Making Mom's Chocolate Cream Roll

A conversation:

"Ma, guess what I'm making?"

"Something spicy?"

"Surprisingly no. But I did make Cuban style chicken soup that had a zip to it, but it wasn't spicy, per se. I made chocolate cream roll!"

...Waiting for the same level of excitement to be shown back for my utmost in accomplishments.

Pause.

"How did it turn out?"

Well... Contrary to what certain people think, I have never presented myself as any kind of culinary expert. I know my way around a kitchen, but would never pretend to be a chef. I like to cook foods that the everyday person can do, mostly using items they can get at a local grocer or ethnic market. I think this is one of the explanations for Rachael Ray's popularity. She is no food snob and never went to "chef's school". She is just a great cook.

Case in point: while mixing up this cake batter, I did not read the recipe carefully before starting and added 3/4 cup of cocoa powder rather than flour. I then had to make up some liquid and some flour. I added a little buttermilk and about 1/2 cup flour. The cake turned out just fine! It tastes JUST like mom used to make. But it sure didn't roll up like hers do, mine broke. Good thing I whipped up extra whipped cream to cover it.

This is the original recipe: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?memberId=65560&articleId=281474977549385

Baking the cake. When this came out perfectly at 20 minutes, I let out a big sigh of relief.

Rollin' rollin'

Slicing off some samples for Quality Assurance purposes:

This piece passes.

Hand me a tall glass of skim. I'm eating!