many teddy bears and stuffed heart emoji faces. I’m all for celebrating love but Valentines Day is always a bit overwhelming for me, especially as I don’t like chocolate and almost every sweet thing revolves around the cocoa BUT I put my own dislike aside and made this rather light tasting Chocolate Swiss Roll decorated with a heart pattern. It’s easier to put together than you might think and the options are endless!
The recipe falls into three different stages; the pattern, the cake and the filling. It’s a quick recipe to make and should only take about 45 minutes to put it all together!
Ingredients:
Heart Pattern:
- 1 egg white
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup all purpose flour
- 1½ tablespoons softened or melted butter
- food coloring
Chocolate Cake:
- 4 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
Chocolate Whipped Cream Filling:
- 300ml thickened cream
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar mixture
- 1 1/2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400f
Heart Pattern:
- In a bowl mix together egg white, sugar and flour into a thick paste. Add melted butter and food colouring and mix well. You don’t want any lumps!
- Transfer the coloured paste into a piping bag with a very small tip. I used a ziplock bag with a tiny hole cut in the corner.
- Place parchment paper on top of your baking sheet and draw on your heart shapes. You can use a prepared template (there’s one here) or freehand your designs. Make the shapes small and compact so that air bubbles can’t get through!
- Once finished place the pan in the freezer while you prepare the cake.
Chocolate Cake:
- Using a mixer, beat the egg whites and sugar together until soft peaks form (about 5 minutes)
- In a medium bowl, mix the egg yolks with sugar and blend until pale yellow. Whisk in the melted butter.
- Gently fold in the egg whites, making sure not to deflate the mixture as you stir.
- Fold in the flour and the cocoa powder gently stirring to mix all the ingredients.
- Remove the pan from the freezer and pour the batter over top the patterned designs.
- Bake for about 7-8 minutes making sure you DON’T OVER BAKE!
- Once the cake is baked, quickly remove from oven and flip the cake onto a sheet of parchment paper and peel off the back revealing the design. Flip the cake over again so that the design is on the bottom.
- Carefully, using the paper, roll up the cake into the swiss roll shape and leave to cool while you prepare the filling.
Chocolate Filling:
- In a mixing bowl, combine the cream, sugar and cocoa powder. Mix on medium speed until soft peaks form.
- Once the cake has cooled, gently unroll it and spread the chocolate filling on the inside, making sure it’s not too thick.
- Gently roll up the cake once more and place it seamside down. Slice off the ends to reveal your swiss roll!
