Monday, March 28, 2011

Chocolate Banana Swiss Roll


Haven't been able to bake much this month, I really miss baking. I miss dreaming about the different flavour combinations and concoctions, shopping for ingredients and putting them together into pretty and delicious desserts. There's something about baking that makes it a highly therapeutic activity and gives me a sense of accomplishment every single time. I wish I'll have more time and opportunities to bake in the months ahead...I have so many more things to accomplish still!

I saw a bunch of bananas sitting at the kitchen counter and decided at a whim to make this Chocolate Banana Swiss Roll. I'm pretty sick of the overly sweet desserts outside and was craving for a rustic and homely cake. Besides chiffons, swiss rolls are the next item on my list of homely cakes...and plus, they are quick to put together and easy on the palate!


I was undecided on whether to use my leftover Van Houten chocolate chips or opt for the more luxurious Valrhona Caraibe for this. Eventually, I decided to use the latter...no point using the cheaper chocolate especially since it's for my loved ones' consumption. The cake turned out pretty tasty, not too sweet! Though I'd like it more if the sponge was more moist and the bananas more sweet and ripe. Perhaps brushing some sugar syrup over the sponge will help? Any other suggestions ? Else I might just try that next time :).



Am digging into a slice right now...will leave you with the recipe in the meantime :).


Chocolate Banana Swiss Roll
adapted from Eggplant10

Ingredients:
[Sponge]
25g unsalted butter, melted
45g cake flour, sifted
80g egg yolks
25g castor sugar
20g cocoa powder, sifted
10g cold water

120g egg whites
60g castor sugar
10g corn flour

[Chocolate Whipped Cream]
160g whipping cream
90g chocolate, chopped
4 tbsp milk

Preparation:
[Sponge]
1. Whisk egg yolks with castor sugar over a double boiler until it becomes a pale and thick mixture.
2. Add sifted cocoa powder and cold water and whisk till well incorporated.
3. Beat egg whites in an electric stand mixer till foamy, slowly add the castor sugar and corn flour and beat till stiff peak form.
4. Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the egg yolk and cocoa mixture until there are no more traces of egg whites left, then fold in another 1/3, followed by the last 1/3 of the meringue.
5. Fold in the sifted cake flour, followed by the melted butter.
6. Pour the batter into a line sheet pan and level. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 13 minutes. Cool on the wire rack until ready to use.

[Chocolate Whipped Cream]
1. Whip the cream until soft peak form.
2. Melt the chocolate and milk over a double boiler and mix till smooth.
3. Fold the melted chocolate mixture into the whipped cream and chill till ready to use.

[Assembly]
1. Spread a layer of whipped cream onto the sponge. Line the bananas on top of the whipped cream and roll.
2. Chill in the refrigerator till ready to serve.

14 comments:

  1. I just made the exact same thing (with a slightly different recipe) a few days ago! But yours looks tons nicer - I still haven't got the hang of rolling it properly.

    I actually caramelized the bananas in a sugar syrup, and that helped with the slight bitterness of my chocolate. It helped moisten the cake too - maybe it'll work for you too :)

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  2. beautiful swiss roll Allie! i made one recently and the roll cracked like nobody business sigh i need to practice more on swiss roll now..

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  3. @Janine: Really? Post it up! :) Hmmm caramelising bananas in sugar sounds like a possibility. I'll try that next time, thanks!

    @Jess: Thanks Jess! Perhaps you can try rolling the cake when it's warm? :)

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  4. Nicely done!! Chocolate and bananas are great buddy!

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  5. Hi Allie, last night I baked a roll, but encounter some problem :
    1. Use an electric mixer to beat egg yolks over double boiler, end up my mixture turn like cooked egg so sticky, is it due to to big fire? I should use hand whisk? how long to beat?
    2. When I add cold water and cocoa powder it turn lumpy? It should be add cocoa powder and follow by cold water into mixture right?
    3. what is the pan size?
    I would like to try again tonight, thank you for your advice.
    Thank you

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  6. @Hanushi: Thanks!

    @Soh: Oooh, I'll try to help if I can!

    1)It seems like the egg yolks ended up cooked. As long as you beat the yolks over a double boiler (water bath), it should be fine. Make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of your bowl. I used a hand whisk and it took me around 3 minutes to get to the pale and thick stage.

    2) Yes you are right, add the cocoa powder, followed by cold water into the mixture, then whisk. Adding the cold water to the cocoa powder first before adding into the mixture might make it turn lumpy.

    3) The pan I used was 11 by 14 inches. The thickness of the cake was just right.

    Hope this helps you and good luck! :)

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  7. Thank you Allie, I will take note the mistake, will update you once I baked again.

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  8. Hi Allie, I baked another roll last night, the roll turn out very nice, but I still cann't manage roll nicely, therefore can not show to you, do you have tips that can guide to roll it better? thank you for all your advice. I will try again.

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  9. @Soh: Glad it turned out nice! Hmmm when I made this I rolled it when it's still warm. And when my filling is ready, I unrolled it, spread the filling and banana, and rolled it again. Didn't have any major problems with this method. Perhaps you can try? :)

    @Janice: Thanks! Will check it out :)

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  10. Allie,

    I have an award for you =]

    http://bakinglibrary.blogspot.com/2011/04/orange-craneberry-scones-and-awards.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love your blog and would like to give you this award. Please drop by to collect it ;)

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  12. Allie, this is a great flavor pairing for the Swiss roll! I haven't made Swiss roll for quite a while and now I am really itching to create one!

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  13. This looks just about perfect! I've only ever made a swiss roll to be made into a buche de noel. You've got me wanting to make (and eat) one right now!

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  14. @Shirley: Yes it is! And it's a cinch to bake, hope to see yours soon! :)

    @the coffeesnob: Haha, a buche de noel is much more challenging than this! I'm sure you can pull this off in no time :).

    ReplyDelete

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