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Dessert

Chocolate Marshmallow Roll

A chocolate batter roll filled with marshmallow.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Chocolate Marshmallow Roll

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine sugar and eggs; stir briskly until frothy.

  2. Add milk, baking soda, vanilla, and salt; stir to incorporate.

  3. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, and cream of tartar; add to the mixture and mix until smooth.

Prepare the pan

  1. Grease a large sheet pan (17x29 inches), dust the pan with flour, and line the pan with thin paper.

Bake and roll

  1. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 400°F (200°C) until done.

  2. Invert the baked sheet onto a clean cloth dusted with flour.

  3. Spread a heavy layer of marshmallow filling over the sheet and roll it up neatly.

  4. Allow to cool, then cut into desired lengths.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cocoa powder + vanillatop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Cocoa powder + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together826 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whipped with sugar to trap air, giving the sponge its light, airy structure.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the sponge together as it bakes and rolls.
Sugar
Whipped with the eggs for volume and adds sweetness and tenderness to the sponge.
Cocoa powder
Adds chocolate flavor and color to the sponge.
Milk
Adds moisture that keeps the batter fluid and the finished sponge tender.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic ingredients to produce gas that helps the sponge rise.

The step that matters

Pour the batter and bake until done. The batter is spread thin on a large pan, so it can overbake quickly and turn dry and brittle, making it crack when rolled. Baking only until the sponge springs back keeps it moist and flexible enough to roll.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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