Banana Roulade with Hazelnut 'Cream'

I've had my eye on this recipe for awhile, but delayed in making it for a couple of reasons. A) it looked awfully complicated for a vegan, since it relied heavily on eggs and egg whites. B) it required Nutella, which is not vegan. The recipe became possible when I discovered a chocolate-hazelnut spread online at veganessentials.com from Chocoreale, nearly identical to Nutella - needless to say I ordered a little pot of it right away. So here's the recipe:

Coarsely chop 1/4 cup of hazelnuts and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Turn the nuts out onto a clean dish towel and rub off the skins - not all of the skins flaked off from my hazelnuts, but most did, so that was good enough for me; I always have trouble with this process for some reason.

Let the hazelnuts cool then place them in a food processor and process until finely ground. (I actually cooled mine after the pulsing - oops!).

Meanwhile, prepare a 15x10-inch jelly-roll pan (baking sheet), by coating it with cooking spray, then lining the bottom with wax paper. Coat the wax paper with cooking spray and dust with 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour. Set aside.

Lightly spoon 1 and 1/2 cups more all-purpose flour into measuring cups, leveling with a knife. Combine the flour with the cooled hazelnuts. Set aside.

In a large bowl, make the equivalent of 6 egg yolks with Ener-G egg replacer. (I don't recommend any other egg substitutes for this recipe, as you'll want the particular characteristics that Ener-G shows when beaten; for yolks, use 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of powder per 1 tablespoon warm water per yolk). Beat the 'yolks' with a mixer for 4 minutes, then add 1/3 cup raw sugar and continue to beat for an additional 2 minutes - the mixture will be quite thick. Stir in the flour mixture just until combined, then stir in 1 and 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 or 4 bananas - mine weren't entirely ripe, hence there were a few chunks of banana in my final product).

In a separate bowl, make 6 egg whites with Ener-G - this time 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of powder per 2 tablespoons water, per egg white. Get ready for some arm exercise, because you'll need to beat for 12 minutes, in order to approximate the "stiff peaks" of real egg whites. About halfway through beating, start adding 2/3 cup raw sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, incorporating each bit before adding the next. By the end you should have a thick, creamy white mixture greatly increased in volume.

Gently stir one-fourth of this 'egg white' mixture into the banana mixture, then gently fold in the rest of the 'egg white' mixture.

Gently (the word of the day!) spread the batter out onto your prepared baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees. The original recipe said for 12 minutes, and here is where I wish I had trusted my gut more - Ener-G "eggs" take a bit longer to set than real eggs, so I suggest letting your cake cook for closer to 15 of 16 minutes.

While the cake cooks, lay out a clean dish towel, and dust it with 1 tablespoon organic powdered sugar. When the cake comes out of the oven, carefully invert it onto this dish towel. Carefully peel off the wax paper, then let the cake stand for 1 minute.

Starting on the long end (i.e. the 15-inch side), roll the cake and the towel up together, jelly-roll style. If you don't know what that means, check out this photo:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnszLPz7EQymFBE_Y73fwh2ZmVvGnOmrWwjlA4diS4Nq0Ta_58PSI6fFUzBY04Dh1tQVlAtlVTFsXrL-1MkxbjRIgmGCk8uiMDlJVVKaM-ocTklWer4w-FE4tPiS0rvRN8B2davcDS84I/s320/IMG_1112.jpg

Place the wrapped cake, seam-side down, on a wire rack and let cool completely (about 1 and half hours).

In a bowl combine 1/2 cup vegan cream cheese (such as Tofutti's Better Than Cream Cheese), with 1/4 cup hazelnut-chocolate spread (such as Chocoreale), and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; beat with a mixer until smooth. Gradually add 1 and 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar, beating just until blended.

Carefully unroll the cake, and remove the towel (again, here is where I was disappointed to find my cake hadn't completely set during only 12 minutes of cooking). Spread the 'cream cheese' mixture evenly over the cake, leaving a 1/2-inch border around all the outside edges. Re-roll the cake, and place on a platter, seam-side down. Cover and chill for 2 hours.

Before serving, sprinkle the top with 1 tablespoon more organic powdered sugar (which I unfortunately forgot to do!). Cut the cake into 14 slices, each of which is 260 calories. Despite the several difficulties I encountered, I had fun making this and it was delicious!


Cost:
banana $1.00
hazelnut-chocolate spread $10.95