I had just made a rolled pumpkin cake and it turned out so well, I asked Eric if I could make him a chocolate rolled cake for his birthday. His birthday happens to land on Thanksgiving this year so we are kind of celebrating on different days before and after it since most places will be closed. I still wanted him to have a cake though, even though he will probably be enjoying some pie on his actual birthday.  It is tradition I make him a birthday cake or dessert every year.  Five out of the seven years we have been together it has been a chocolate cake because he is the biggest chocolate lover I know.  I have made raw cheesecakes, baked layer cakes, molten chocolate cakes but not a rolled chocolate cake yet.  I told Eric the idea for the cake and he liked it, especially when I described it as being like a giant Hoho cake.  But it would be way better than those little snack cakes we ate growing up because it would be made with better real ingredients.  I always thought those tasted a little bit off.
For the cake portion, I made my fruit sweetened chocolate cake.  First, because I like to make fruit sweetened cakes as much as possible because they are better for you, and second because they always stay nice and moist.  When I make fruit sweetened cakes, I make them with dates usually blended up in the batter.  They give it a little bit of a caramel flavor too which is amazing with chocolate.  I have been making them this way for a few years now and they always turn out lov...