I was dog sitting this past week for a wonderful dog named Mocha – yes, she is named after something that would be toxic to her if she ever ingested it, but she is as sweet as could be, and being named after something that might kill her just makes her edgy… right?  Either way, she’s inspired my latest baking spree.  I have never made a roulade, so this is all new to me, but I took a peek at the one in Greenspan’s around my french table to figure out how it’s done. Fingers crossed.

Making the Sponge:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Flour
• 1/4 cup Cornstarch
• 6 Eggs (separated) (room temp)
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 4 tbsp Confectionary Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Line a cookie sheet or a 12″x17″ baking pan with parchment paper.  Depending on how good you are on eyeballing things you may want to draw out a 12″x17″ rectangle onto the parchment paper as a guide for spreading out your cake batter.
3. Sift flour and cornstarch into a bowl.
4. Whisk egg whites and sugar into a meringue.  Begin with whisking the egg whites until they become opaque and are beginning to stiffen up.  Then gradually add the sugar while continuing to whisk, until you have a stiff meringue.
5. Whisk in the yokes for about a minute.  The meringue will loosen slightly.
6. Pour dry ingredients in, and fold them into the eggs gently.
7. Pour the batter onto your baking sheet.
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
9. Dust towel in confectionary sugar, and turn cake over onto it.
10. Roll cake in the towel, while the cake is still warm, and allow it to cool.

Coffee Syrup

• 2 cups strong Coffee (a few shots of espresso would be great)
• 2/3 cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt

1. On the stovetop combine the above ingredients and bring them to a boil.
2. Continue to boil the ingredients until they have been reduced to about 1 cup of liquid.

Coffee Whipped Cream

• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 4-6 tbsp cooled Coffee Syrup

1. Whip up the whipped cream.
2. Drizzle in the coffee syrup, and continue to whip the cream until they are fully combined.

Chocolate Filling

• 2 oz Semisweet baking Chocolate
• 4 tbsp Butter

1. Melt the chocolate and the butter in a double boiler.
2. Whisk them until fully melted and combined.
3. Remove form the heat, and allow it to cool slightly

Assemble Roulade

1. Unroll sponge.
2. Brush the inside of the sponge with the coffee syrup.  You want to moisten the sponge, but not to the point that it will begin to fall apart.
3. Spread out a thin layer of chocolate onto the sponge.  Make sure your chocolate is fully cooled before proceeding to the next step.
4. Layer the whipped cream onto the sponge.
5. Roll the sponge back up.
6. Cover the roulade in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
7. Sprinkle Roulade in powdered sugar and trim the edges before serving.

Notes for Improvement:

• Allowing the roulade to sit overnight instead of a few hours, moistens the sponge.
• I am not sold on this particular sponge recipe.  The sponge was a little dry and flavorless.  I should add some vanilla, almond, or coffee extract to the meringue, and after wrapping the sponge in a towel during the first roll maybe I should wrap it in plastic wrap to preserve the moisture.
• I had a hard time unrolling the sponge to fill it.  I should maybe try filling it before it cools completely and nix the whipped cream – fill with a single layer of a cooled coffee, chocolate ganache instead of the three layers and serve with the coffee whipped cream on the side – next time.