Chocolate Soufflé Roll

I have always admired the Coney Island Polar Bears Club. As a young girl growing up in Brooklyn, not far from Coney Island in fact, I was always secretly proud and fascinated that they were swimming on the very beach that I would go to in the summer with my mother and grandparents, then later on, as a teen, with my friends. The water wasn't always warm in the summer if my memory serves me right, and I remember sometimes thinking that if I was cold in July, then what must it be like in January? I used to think the Polar Bears Club members might have been a little crazy, but still, I liked the idea that they were out there, in frigid weather, swimming. In 2002 the club celebrated 100 years of tradition, one that begins every season with a vigorous dip in the ocean on New Year's Day, and this New Year's Day, they were out there, same as always. To me, they are a wonderful part of what makes New York so unique and part of what makes me glad I live here.

This past Saturday, they were out there again, the weather, at the time of their swim was 1 degree F, yet these folks were out on the beach, naked, save for the little bits of cloth covering the family heirlooms, jumping and frolicking in the water, looking like they were genuinely having a great time. I saw them on the news, and admired them, no longer do I think they are so crazy, now, I see that what I thought might be craziness might best be described as possessing a certain joie de vie (sp?). I'd like to think that I too possess that spirit somewhere deep inside me. I think I'd like to join them one day, to be caught up in their enthusiasm, to have that certain carefree zest for life and to say, at least to myself, that I took part in something I thought I might never push myself to do... I just don't think I want to do it on a day on when the wind-chill and temperature combined makes it feel like minus 10 degrees outside, maybe 25 or even 30 degrees would be more in my comfort zone. brrrr!

SO! While they were dipping in the ocean having their fun, I was warm and cozy in my kitchen having my fun, and that meant I was attempting to make a chocolate soufflé roll…

Attempting is the key word here, because I ran into a few mishaps along they way, like forgetting to add the 2 tablespoons of coffee to the chocolate mixture, reading the instructions on the very next page for a different cake, then applying those instructions to the cake I was working on, becoming so frustrated with the way I was clumsily folding the egg whites into the thick fudgy batter that I finally just used my hands (I promise, they were clean). The recipe called for 6 ounces of semisweet chocolate but I read that as SIXTEEN OUNCES and used it. OI!

I was having so much trouble rolling the damn cake, even with the thorough instructions, that I came very close to crawling under the table and calling my mommy. I ended up having to call in reinforcements in the form of Tom, who took over and helped me roll the silly thing, which subsequently led to me bursting into tears because I was feeling EXTRA SENSITIVE at that point. The irony of it all...this wasn't really a difficult cake to make!

The recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, one that I still believe is a little over my head but I enjoy challenging myself with from time to time, The Village Baker's Wife by Gail and Joe Ortiz. It's an unusual cake in that it's actually flourless, which I knew beforehand, but then, after I started, there was a good 5 minutes of white hot panic because I suddenly couldn’t remember if I needed to add flour. This baby better get here soon because I'm really losing it!

Ortiz notes:

This cake is as much of a pleasure to make as it is to eat. It doesn't require a lot of complicated ingredients or techniques, and it shows off the soft, subtle side of chocolate not often seen. After it is rolled, the soufflé absorbs a little of the moisture from the whipped cream, creating a wonderful texture that is fudgy but light and airy at the same time. Flourless and without any leavening, it's a great cake for Passover or anyone allergic to flour.

The cake doesn't look too bad in the picture due to Tom's incredible rolling talents, but I don't consider it a success by any means.The cake is dense, much more like a fudge than a cake, and I know that is partially, ok IS my fault, had I used the right amount of chocolate and added the coffee like I was supposed to, the cake might have turned out a lot moister and far easier to roll than it did. The cake is good though, there's a nice intense chocolate flavor to it although I found it to be a bit too sweet for me, but then again that shouldn't be so surprising since I used 10 ounces of EXTRA chocolate! If I were to make the cake again, which I'd like to because I cannot resist a chance to do it correctly, I think I would cut the amount of sugar down also, although that's harder to gauge now that I know I used too much chocolate. We did add some of our own touches, like a layer of very finely chopped walnuts sprinkled over the whipped cream (which you can't see in the picture because they were chopped so superfine) and using Drambuie to flavor the whipped cream rather than Grand Marnier, that, only because we didn't have Grand Marnier in the apt. I might also try using a combination of semisweet and bittersweet chocolate next time too, or maybe even make a white chocolate cake with a dark chocolate whipped cream! What I like about this cake is that the possibilities are only limited by ones imagination and whether you followed the directions correctly. Imagine that!

Written by Deb on January 11, 2004 08:30 PM