Chocolate Swiss Roll

Makes: 1 10 inch cake
Serves: 12 to 16

Ingredient:
Cake:
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
¼cup milk
5 eggs
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup cake & pastry flour
⅓ cup cocoa powder
¼ tsp salt
Icing sugar, for dusting

Frosting:
1 ½ cups sugar
2 egg whites at room temperature
¼ tsp cream of tartar
¼ cup cold water
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flaked sweetened coconut, for garnish (optional)

Directions:
Cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 15½ -x-10½-inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

2. Heat the butter and milk until the butter has melted. Keep warm.

3. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl and place the bowl over a pot over gently simmering water, whisking until the mixture has warmed to just above body temperature (105°F). Whip this mixture on high speed until it is pale yellow and the mixture leaves a ribbon when the beaters are lifted, about 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla.

4. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into a bowl then, while beating on medium speed, sprinkle the flour into the eggs quickly, blending just until incorporated. Spoon about a cup of the batter into the warm milk mixture, add this to the batter and fold in by hand. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly (the batter will be quite fluid).

5. Bake the cake for about 15 minutes, until the cake springs back when gently pressed in the centre. Let the cake cool for just 5 minutes.

6. While the cake is still warm, dust the surface of it with icing sugar and run a knife around the outside edge of the cake to loosen. Place a clean tea towel over the cake, then place a cutting board or second baking tray over the cake and invert it so that it tips out onto the board and lift of the original pan. Carefully peel away the parchment paper, dust the cake surface with icing sugar and place a second tea towel over he cake. Roll the cake up from the shorter side, and let the cake cool completely in the tea towels. This step will set the jelly roll “memory” so that the cake will not crack or split when filled.

Frosting:
1. For the frosting, fill a sauce pot with 2 inches of cold water and place on the stovetop (but do not heat yet). In a metal bowl, whisk the sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar and cold water. Place the bowl over the pot of water and turn on medium high heat and whisk either by hand or with electric beaters on medium high speed for 7 minutes. The frosting will turn white and double in volume, but will still be a bit fluid by the end of the 7 minutes.

3. With the bowl off the heat, add the vanilla and whip the frosting on high speed until it becomes thicker and a spreadable consistency, but is still warm, about 5 minutes.

4. Use the frosting immediately, while still warm. Gently unroll the cooled cake and remove the tea towel. Spread a generous layer of the Frosting over the entire surface of the cake and carefully roll it back up. Use any remaining frosting to cover the outside surface of the Swiss Roll and sprinkle with coconut (if you wish)

FIX IT NOTE: Grainy Seven-Minute Frosting:

If, while whipping your meringue frosting after you’ve cooked it for its seven minutes, you notice that it is grainy looking, don’t panic. Simply add hot water, a ½ tsp at a time and whip it in until the icing looks smooth (this could take up to 2 Tbsp of water). This should melt any sugar granules and return your frosting to its fluffy marshmallow-y state.

Enjoy!