Swiss roll is the chocolate cake of summer. This rich cocoa cake roll is filled with fluffy whipped cream and covered with chocolate ganache for a dessert that is light and creamy and intensely satisfying all at the same time.
Some Swiss roll recipes call for beating the egg yolks and whites separately to create a light and airy sponge cake batter, but in this recipe, we’ve opted to whip the eggs whole with the sugar. It saves time and results in fewer dishes to wash—and the cake will come out just as fluffy and gorgeous.
Rolling up a cake may look tricky, but we promise it’s actually very simple. Covering the hot cake with foil (a trick we learned from Stella Parks of Serious Eats fame) traps the steam as the cake cools, preventing it from drying out. Many Swiss roll recipes ask you to flip the cake onto a floured kitchen towel as soon as it comes out of the oven and roll it up so it can cool in the rolled shape, but the foil trick also eliminates the need for this (most definitely nerve-wracking) step. Instead, you can simply wait until the cake is cooled, then remove the foil, move the cake (on its parchment paper) to a work surface, spread it with cream, and use the parchment to help you guide the cake into its signature swirl.
Chocolate ganache also sounds technically difficult but is actually very easy to make: Pour heavy cream over chopped chocolate, let it sit for 2 minutes, then whisk it together until it becomes a smooth, shiny chocolate sauce. We’ve added a little corn syrup to give our ganache a lovely shine, but it’s not strictly necessary. Whatever you do, spread it over the rolled cake while it’s warm; it will set as it cools, and you won’t get that lovely smooth finish.
Swiss roll is best eaten the day it’s made, but it will cut the prettiest if you let it hang out in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to really set. If you’re storing it for any longer, loosely cover it in plastic wrap as soon as the ganache has hardened.
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