Chocolate Sponge Cake Roll with Peppermint Whip Cream

Ever since blogger upgraded their site, I've had a hard time blogging--it's pretty different from the old format. That, coupled with Pinterest, has left me pinning favorite recipes and putting my changes in the comment field rather than updating everything here. And, the ease of finding new recipes and pinning them for later means that I'll never try all my "Recipes to try" pins, but if you do, could you let me know how they turn out?

This is my favorite holiday dish. I posted that I was making it on Facebook and had a few people ask for the recipe. It's light, delicious, and the presentation is easy and festive. A small Christmas miracle?

Chocolate Sponge Cake Roll
Mary Clyde

4 eggs, separated
1 c sugar
1 t vanilla
3 T water
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
3/4 c flour
1/3 c cocoa
1/2 c (approx) powdered sugar

2 c whipping cream
1 c crushed candy canes or peppermints (you want these pretty fine with a lot of candy cane dust because that will help sweeten the whip cream)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line parchment or wax paper on a 10-15 inch cookie sheet with a 1-inch ridge (also known as a jelly roll pan) and lightly grease

Blend egg yolks and vanilla in electric mixer at high speed until yolks are thick and lemon colored. Add water and mix. Set aside.

In another bowl, stir together baking powder, salt, cocoa, and flour. Add half of mixture with yolks and mix. Set aside.

In another bowl using clean dry beaters blend egg whites until soft peaks form gradually blending in the sugar until glossy peaks form. Fold in yolk mixture and flour mixture just until blended.

Pour onto cookie sheet, making batter even and smooth.

Bake for 10-20 minutes or until top springs back when gently touched.

Sprinkle top with powdered sugar. Remove wax paper and gently roll cake into a loose cylinder. Cover rolled up cake with clean dish towel and let cool (approximately 2-3 hours).

Whip whipping cream to desired consistency (I like it a little firmer than usual because it can ooze out of the cake if it isn't). Add crushed candy canes. Taste whip cream--sometimes, I find I need to add 1-2 T powdered sugar.

Unroll cake, spread with filling, then reroll cake in plastic wrap. The directions say to refrigerate overnight. I've gotten away with refrigrating for a couple hours. The key is to cut slices with a knife warmed in really hot water. Take the knife out of the water, wipe it dry, cut a slice. Repeat (you should have about 12 slices).

To be extra fancy make a chocolate ganache to drizzle over the cake.