A Swiss Roll Cake is a thin rectangular cake made in a jelly roll pan that you fill with some kind of creamy goodness and roll it into a log shape. They are the basis for some wonderful desserts like the Buche de Noel.
I had never made one of these before and thought it would be pretty tricky. But as it turns out it was a piece of cake (pun intended). The only tricky bit is making sure you don’t overcook the cake because if it dries out, it will be impossible to roll without crumbling.
I participated in the July Daring Bakers Challenge where we made a Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake using this cake as the foundation for the dish.
Swiss Roll Cakes
Ingredients:
- 6 eggs
- 1 cupsugar, plus extra for rolling
- 6 tablespoons flour
- 5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
- 2 tablespoons boiling water
- Oil for the pans
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Brush a jelly roll pan with a little bit of oil and line with parchment paper. (Note: If you only have one pan, bake one cake, let the pan cool completely and back the second cake)
In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat until very thick. When the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for 10 seconds or more.
Sift together the flour and cocoa. Add the flour mixture to the eggs and fold in gently, one third of the the flour at a time. Fold in the boiling water. Do not overmix!
Divide the batter between the two pans and spread it out evenly into the corners of the pans.
Place the pans in the center of the pre-heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes, just until the center is springy to the touch. Do not overbake or you won’t be able to roll the cake.
Spread a clean tea towel out on the counter and sprinkle a little layer of sugar over it so the cake doesn’t stick. Turn the cake out on to the tea towel and peel away the parchment paper. Trim off any crisp edges. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start rolling the cake with the towel inside.
Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down. Repeat the same process for the next cake.
Orange Cream Filling
Ingredients:
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups heavy cream
- Zest from 1/2 orange
Directions:
Process the sugar in a food processor, blender or immersion blender to make the sugar very fine.
In a large bowl, add the cream, sugar and orange zest and beat until it forms stiff peaks.
Assembling the cakes:
Open the rolls and spread half of the cream onto each cake leaving about a 1/2 inch border around each side.
Roll the cakes up again (without the towel this time). Wrap in plastic and chill seam side down for a few hours.
Slice into servings and garnish with a little bit of powdered sugar.
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