raspberry cream roulade
JUMP TO RECIPE -
A Swiss roll, jelly roll, or cream roll – it can be filled with buttercream, mascarpone or whipped cream plus any seasonal or frozen fruit. Truth be told, it’s lovely even rolled around good jam.
But I was really worried that the thing wouldn’t roll. The recipe, taken from Joy of Baking and scaled down to fit my 23 x 20cm tin, was slightly confusing: ‘invert the cake onto a clean dish towel. Remove the parchment paper and roll up the sponge, with the towel’.
Go figure? Do you roll the sponge INSIDE the towel or just roll it with the help of the towel? A heated discussion with my volunteer sous-chef ensued, I opted for rolling the towel, the sponge and all, while sous-chef deemed it a silly idea which would result in the cake sticking to towel. I argued that it would actually PREVENT it from sticking, what with the icing sugar dusting. Finally – being the open-minded, happy to accept advice person that I am - I left the towel alone. It rolled. It more importantly unrolled when cool and didn’t stick or crack to pieces.
Another cause for worry was that the frozen raspberries I was using would be too wet and make the whole cake soggy so I really fannied about with sieve, paper towels and trays to drain the moisture. Unnecessary – probably. There was no sogginess and the whole thing was so utterly delishhh that half of it disappeared before the washing up was done.
- INGREDIENTS
- For the sponge:
- 3 large eggs
- 24g plain flour
- 20g corn flour
- 66g plus 10g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar
- a pinch of salt
- icing sugar
- For the cream filling:
- 200ml double or whipping cream, chilled
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 100g fresh or frozen and thawed raspberries
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/gas 8. Prepare a Swiss roll flat tin or similar, 23 x 30cm, by lining it with baking parchment.
Separate two of the three eggs; place the two egg whites in one bowl and the two yolks and the whole egg in another. Add the 66g caster sugar to the egg and yolks and beat on high speed for about five minutes until pale and fluffy and ribbons form over the surface when the beaters are lifted. Add the vanilla extract and beat in.
Mix the flour with the corn flour and sift over the egg mixture in two goes, folding it in gently with a spatula after each addition.
Change the mixer attachment to a whisk (balloon on the standing mixer) and beat the egg whites until foamy, add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add the 10g of sugar and beat until the mixture forms stiff peaks (a good trick is to turn the bowl upside down – if the egg whites stay in, they’re done. If they fall out, you have to start over again…).
Fold a small amount of the egg whites into the egg yolk mix with a spatula, to loosen it up. Then add the rest of the egg whites and fold carefully not to deflate it, small streaks of white are acceptable. Pour it into the prepared tin smoothing the surface with a spatula.
Bake for 6 – 8 minutes, when you press the surface with your finger, it should spring back. It will have puffed up considerably.
Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle generously with icing sugar, cover with a clean tea towel and invert the cake onto the towel. Peel the parchment off carefully, sprinkle with icing sugar and roll up tightly from the long side, helping yourself with the towel. Place on a wire rack to cool.
If using frozen raspberries, defrost them completely and drain the excess moisture on paper towels. Pour the cream into a clean (preferably also chilled) bowl, add the sugar and beat to soft peaks. Fold the raspberries in gently, so that the cream is streaky but some chunks remain.
Unroll the sponge and spread the cream over it evenly with a spatula. Re-roll the sponge as tightly as you can and place on a serving tray, dust with more icing sugar before serving.
Published on
Saturday, 3 January, 2015