All The Turtle Candy Flavors in a Cake Roll
Rolled cakes are fun to make and always impress; the swirl of filling always looks so enticing and never more so then here with caramel and chocolate and pecans all rolled into one. This cake comes from Francine Bryson’s Blue Ribbon Baking from a Redneck Kitchen
and she recommends using a boxed cake mix. The trick to rolled cakes is to have a moist flexible cake, and this will certainly work. If you would like to try this with a scratch cake, I recommend our Easy Chocolate Cake. Note that she recommends a 10 × 15-inch jelly-roll pan, which is a slightly different dimension than the half-sheet pan you might have. Follow the instructions for best results and use the pan size that is suggested. We are also featuring her Chocolate Gravy and Blue Ribbon Pumpkin Cake. Anddon’t miss our interview.
Reprinted from Blue Ribbon Baking from a Redneck Kitchen Copyright (c) 2014 by Francine Bryson. Photographs copyright (c) 2014 by Ben Fink. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC
My Nana always said I had to learn to make a roll cake to impress people. I do think a roll cake is festive, especially when you call it a “roulade,” but it takes a lot less time to make than, say, a layer cake. I like messing around with all the possible flavors and combinations, whether it’s red velvet or pumpkin with candied ginger or this here turtle roll. If you bake this for Christmas, you can make it look like a fireplace log and cover it with chocolate shavings and those meringue mushrooms.
Turtle Cake Roll
Author:Francine Bryson
Makes:Makes now 10-inch roll
Ingredients
caramel:
- 30 store-bought caramels
- ¹⁄₂ cup heavy cream
cake:
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for the pan
- 3 large eggs
- 1³⁄₄ cups devil’s food cake mix
- 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
frosting:
- ¹⁄₂ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1¹⁄₄ tablespoons light corn syrup
- ¹⁄₄ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1¹⁄₂ cups chopped
- pecans, toasted
Instructions
- Prepare the caramel: Melt the caramels with the heavy cream in a microwave or double boiler, stirring until smooth. Refrigerate until completely cooled, 2 to 3 hours. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 10 × 15-inch jelly-roll pan with parchment paper and grease the paper.
- Make the cake: Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs on high speed until thick and pale, about 5 minutes.
- Add the cake mix, oil, and ¹⁄₃ cup water, and beat on low speed for 30 seconds and then medium speed for 1 minute, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.
- Pour into the prepared pan and bake until the cake springs back when lightly touched, but still looks moist, 11 to 14 minutes. Do not overbake, or the cake will be dry and crack when rolled. Remove from the oven and run a knife around the edges of the pan to make sure the cake does not stick. Lay a clean tea towel on a flat surface and sprinkle with the confectioner’s sugar. Turn the cake upside down on the towel and peel off the parchment paper. While hot, carefully roll up the cake in the towel, starting at the short end. Let cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, make the frosting: Heat the heavy cream in the microwave or on the stovetop, until it just starts to boil. Stir in the chocolate chips and corn syrup. Let stand for 3 minutes and then whisk until smooth. Mix in the vanilla. Refrigerate, stirring every 15 minutes, until it has a spreadable consistency, about 1 hour.
- Once the cake has cooled, remove the caramel from the refrigerator. Using an electric mixer, whip the caramel until it is spreadable and has a frosting-like consistency, about 3 minutes.
- Unroll the cake carefully. Spread the caramel evenly over the cake. Reroll the cake, this time without the towel. It should roll easily. Put the cake on a wire rack with a baking sheet underneath to catch any drips. Frost with the chocolate frosting and top with the pecans.
Blue ribbon tips
- Rolling the cake when it’s warm makes it easier to roll the second time; it’ll mold to the shape you want and won’t crack when you roll it again. Garnish this with a drizzle of salted caramel sauce if you like.
