This Drunken Cherry Cake Roll is as luscious as it gets. This ultra-rich, sponge cake roll is the perfect dessert to make for your New Year’s party. It is a traditional Russian cake, made with vodka-soaked cherries, cream and rich chocolate.
Drain the cherry juice from cherries. Place the cherries in a container and cover with vodka, leave soaking overnight. Keep juice from the cherries for later.
Sponge Cake
Preheat over to 350 °F. In a bowl, combine flour and cacao together.
Whisk eggs together with sugar until it doubles in volume.
By thirds, using spatula, fold flour into the egg mixture. Be careful not to over-mix the dough. Take 3/4 of the dough and spread it on a lined baking sheet, 10x15 inches. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Bake the remainder of the dough any way you want, we'll use it later.
Remove the cake from the oven, place a kitchen towel over the cake. Roll up the shorter side (horizontally), making it into a long roll. Let it cool down to a room temperature. Remove towel and parchment paper.
Cake Cream
Whip powdered sugar together with 2 cups of heavy whip cream. Make sure that the bowl you're using and the whip cream is very cold, as it will make the cream firm.
The small piece of the cake that you've baked separately, break into crumbs. Drain vodka out of cherries and add it to the cake crumbs.
Add in a few large spoonfuls of cream to the mixture and stir to combine together.
Soak the cake with cherry juice. Apply a bit of cream on it.
Spread the cherry and cake mixture on the inside of the cake roll, keeping it in a thick layer, covering just 2/3 of the cake. Carefully roll up the other side, it may crack a bit, but it's totally fine.
Apply the remaining cream to the outside of the cake. Combine chocolate chips together with 1 cup of whipping cream. Microwave until all chocolate is melted, just be sure to stir every few seconds. Let chocolate cool to a room temperature.
Place chocolate into a ziplock bag, cut a hole in the corner and drizzle the roll with the chocolate.