Dark Chocolate Cake Roll With Peppermint Filling
This chocolate cake roll with peppermint filling is incredible. It is the perfect blend of flavors and textures and is a dessert everyone will love!
Servings: 10 servings
Ingredients
- 3 eggs, room temp
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ teaspoon mint extract
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup special dark cocoa
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- dash salt
- ½ cup powdered sugar This is for sprinkling on the towel for rolling
- ½ cup crushed candy cane bits you can buy these, or simply put a few candy canes in a ziplock bag and crush.
Peppermint Filling
- 4 ounces softened butter
- 4 ounces softened cream cheese
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup Hershey's candy cane kisses, crumbs I blended these in the food processor, you will want them to be kind of fine.
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
Dark Chocolate Ganache
- 1 ¼ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup heavy cream
Instructions
Chocolate Sponge Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a jellyroll pan with parchment paper. I also like to make sure and spray the edges of the pan to ensure an easy release. Set the pan aside.
- In a small bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. If you need to, sift it several times. You don't want any chunks in it!
- Add eggs and sugar to a medium bowl. Mix on high for about 3-5 minutes. You will want the eggs to get frothy and light. Next is the vanilla, milk, and peppermint extract. I like to fold these in. Now with your flour mix, GENTLY fold it into the egg mix.
- The batter is ready to bake. Pour spoonfuls across your jellyroll pan, then gently spread.
- Place immediately in the oven on the middle shelf. Bake for 12 minutes, unless your oven runs hot, then reduce that time to 10-11 minutes.
- While the cake is baking, prepare your tea towel. You do this by sprinkling generously with powdered sugar.
- Once the cake has been baked, remove it from the oven. Run a knife around the edges, making sure it hasn't stuck. Invert your cake onto the powdered tea towel.
- Carefully peel back the parchment to remove it. Starting at the short end, start rolling the cake, making sure to roll the towel in with it. Roll all the towel up with it.
- Allow the cake to cool for about 2 hours. While it is cooling, prepare your filling below.
- Once it has cooled, carefully unroll. Then with an offset spatula, spread the filling over the cake. This is enough filling to give it plenty of filling. Reroll the cake as tightly as you can without breaking it. Then, wrap tightly in saran wrap and place in the fridge. I chilled mine overnight, but I would say chill it for at least 4 hours.
- Remove from the fridge and unwrap. Cover with the ganache, then sprinkle with the candy cane pieces.
Peppermint Filling
- Melt white chocolate in the microwave or double boiler. If melting in the microwave, make sure and check every 30 seconds and mix. You don't keep it in the microwave until it is completely melted through, pull it out when it is about 80% melted, then mix until it is smooth.
- In a medium-sized bowl, add the butter, heavy cream, and cream cheese. With a hand mixer, mix on high for about a minute. Add in the white chocolate and mix again until well blended. Next are the candy bits you pulsed in the food processor. Last, begin adding the powdered sugar. Add in about 1 cup at a time, blending after each time, until it is all mixed in.
Dark Chocolate Ganache
- Heat heavy cream in the microwave. It will take about 20 seconds. Pour over chocolate chips and allow them to sit for about 1 minute. Then mix gently with a fork or whisk to smooth. If it has cooled too much and you need to throw it in the microwave for 10 seconds, you can do that.
Notes
- They are a sponge cakes, meaning they have a high egg-to-flour ratio.
- You want to maintain the egg structure after beating, so fold in the dry ingredients carefully.
- The cake will need to be rolled while it is still hot. This will give the cake "memory" for when you roll it with the filling.
- After you have filled and rolled the cake with the filling, wrap tightly in saran wrap and place in the fridge to chill for several hours or even overnight as I did. This helps the filling to set and the cake to the firm. It makes it so much easier to handle.