Chocolate Roll with Candy Cane Whipped Cream

 A nod to my French Canadian heritage, Buche de Noel aka Chocolate Roll Cake, pairs a light chocolate sponge cake, with creamy and slightly sweet candy cane flavoured whipped cream. This irresistible dessert is a cake lover's dream!

There is no other holiday I like to bake for, more than Christmas. Growing up my Mom started her Christmas baking weeks in advance and the variety of desserts she served could rival a small bakery. My favourite dessert Mom would make is Buche de Noel, or chocolate roll cake. Buche de Noel originated in France in the medieval times. A pagan tradition was to cut a large log (preferably from a fruit tree to ensure a successful harvest in the coming year) to bring home and placed in the hearth. It was often decorated with ribbon before being burnt, sometimes being anointed with salt, wine or holy water before setting it on fire. Once lit on Christmas Eve, it was said to be good luck if the log burned at least 3 days (preferably until New Years). As hearths began to disappear with the introduction of wood burning stoves, logs were then used as decor on holiday tablescapes. Eventually it was decided that it would be more practical to be able to eat the log, rather than just stare at it. That's when the Buche de Noel as a dessert was born.

Being French Canadian, we celebrate Christmas by having a Reveillon. Le Reveillon is a traditional late night feast, usually celebrated on Christmas Eve, after families returned from Midnight Mass. Meaning "let us wake up", we would return home from mass to open our gifts and stuff ourselves silly with our traditional Christmas dinner. I always found participating in Reveillon to be so magical. I think that may be one of the reasons I love Christmas so much. We would all pack into the car and head off to Midnight mass, only to return to the living room having been host to Santa. Gifts were left, cookies and milk eaten and the smell of turkey permeated the air. How could someone not believe in magic after that?

Chocolate roll cake was always served for dessert. As we grew older, my siblings lost interest in the roll cake. My sweet tooth decided otherwise and I always requested a roll cake, on occasions I could go home for Christmas. Eventually it became my birthday cake, as my family took my yearly visit as an opportunity to celebrate with me. While I LOVE my mom's original version of Buche de Noel, I decided to experiment with it to create this version and also my Black Forest Roll Cake.

The chocolate sponge is airy and moist, the whipped cream has a slight hint of peppermint thanks to candy cane flavoured Hershey Kisses. A light dusting of powdered sugar keeps the sweetness to a minimum for a light, irresistible and festive dessert.

Chocolate Roll with Candy Cane Whipped Cream

Cake:
2/3 C flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 C sugar
2 Tbs water
1/4 C cocoa powder
1-2 Tbs of vegetable oil

Filling:
1 1/2 C of heavy whipping cream
3 Tbs confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 oz of melted white chocolate (1 Baker's square)
1 C chopped Candy Cane Hershey Kisses

Grease and line, a jelly roll pan, with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, beat eggs at high speed until very light in colour, about 5 minutes. Gradually add sugar, beating until thick; about 4 minutes longer. In a small bowl, combine the cocoa powder with 1 Tbs of vegetable oil; adding a second Tbs if needed, to achieve the consistency of melted chocolate.Blend in cocoa mixture and water; until well combined. Fold in dry ingredients, thoroughly. Spread in prepared jelly roll pan and bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly touched.

While the cake bakes, generously dust a clean large kitchen towel with powdered sugar. Loosen edges and turn cake out immediately onto the prepared kitchen towel, Remove wax paper and trim any crisp edges.

Beginning with the narrow end, loosely roll up the cake up, along with the towel. Cool to room temperature. Whip 1 1/2 C heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add confectioners sugar and vanilla and beat until stiff. Fold in melted white chocolate and Candy Cane Hershey Kisses. Unroll cooled cake and spread evenly with sweetened whipped cream. Re roll cake and even out the ends, by removing a tiny slice of cake. Dust lightly with confectioners sugar. Garnish the cake with raspberries and green chocolate leaves. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours, to let the flavours in the whipped cream meld.

*If cake cracks to much, when re rolling, feel free to frost with chocolate frosting.

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