A vegan chocolate swiss roll with orange blossom buttercream and flaky dark chocolate. Is this the quintessential good time bake? Is there any reason for a cylindrical cake? Surely it’s just a vehicle for yet more buttercream. Whatever the reason, you’ll be sure to have lot of fun baking this epic number.
The ingredients
The sponge is perfectly moist due to the addition of aquafaba (chickpea water). A strange ingredient, I know, but it acts exactly like egg whites when whipped. Fold it delicately into your cake mix to produce a light, airy sponge.
When whisking aquafaba, ensure your bowl and whisk are squeaky clean and it is imperative that you use good quality chunky chickpeas; the chickpea water is more nutrient dense and whips up lot more quickly than cheaper tinned varieties.
The trick to stop your roll cake from cracking is to strike the perfect balance between moistness and density. You want enough density to ensure the cake keeps it form when rolled. I’ve added cornstarch to the mix to achieve just this. My first attempt excluded cornstarch and unfortunately the sponge cracked when rolled so please don’t skimp on the cornstarch!
How to stop a swiss roll from cracking
Now swiss rolls are notorious for being a bit finicky, cracking both when under pressure and overbaked. Keep the sponge moist by baking for only 12 minutes at 180C fan. To prevent sticking, turn the cake out onto a clean piece of parchment paper sprinkled with cocoa power. Place a clean dry kitchen towel over the cake and immediately roll up. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool, then carefully unroll and leave for a further 20 minutes to cool to room temperature. Unrolling the cake whilst still warm works well in reducing the potential for cracking.
Top tips
- Do not overbake the cake!
- Use a dry kitchen towel to roll the cake and ensure it stays moist
- Unrolling the cake whilst still warm helps to reduce the potential of it splitting.
Leave a comment and let me know how you get on making this vegan chocolate swiss roll. I would love to see your creations over on instagram!
More vegan treats
vegan strawberry cupcakes with buttercream icing
Vegan Chocolate Swiss Roll
Ingredients
For the sponge
- 125 g plain flour
- 25 g cornstarch
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
- 100 mls aquafaba (chickpea water)
- 125 g caster sugar
- 100 mls soy milk unsweetened
- 50 mls vegetable oil
For the buttercream
- 150 g margarine
- 150 g baking fat
- 350 g icing sugar sieved
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 3 tsp orange blossom essence
- 2 tbsp orange juice freshly squeezed
Instructions
- Grease and line a 38 x 25cm swiss roll tin with baking parchment.
- Beat together the sugar and oil. Using a balloon whisk, whisk in the milk and vanilla paste.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
- Pre heat the oven to 200C/ 180C fan.
- Add the chickpea water to a clean bowl. Use an electric whisk to beat the aquafaba until it forms medium peaks, this should take 8-10 minutes.
- Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry. Whisk in the aquafaba in thirds, ensuring the final third is gently folded in.
- Pour the mixture out into the prepared tin and spread evenly with the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 12 minutes. Place a sheet of baking paper on the worktop and sprinkle over cocoa powder to prevent the cake sticking.
- Remove the tin and use a knife to score around the edges. Immediately turn out the sponge onto the baking paper. Peel off the parchment paper. Place a dry, clean tea towel over the sponge. Starting from the short end, gently roll the cake.
- Place in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool, then carefully unroll and leave for a further 20 minutes to cool to room temperature.
- Prepare the buttercream. Add the cold margarine and baking fat to a stand mixer. Mix on high for 2 minutes until smooth and lighter in colour. Add the sieved icing sugar in thirds, mixing well between each addition. Finally add the vanilla paste, orange essence and orange juice. Spread just under half of the buttercream over the entire sponge.
- Very gently roll the sponge and place in the fridge for a final 30 minutes to allow the cake to set.
- Remove and trim both ends, then pipe over the remaining buttercream. Decorate with grated chocolate or nuts.
The cake was very moist and fluffy but was broken in pieces after I unrolled it. Flavour was good but couldn’t make a Swiss roll anymore
Hello Anne. I’m really sorry to hear that the roll cracked. Did you immediately roll up the cake when taken out of the oven? And then unroll it after 15 minutes of chilling? This should prevent it from cracking.
The only thing I can further suggest is to turn out the cooked sponge onto parchment paper sprinkled with cocoa powder and roll it up with a dry tea towel. This should prevent the cake sticking to itself and splitting. I hope you have more success next time.
Made this yesterday, very pleased with the results. The first time I’ve made a swiss roll cake so I was happy it was fairly straightforward! My family LOVED the orange buttercream.