Raspberry Swiss Roll

I was in a baking mood tonight!

I guess non-bakers will be surprised as to how I can gather enough energy after a full day's work in the office - 8am to 6pm, and then put in another hour or 2 in the kitchen. I even managed to include 30 minutes to walk my 2 doggies prior to baking. They were certainly happy that "mum" was in a upbeat mood tonight!

This evening I contemplated between doing cupcakes or something easier - with less cleaning after that. I hate washing up ... I really do! So I picked the 2nd option and decided to try a swiss roll. I've never done one before and didn't even know where to start. But then again I'm always up for a challenge.

I browsed the internet (what would we do without the internet!) when I got home to search for a raspberry swiss roll recipe ... don't forget I still have quite a bit of raspberries left over from my previous two baking escapades. All the recipes that I came across had similar ingredients and method of preparation.

I must say that I was very pleased with the outcome .. it was light and the raspberries went very well with the sponge cake. I'm certainly going to try variations of this in the future. For the filing, I used 1 cup frozen raspberries, added 1/2 cup sugar and brought it to a slow simmer until the sauce thicken a bit. I added about 1 teaspoon of cornstarch to further thicken the jam.




Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
1 tspn vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose
1 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn salt
Powdered Confectioner's sugar - for dusting
2/3 cup spreadable raspberry jelly/jam (or any other filling of your choice)

Method:

1) Heat oven to 375 deg F.

2) Line a baking pan, preferably (15 × 10 × 1) inches, with cooking parchment paper or aluminum foil. Spray with non-stick cooking spray or brush with melted butter.

3) Beat eggs in small bowl with electric mixer on high speed for about 5 minutes or until very thick and lemon colored.

4) Gradually beat in the granulated sugar.

5) Beat in water and vanilla on low speed.

6) Finally add the flour, baking powder and salt, beating just until batter is smooth.

7) Pour into the prepared pan, spreading out well to form a thin even layer. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes (NOT MORE) until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

8) Spread a clean kitchen towel on the platform and sprinkle some powdered sugar on it. Now loosen the edges of the cake, then turn the whole pan upside down upon the towel. Carefully remove the paper from the top.

9) Trim off the hard edges of the cake, and while its hot, carefully roll cake lengthwise from one end to the other. Keep the roll as tight as possible, but apply very little pressure so as not to crack the cake a lot.

10) Refrigerate the rolled cake for about 30 minutes. Remove the cake from fridge and unroll it gently and remove the towel.

11) Beat the raspberry jelly/jam slightly to soften; it's better to use a spreadable jelly. Now spread it evenly over the cake. Do NOT use a lot of jelly as it would ooze out of the cake once you finish rolling it up again. Now again roll up the cake, which should be fairly easier this time.

12) Serve with a dusting of icing sugar. If not serving immediately, place roll in the refrigerator - dust with icing sugar only when ready to serve.

Check out below clip: