Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Roll or Hoho Cake Recipe

When it comes to baking, my 9 year old pastry chef wannabe is  fearless.  She is braver than me when it comes to that part in the kitchen.  I am not fond of baking,  maybe because I grew up  without an oven at our home so I have never done any baking when I was younger.  I am so glad that my daughter   is very interested in it.  My favorite dessert that she  makes  is the Chocolate Cake Roll or Hoho Cake.  

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 pkg.  Semi-Sweet Chocolate (6 oz.), divided
• 6 tbsp. butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4  eggs
• 1 cup gluten-free flour, divided
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar, divided
• 3 cups thawed cool whip, divided

Procedure:

• HEAT oven to 350°F.
• SPRAY 15x10x1-inch pan with cooking spray. Line with waxed paper and then spray with additional cooking spray.
• MICROWAVE 3 oz. chocolate and butter in medium microwaveable bowl on High 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Add granulated sugar and mix well. Beat the eggs in large bowl with mixer on high speed 3 minutes or until thickened. Blend in chocolate mixture. Add 1/4 cup flour and baking soda; beat just until blended. Add remaining flour alternately with water, beating well after each addition. Spread evenly into prepared pan.

• BAKE 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched.  Sprinkle with 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Immediately invert cake onto clean towel and remove the pan. Carefully peel off paper. Starting at one short side, roll up cake and towel together; cool completely on wire rack.

• Mix cream cheese and remaining powdered sugar in medium bowl with mixer until well blended. Gently stir in 1-1/2 cups COOL WHIP.
• UNROLL cake carefully; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture onto cake, completely covering top of cake. Roll up the cake and  place it seam-side down on a platter.

The second  time she  made it, she added a ganache or chocolate icing on it.  Here's how to make the ganache:

• Microwave the  remaining chocolate and remaining COOL WHIP (remember you have divided them from the start?) in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended.   
• Cool for 2 minutes and  spread onto cake. Then you have to refrigerate the cake for 1 hour.

Do you see the little man's   excitement?  Anticipating for that yummy piece that he will get when the cake is ready lol.

This recipe is from kraftrecipes.com but we  substituted the flour with the gluten-free flour that we got from Glutino.  The ganache is a great addition to hide the cracks from the cake when you roll it up but I like the one she made without the ganache.  The icing made it so rich.