Quick and Easy: Strawberry Roll with Vanilla Buttercream

Basic sponge with the addition of strawberry paste

I have a love-hate relatsionship with swiss rolls. I love them but they just refuse to work with me. Each time I make swiss rolls, there's bound to be something that goes wrong when I'm baking, or the cake just doesn't turn out as I hoped it would. This time (probably my 12th attempt or so), it turned out just right. No gaping holes in the cake, texture was soft, fluffy and fine (even straight out of the fridge), and it didn't crack when I rolled it up. Here are some tips for a better swiss roll:

1. Use cakeflour to produce a finer crumb.
2. Use canola/corn oil and not butter, as butter tends to make the cake a little heavy, and is also more difficult to fold into the batter.
3. Whisk eggs over a simmering water bath until just above body temperature. Remove from heat and continue on high speed until light and fluffy, then reduce speed and whisk for 3 minutes or until there are no longer large bubbles in the mixture (and reaches ribbon stage of course). Total whisking time about 10 minutes.
4. Sift flour over the egg mixture a little at at time and fold in gently from the surface down.
5. Trim off all four edges of the cake so that it's less prone to cracking when you roll it up, plus you get a nicer finish.
6. I think it's easier to roll up this time because I used buttercream, which tends to be stiffer and a little "sticky" compared to fresh whipped cream. That provides some grip when rolling the cake so that the cream doesn't run everywhere.

Swiss Roll Recipe

Ingredients

4 large eggs (59g each)
120g caster sugar
1 tsp strawberry paste (optional)
100g cake flour
5 tbsp canola oil


Method

Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease and line a 23cm x 33cm swiss roll pan.

Using hand held electric beaters/mixer, whisk eggs and sugar in a large metal bowl over a pot of simmering water until it reaches about 40°C. Use the back of your finger to test and it should be just lukewarm. Remove from heat and continue whisking until it reaches ribbon stage and there are no longer large bubbles in the mixture. Add flavourings, if any, at this stage and whisk it in well.

Fold in the flour gently until well combined, then drizzle the oil around the edge of the bowl. Fold in the oil gently, cutting through the batter each time and ensure it's well mixed. Pour into pan and smooth it out, and bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned, springs back to touch and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from pan and transfer to a cooling rack. When cool, peel off baking paper.

Take a new sheet of baking paper and place the cake skinside down onto it. Place a heavy chopping board at the end of the cake to stop it from slipping away when you roll the cake. Use a serrated knife and lightly score the side of the cake nearest to you, twice, 1 cm apart. Bend in this end gently until it's flexible enough to roll. Spread the cake with cream (refrigerate the cream first if it's too soft) or any other filling and roll it up. Roll up again in aluminium foil and twist the ends like a candy wrapper, ensuring it's tightly rolled. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving.

Filling used is a simple vanilla buttercream