Read The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook Online
Authors: The Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Tags: #Cooking
The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook (326 page)
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
A spiral of chocolate sponge cake rolled inward around a creamy filling is an eye-catching centerpiece. Roulades depend on light, airy sponge cake that is thin, even, and “rollable,” but even though sponge cake isn’t typically rich, we still wanted our roulade to pack serious chocolate flavor and remain moist and tender. We found the number of eggs was key. Too few and the cake was not supple. Too many and we got either a wet chocolate sponge or dry chocolate matting. Five eggs provided the proper support, lift to help the cake rise, and flexibility needed to roll it. We found that rolling the cake up while it was warm with a clean kitchen towel inside, cooling it briefly, and then unrolling it resulted in a cake that retained its rolled “memory” and was easily filled and rolled again. When it came to the other components, we settled on a tiramisù-like filling made with lightly sweetened mascarpone and some ground espresso. A rich layer of chocolate icing on the exterior was the perfect finish.
See “ASSEMBLING CHOCOLATE ROULADE” illustrations that follow recipe.
SERVES 8 TO 10
This cake is filled and rolled like our
FOOLPROOF JELLY ROLL CAKE
, except that it is rolled from the long end to make a narrower, longer roll.
FILLING
¹⁄ | cup heavy cream |
6 | tablespoons (1¹⁄ |
2 | teaspoons instant espresso powder or instant coffee |
1 | pound (2 cups) mascarpone cheese, softened |
CAKE AND FROSTING
³⁄ | cup (3³⁄ |
¹⁄ | cup (³⁄ |
1 | teaspoon baking powder |
¹⁄ | teaspoon salt |
5 | large eggs, room temperature |
³⁄ | cup (5¹⁄ |
¹⁄ | teaspoon vanilla extract |
1 |
1. FOR THE FILLING:
Bring cream to simmer in small saucepan over high heat. Off heat, stir in confectioners’ sugar and espresso and let cool slightly. Gently whisk cooled cream mixture into softened mascarpone until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
2. FOR THE CAKE:
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 18 by 13-inch rimmed baking sheet, line with parchment paper, grease parchment, then flour pan. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
3.
Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip eggs on medium-high speed and gradually add sugar, about 1 minute. Continue to whip mixture until very thick and voluminous, 4 to 8 minutes. Whip in vanilla. Sift flour mixture over egg mixture and fold with rubber spatula until just incorporated.
4.
Scrape batter into prepared baking sheet and spread out to even layer. Bake cake until it feels firm and springs back when touched, 12 to 17 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Lay clean kitchen towel on work surface.
5.
Immediately run knife around edge of cake, then flip hot cake out onto towel. Peel off and discard parchment. Starting from 1 long end of cake, roll cake and towel snugly into log and let cool, seam side down, for 15 minutes.
6.
Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat filling on medium-high speed until stiff, 10 to 30 seconds. Gently unroll cake. Spread filling over cake, leaving ¹⁄
2
-inch border at edges. Reroll cake gently but snugly around filling, leaving towel behind as you roll. Trim ends of cake on diagonal.
7.
Line edges of cake platter with 4 strips of parchment paper to keep platter clean. Place cake roll on prepared platter. Frost cake evenly with frosting and if desired, drag fork through frosting before it sets to make wood-grain striations. Carefully pull out pieces of parchment from beneath cake before serving. (Cake can be covered lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 1 day. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.)
1.
Starting with long side, gently roll cake—towel and all—into jelly roll shape. Cool for 15 minutes.
2.
Spread chilled filling evenly over unrolled cake, almost to edges, and reroll cake gently but snugly around filling, peeling off towel as you roll.
3.
Trim both uneven ends of roulade on diagonal.
4.
Spread frosting over roulade. If desired, drag fork through icing before it sets to make wood-grain striations.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
Pie dough can go wrong so easily: dry dough that is too crumbly to roll out; a flaky but leathery crust; or a tender crust without flakes. We wanted a recipe for pie dough that would roll out easily every time and produce a tender, flaky crust. A combination of butter and shortening provided the best balance of flavor and tenderness, and the food processor was the best tool to cut the fat into the flour. To ensure same-size pieces of butter each time, we processed just a portion of the flour with the fat until we had a unified paste. Then we added the reserved flour and pulsed until it was just evenly distributed. In order to roll easily, dough needs a generous amount of water, but more water makes crusts tough. We found the answer in the liquor cabinet: vodka. While gluten (the protein that makes crust tough) forms readily in water, it doesn’t form in ethanol, and vodka is 60 percent water and 40 percent ethanol. Adding ¹⁄
4
cup of vodka produced a moist, easy-to-roll dough that stayed tender. (The alcohol vaporizes in the oven, so you won’t taste it in the baked crust.)
ROLL IT RIGHT
Keeping the dough as evenly round as possible when rolling makes fitting it into a pie plate easy. The dough should be in the shape of a flat disk before you start to roll it, and the counter should be lightly floured. Every few times you roll the dough, rotate it by a quarter turn and lightly flour the counter to prevent it from sticking. Keep checking the dough as you roll it: If it starts becoming lopsided, use your hands or a bench scraper to reshape the dough.
MAKES ENOUGH FOR ONE 9-INCH PIE
Vodka is essential to the tender texture of this crust and imparts no flavor—do not substitute water. This dough is moister than most standard pie doughs and will require lots of flour to roll out (up to ¹⁄
4
cup). A food processor is essential to making this dough—it cannot be made by hand.
2¹⁄ | cups (12¹⁄ |
2 | tablespoons sugar |
1 | teaspoon salt |
12 | tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ¹⁄ |
8 | tablespoons vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces and chilled |
¹⁄ | cup vodka, chilled |
¹⁄ | cup ice water |
1.
Process 1¹⁄
2
cups flour, sugar, and salt together in food processor until combined, about 5 seconds. Scatter butter and shortening over top and continue to process until incorporated and mixture begins to form uneven clumps with no remaining floury bits, about 15 seconds.
2.
Scrape down bowl and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup flour over dough and pulse until mixture has broken up into pieces and is evenly distributed around bowl, 4 to 6 pulses.
3.
Transfer mixture to large bowl. Sprinkle vodka and ice water over mixture. Stir and press dough together, using stiff rubber spatula, until dough sticks together.
4.
Divide dough into 2 even pieces. Turn each piece of dough onto sheet of plastic wrap and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each piece tightly in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour. Before rolling dough out, let it sit on counter to soften slightly, about 10 minutes. (Dough can be wrapped tightly in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month. If frozen, let dough thaw completely on counter before rolling it out.)