DIY Project: Heart-Patterned Cake Roll

My love of desserts is legendary. Most of my friends know me as someone who will regularly bypass entire savory meals in exchange for a piece of chocolate cake the size of my head. I’m not sure how I got wired that way, but nothing makes me happier than a great piece of cake. So for Valentine’s Day, I love finding creative ways to dress up desserts for the holiday. (Side note: In college I bought (and consumed) an entire heart-shaped Carvel Ice Cream Cake. One of my best Valentine’s Days ever). Whether you’re making this for yourself, friends, family or loved ones, it’s hard to go wrong with a sweet heart-themed dessert.
This clever project comes from Raiza Costa. Originally from Brazil, Raiza now lives in New York City, where she loves to cook and bake for fun. She came up with this creative heart-patterned cake roll and made a new version for us that uses only natural ingredients (no artificial dyes). I think this is such a fun thing to make for the holiday and it would be equally cute (and just as easy to do) using just white hearts, if pink and red aren’t your thing. Thanks so much to Raiza for sharing this with us. You can watch her full how-to after the jump! xo, grace


This chocolate-patterned cake roll filled with whipped white chocolate ganache and strawberries is one of my favorite recipes because not every cute pastry can be this delicious and fair – and by fair, I mean a pastry that is not loaded with tons of sugar and food coloring. For my pinkish heart pattern I used raspberry syrup to dye the batter and cocoa powder to make the cake chocolaty, the filling itself is extra simple and only requires 3 ingredients. In fact, this entire cake roll only requires 7 ingredients, and if you want to make a plain cake it only requires 6, can you believe that?
This rolled cake (aka Swiss roll cake or Deco roll) can be made in chocolate or regular plain cake. (For the plain sponge cake recipe click here). The filling chosen for this was whipped ganache, which is a ganache cooled and then whipped. It achieves frosting-like consistency and it’s perfect to top any cake.
Yields one 11×17 cake roll
Templates to download for the pattern:
-Dots
-Hearts & Dots together
For the pattern:
-1 egg white
-30g granulated sugar
-40g flour – if making chocolate pattern substitute 20g for cocoa powder
-20g butter – room temperature
-Natural food coloring, fruit syrup or any food coloring of your preference.
(here’s a video of how to make your own!)
For the cake:
-4 eggs – whites separated
-1 tsp cream of tartar
-1/2 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
-60g butter – melted (approximately 1/2 stick + 1 tbsp)
-1/2 cup flour
-1/4 cup cocoa powder (if making plain rolled cake substitute this for flour)
For the filling:
-1 1/2 cup white chocolate – or any other chocolate
-1 cup heavy cream – or whipping cream
-1 cup strawberries – quartered
Tools:
-Baking pan (11×17 in.)
-Parchment paper (it won’t work if you use wax paper)
-Pastry bag or Ziploc bag
Once you’ve gathered your ingredients, just click “play” on the video to see the baking process and pattern application!

http://www.designsponge.com/2014/02/diy-project-heart-patterned-cake-roll.html