Chocolate Filled Red Velvet Cake Roll

I made my first cake roll and it was a complete success!!!! Our friends could not believe I made it because of how nice it looked. 

In this recipe and instructions it sounds like it is a lot of work, but to be honest its easier than it sounds. I really enjoyed making it and seeing the finished product.  

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon red food coloring

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Powdered sugar

For the filling:

1-1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated, divided

1 package (8 ounces) PHILADELPHIA® Cream Cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup whipped topping

1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Separate eggs. Allow egg whites and yolks to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, grease a 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Line bottom of pan with waxed paper or parchment paper; grease paper. Set pan aside. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder; set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl beat egg yolks and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed about 5 minutes or until thick and lemon color. Gradually add 1/3 cup granulated sugar, beating on high speed until sugar is almost dissolved. Beat in food coloring.

3. Thoroughly wash beaters. In another mixing bowl beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form (tips curl). Gradually add 1/2 cup granulated sugar, beating until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). Fold egg yolk mixture into beaten egg whites. Sprinkle flour mixture over egg mixture; fold in gently just until combined. Spread batter evenly in the prepared baking pan.

4. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Immediately loosen edges of cake from pan and turn cake out onto a clean kitchen towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Remove waxed paper. Roll towel and cake into a spiral, starting from a short side of the cake. Cool on a wire rack.

5. For filling, set aside 2 tablespoons chocolate. In a microwave, melt remaining chocolate; stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Beat in melted chocolate. Fold in whipped topping and 1 tablespoon reserved chocolate. Unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cake with filling to within 1 inch of the edges. Roll up cake; trim ends. Cover and chill for up to 6 hours. Sprinkle cake with additional powdered sugar.

The silly thing is that when I was planning on making this, my husband asked me to please make the filling out of chocolate instead of the regular cream cheese. I was looking at all the pictures of red velvet cakes and they all had some type of "white" filling so I told him that it wouldn't look good like that, to what he responded "babe, it can be different". I didn't have an answer to that so I went ahead and made it just like he wanted. 

I was very proud of this beauty because I was a little intimidated by it at the beginning. You can do anything if you put your mind and heart into it and let God work through you. 

Merry Christmas to all!!!