Chocolate Tiramisu Swiss Roll with Berries
A Lighter Version of my Perfect Birthday Cake
Jump to RecipeThis is a lighter version of my perfect birthday cake, for which you can find the recipe here. It’s the same combination of chocolate, tiramisu and berries. But instead of a big layered cake with a brownie base, it’s a cocoa swiss roll filled with a tiramisu inspired cream and topped off with berries.
I created this version for my birthday this year as I wanted to not only make my classic chocolate cake but also wanted to make my lemon drizzle cake. And if there are two cakes, you obviously want to try them both. To avoid stuffing yourself with cake until your stomach hurts, I thought it might be better to have a lighter version.
I love Swiss rolls, or as they are known in German, Biskuitrollen. They are so light and fluffy – I could eat the whole cake in a day. And this recipe actually adds another element of tiramisu other than the coffee and mascarpone. It also resembles the ladyfingers that you typically use for tiramisu with the sponge base.
For a long time, I was afraid of making Swiss rolls myself. They seemed complicated and with a lot of potential for failure. But I tried it a few years ago, and it turns out they are pretty easy to make and have never failed me. You don’t need many ingredients and you will impress your guests with the look of it. Even if you only have a short amount of time. Just be a little careful when you roll it to not break it. And even if there are some cracks, just cover them with some cream. Nobody will know!
Chocolate Tiramisu Swiss Roll with Berries
Course: Dessert, Cake, Sweet12
servings12
minutes180
CelsiusA lighter version of my perfect birthday cake – combining chocolate, tiramisu and berries in a cake.
Ingredients
- For the cake:
5 medium eggs
170g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
150g flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
- For the cream:
250g mascarpone
100g quark or skyr
2 tbsp milk or heavy cream (optional)
3 tbsp powdered sugar
1 ½ tbsp cocoa powder
1 shot of espresso
3 drops of bitter almond extract or 1 shot of amaretto
- Topping:
300g strawberries or 200g raspberries
100g blueberries
Directions
- Heat up the oven to 180C (over and under heat).
- Whisk eggs on high speed for a few minutes.
- Add sugar and salt, keep on whisking on high speed for at least 4 minutes to create a lot of air. Ideally, you use an electric mixer for this otherwise it will be a full on workout.
- Add flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and carefully fold them in to not destroy all the air you just created (check out my baking basics for more info on this).
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Pour the batter on the sheet and spread to the edges.
- Bake for 12 minutes. Make sure the oven is preheated.
- When the cake is ready, immediately turn the cake over on another sheet of baking paper and leave the other paper on as well while it’s cooling down.
- While the cake is baking you can prepare the cream. This is basically just mixing everything together. You can start by whisking the mascarpone, quark, milk and powdered sugar on high speed to create some air. Then mix in the cocoa powder, espresso and bitter almond extract. You can adjust the proportion to your taste here. While the cake is still baking or cooling down, you can store the cream in the fridge. This will let it firm up a bit and better hold its shape.
- When the cake is cooled down, remove the top baking paper and spread half of the cream on the cake, leaving some space around the edges. Optionally top with berries if you want them as a filling.
- Carefully roll up the cake on the long side and tuck the end under so it’s on the bottom.
- Spread the other half of the cream over the roll. You can do this in whatever style you prefer.
- Lastly, top with the berries of your choice and whatever toppings you want. This is the part to let your creativity out. Or just look on pinterest for inspiration. That’s what I do.
- It’s a bit tricky to transfer the cake to another plate, but I recommend folding up or leaving some baking paper as a base under the cake so you can move it more easily.
Notes
- I like to use mascarpone and quark as a base for the cream as it’s enough fat while not being too heavy and includes some protein. Not that we are trying to be healthy, but the chocolate is already heavy so the quark balances that out. But you could also substitute a part with whipped cream, crème fraiche or yoghurt. Just be careful that it doesn’t become too liquid.
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