Julia and Jacques's Chocolate Roulade

I found a video of Julia Child and Jacques Pepin making this Chocolate Roulade on Martha Stewart's show. The two of them made this roulade look completely effortless; so much so, I wondered why I hadn't made it before. I should've known better.

My hand blender is broken so I thought I would whisk the 7 egg whites to stiff peaks with my own two hands. Haha! Major mistake. I'm convinced that no amount of arm power can do this. It simply wasn't going to happen. I had my daughter go down and borrow my neighbor's hand mixer. I must've whisk the heck out of the egg whites with my hands, because they never would turn into soft peaks or stiff peaks, so I had to crack 7 new eggs and start all over again. This time, with the help of the hand mixer, the egg whites turned to soft peaks rather quickly.

The cake batter baked up quickly in ten minutes and didn't take long to cool.  I spread the chantilly creme on top and said a silent prayer before attempting to roll the roulade into a spiral. This is going to be easy I thought. The parchment paper is going to do all the work. Wrong again. It rolled up alright, after it broke and split and everything else.

I managed to get the roulade onto the serving tray and decorated it for the pictures.  Then I read the part where I had to slice a piece off of each end to reveal the swirl. %*&^! So I sliced off each end, cleaned up the dish, and took the pictures. Naturally, the way things were going, this recipe was also hard to photograph and the sun wasn't behaving either.

Finally, I sliced a piece for myself so I could give it a try. It didn't matter to me that it had cracked. I just knew that it would taste delicious. I mean chocolate cake and whipped cream can't go wrong. Right?

......Wrong again. Surprisingly, the chocolate cake is simply way too rich and dare I say it, too chocolatey even for me (and I do love me some chocolate)! Since the cake itself is flourless, it is very moist, but also extremely rich and intensely chocolatey. Perhaps using a bittersweet chocolate or semisweet chocolate was the wrong choice for me? Maybe it would be less chocolatey using a milk chocolate? Regardless, this is a cake that you can really only eat a few bites of, but it is pretty and I am glad that I finally gave it a try. And, you know what? It really doesn't hurt my feelings to know that there is a dessert that I actually don't like, because far too often I make desserts that I love and we all know how that goes.

Julia and Jacques's Chocolate Roulade

Adapted from Martha Stewart website

Serves 12

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for pan

2 cups heavy cream

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

7 egg whites, room temperature

3-1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder, plus more for garnish

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoons Cognac

Confectioners' sugar, for garnish

seasonal fruit, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center. Butter an 11x17 jelly roll pan or a 12x17 inch sheet pan, and line with parchment paper

In a small saucepan, heat 1 cup cream to a simmer. Add chocolate, reduce heat, and whisk until chocolate is melted. As soon as mixture is a uniform dark color, remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.

In a large bowl and using a hand mixer, whip egg whites and 2 tablespoons sugar to stiff, glossy peaks, about 1-1/2 minutes. Whisk one-quarter of the egg-white mixture into the chocolate mixture. Gently fold chocolate mixture back into the original egg-white mixture, and mix until smooth and well combined.

Pour batter into the prepared pan, and spread it in an even layer with a rubber spatula. Bake until cake is set and puffy, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and cool to room temperature. Lift parchment paper to remove cake from pan, and set iton a work surface with long side facing edge of table. Using a fine-mesh sieve, lightly dust cake with cocoa powder.

Make the creme chantilly:  Whip the remaining 1 cup cream with the remaining 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar, the vanilla, and cognac. Spread evenly over entire surface of cake.

Roll the cake lengthwise, starting at a point 2 to 3 inches over the creme chantilly. Roll cake another few inches, pressing against the parchment paper to make a tight spiral. Gently peel parchment paper off as cake layer rolls away. Complete the roll, stopping at the far edge of the parchment paper. Tuck the loose parchment paper around and underneath the cylinger so it is well wrapped and can be removed easily. Serve immediately, or refrigerate up to 4 hours.

When ready to serve, transfer roulade to serving platter. Remove parchment paper, gently rolling cake into center of platter, with seam on bottom. With a sharp knife, trim both ends of roll crosswise or on a diagonal. Dust top with confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder, and garnish with seasonal fruit. To serve, cut the roll into 1-inch thick slices, and lay flat on dessert plates; top with additional creme chantilly, if desired.