A chocolate spiced swiss roll is a pleasurable cake to both look at and eat. You feel naughty but will be nice eating this cake that is lighter in fat and calories. I always love when cakes taste like they have 10,000 calories in them and you find out they are within normal dietary guidelines.

Swiss rolls are typically made using a fatless sponge. They call it that because besides the fat in the eggs, you do not add a fat like butter or oil. Adding fat is also avoided as it often will cause swiss rolls to badly crack and tear. By leaving these ingredients out, the cake becomes more pliable and easier to roll.

These cakes typically rely on a beating the eggs to ribbon stage as you will see below. This creates air in the batter and makes the cake very tender and light. Now technically, if you whisk the eggs far enough as seen in this recipe, you don’t even need to use rising agent such as baking powder or self-rising flour. But as you will also see, I found not using a rising agent makes the sponge more prone to cracking. Many days I don’t use any to save money, but it’s a great insurance plan, especially if you tend to overfold your dry ingredients.

If you need more help with the filling for the chocolate spiced swiss roll, check out this cream cheese recipe. It has a video that goes through the basics. You’ll be a star baker in no time! So now that you know how to make swiss rolls, what will you bake next?

Chocolate Spiced Swiss Roll

If you like autumn, spices and chocolate, look no further to a quick and easy dessert.

Print Recipe

Prep Time15 minutes minutes

Cook Time10 minutes minutes

Servings10

Calories 222.3

Ingredients

Cake

• 4 large (200g) eggs
• ½ cup (75g) flour
• ½ cup (40g) cocoa powder
• ½ cup (100g) sugar
• 1 tsp (5mL) vanilla
• 1 tsp (2g) cinnamon
• ½ tsp (1g) ginger
• ½ tsp (1g) all spice
• ½ tsp (3g) baking soda
• ½ tsp (2g) salt

Filling

• 1 cup (125g) powdered sugar
• ½ cup (113g) softened cream cheese
• ¼ cup (56g) softened butter

For Topping

• 2 tbs (16g) powdered sugar

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375F (190C.)
• Grease and line the bottom of a 9×13 (23x33cm) cake pan with parchment or wax paper.
• Dust a clean, lint free towel generously with powdered sugar. You can also use wax or parchment paper, but they will hold onto moisture as the cake cools and make it sticky.
• Sift together cocoa, spices, baking powder, salt and flour. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until the eggs become pale yellow, triple in volume and ribbon off the beater.
• Sift dry ingredients into eggs, folding gently. Mix in the vanilla being careful not to deflate the batter.
• Pour batter into cake pan, spreading out as evenly as possible.
• Bake 8 – 10 minutes or until cake springs bake and the sides just start to pull away from the pan. Center of cake should reach 205F or 96C.
• Turn out on well sugared towel. Roll cake up from short end while still warm. Allow to cool completely on rack.

Filling

• In a large bowl, mix softened butter, cream cheese until creamy. Beat in powdered sugar until smooth.
• Unroll cake, spread out buttercream. Gently roll back up cake without the towel. Cover and chill for 1-2 hours to firm up frosting.
• Bring out 1/2 hour before serving. If desired, sprinkle powdered sugar on top.
• Store leftovers in fridge.

Nutrition Facts

Chocolate Spiced Swiss Roll

Serving Size

 

1 slice

Amount per Serving

Calories

222.3

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

10.4

g

16

%

Saturated Fat

 

5.8

g

36

%

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

0.3

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

0.8

g

Sodium

 

203.5

mg

9

%

Carbohydrates

 

30

g

10

%

Fiber

 

1.6

g

7

%

Protein

 

3.8

g

8

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

* Calories provided as a courtesy and not guaranteed.