This recipe is a twist on one of favourite desserts, a chocolate and raspberry roulade. I’ve reimagined it into a layered cake with a tender chocolate sponge, whipped cream and raspberry filling, and smooth swiss meringue buttercream.
As mentioned, this is a riff on a previous roulade recipe. I was a little hesitant to share this version, as there’s one step in the method I’m still unsure about. When making the roulade, I always flip the cake onto a piece of baking paper and cover it with a damp tea towel – this helps keep the sponge pliable and easy to roll. I followed the same process here, but since the cake is cut into rounds for layering rather than rolled, I’m not convinced this step is necessary.
Whilst swiss meringue buttercream is easy to decorate with, it does not make for the best eating experience as this cake needs to be refrigerated. A whipped chocolate ganache may offer a richer flavour and softer texture, though it would be trickier to pipe. So a bit of a win-lose situation.
Despite these small issues, I’m really pleased with how this version came together. It captures everything I love about the original roulade in a slightly more refined format. I’d like to test it again before calling it final, and will update the recipe after some more experimenting.
This cake is natually flourless, with no starches or almond meal involved. To achieve a rich chocolate flavour, it is important to use chocolate with at least 70% cocoa solids. For this version, I baked the batter in a large sheet tray and cut 15cm rounds using a cake ring. I managed to get two full rounds and two semicircles, which made up the middle layer.
There were quite a bit of offcuts leftover, which I served simply with cream. However, depending on how you cut the rounds, there’s enough cake to create four 15cm layers.
I’ve found that this cake doesn’t bake as well in standard round tins – it tends to sink inwards. Also, the cake will have a meringue-like crust on top, but this softens when layered with cream.
The filling is simply vanilla whipped cream and fresh raspberries. I’ve provided rough quantities of each in the recipe – you can be as generous as you like. I prefer to leave the cream unsweetened to bring out the tartness of the raspberries. Raspberries usually come in punnets of 125g, and I find one and a half punnets is the perfect amount for this cake.
The swiss meringue buttercream is not completely necessary – it’s more so for decoration and a polished finish. Whilst the buttercream does set firm after refrigeration, it’s easy to work with and isn’t too sweet. The key to a perfect swiss meringue buttercream is temperature and patience. The meringue should be cool before adding the room temperature butter. Also, switching to a paddle attachment and beating on low speed is important for removing any air bubbles. I won’t provide a full troubleshooting guide here, but I do recommend this post by Salma Sabdia.
Let me know if you have any questions. I hope to provide a more refined recipe in the future.
Chocolate and Raspberry Cake
This recipe makes a three-layer 15cm cake. However, you could make four layers depending on how you cut the rounds. Be sure to read the post above for a few helpful tips before you get started.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 6 large eggs, seperated
- 150g caster sugar, divided
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 150g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), melted and cooled
- 3 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting
Whipped Cream Filling
- 400g heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 125-250g fresh raspberries
Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 110g egg whites (about 3 large eggs)
- 220g caster sugar
- 300g unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into 2cm cubes
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 15g cocoa powder
- 180g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), melted and cooled
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line a rimmed 30×40 cm baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add the egg whites and whip until soft peaks form. Gradually add half of the sugar (75g), a tablespoon at a time, and whisk until stiff peaks form. Transfer the egg whites to a seperate bowl, and set aside.
- In the stand mixer bowl, add the egg yolks, remaining 75g of sugar and vanilla extract. Beat on high speed until pale in colour and tripled in volume, about 4-5 minutes.
- Using a spatula, gently fold the melted chocolate into the egg yolks.
- Fold one third of the whipped egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. You can be a bit vigorous at this stage, because you simply want to loosen the mixture. Gently fold in the second third of egg whites, being a bit more careful this time. Finally, gently fold in the remaining third of egg whites until no white streaks remain.
- Spread the cake batter evenly into the prepared baking tray. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes, until the cake springs back gently when pressed and pulls away slightly from the sides of the pan.
- Dust a sheet of baking paper genorously with icing sugar. Gently flip the roulade onto the paper and peel away the lining paper. Cover the cake with a clean, damp tea towel. Leave to cool completely. I like to lift the cake up the halfway through cooling to ensure it doesn’t stick to the paper.
- Once cooled, using a 15cm cake ring, cut the cake into rounds. You should get at least 2 full circles and 2 semicircles to make three layers. If you don’t have a cake ring, you can simply cut a 15cm circle out of baking paper to use as a template, and use a serrated knife to cut the cake into rounds.
Filling and Assembly
- Whip the cream with the vanilla extract until stiff peaks form.
- Place one circular cake round onto a board or serving plate. Spread a generous layer of whipped cream onto the cake, then sprinkle raspberries over the surface. Repeat this process for the remaining layers, using the two semicircles to form the middle layer. Finally, use a cake scraper to smooth out the edges.
- Refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours before decorating. I prefer to leave it overnight.
Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- In a standmixer bowl, combine the egg whites and sugar. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water, ensuring the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Whisk the mixture constantly until the sugar has dissolved. Test by rubbing the mixture between your fingers and you should feel no granules of sugar. It should heated to around 71-74°C.
- Remove from the heat. Place the bowl onto your stand mixture fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high speed for 15 minutes or until the bowl feels cool to the touch.
- On low speed, add the butter a few cubes at a time. The butter should be completely incorporated before adding the next lot of butter. To do this, beat on medium speed in between each addition.
- When all of the butter has been added, beat the buttercream on medium-high speed for 5-8 minutes.
- Switch the whisk to a paddle attachment, then add the vanilla extract, cocoa powder and melted chocolate. Finally, beat on low speed for 5 minutes.
- Decorate the cake as desired.