Who doesn´t love a swiss roll cake, especially when it is filled with the winning combination of strawberries and cream?!?!
A perfect swiss roll cake can be quite tricky to make. A perfect version will have no cracks and should reveal a perfect swirl when you cut into it!
How do you make a Swiss Roll Cake?
The perfect swiss roll cake starts with a well-made sponge. In this recipe, I have used a fatless sponge which requires only 3 ingredients: eggs, caster sugar, and self-raising flour!
The first step, whisking together the eggs and the sugar, is the most important one, as this will produce the volume of your final cake mix. You must be patient and whisk the eggs and sugar until very pale, fluffy and the mixture reaches the ribbon stage. I´d say you need to use an electric whisk to achieve this, as it would be very hard to beat in enough air by hand.
It is crucial, to gently fold in the flour in the next step, trying to keep in as much air as possible.
Achieving the perfect roll...
To create the perfect roll, the cake cannot be over-baked. It doesn´t take long to bake, only between 8 and 10 minutes – so keep your eye on it!
Once you remove the swiss roll cake from the oven, you have to roll it up immediately whilst it is still hot – this should also stop it from cracking.
You can then unroll the cake again once it´s cool, fill it with the strawberry jam and whipped cream and then re-roll the cake. Don´t be tempted to over-fill the swiss roll cake, or all the filling will start oozing out.
In this recipe I used shop-bought jam, however, you could also make your own if you wanted to. Also, feel free to change the flavour of the jam, a nice raspberry or cherry jam would also go really well with this swiss roll cake.
More Recipes:
As well as serving this swiss roll cake for afternoon tea, you could also use it as the sponge component of a trifle, an iconic British dessert.
For more classic British baking recipes, why not try making this Lemon Drizzle Cake or Easy Carrot Cake Traybake?
Swiss Roll Cake
with Strawberry Jam and Cream
Recipe
Ingredients:
- 4 large eggs
- 110g caster sugar
- 110g self-raising flour
- 4-5 tbsp good-quality strawberry jam
- 100ml whipping cream (or double cream)
- fresh strawberries, to decorate (optional)
YOU WILL ALSO NEED:
- swiss roll tin (21x33cm)
- electric whisk
- piping bag with star nozzle (optional)
Method:
- Grease and line a swiss roll tin with baking paper and preheat the oven to 220°C.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and caster sugar until very pale and frothy. The mixture should reach “ribbon stage”, meaning that the mixture leaves a trail for a few seconds when you lift out the whisk.
- Gently fold in the flour with a spatula or a large spoon, trying to keep in as much air as possible.
- Carefully pour the mixture into the prepared tin, keeping the bowl close to the tray to prevent knocking out too much air. Shake the tin gently so that the mixture evens itself out, and make sure it goes all the way into the corners of the tin.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the cake starts shrinking away from the sides of the tin.
- Whilst the cake is in the oven, sprinkle some caster sugar over a piece of baking paper big enough to fit the swiss roll cake.
- Once the cake is ready, remove it from the oven and immediately turn out onto the prepared sheet of baking paper. Carefully peel off the baking paper used during baking from the cake.
- Make a score mark with a sharp knife about 2 cm away from the shorter edge of the cake, without cutting all the way through. This will help to roll up the cake into a tight swirl.
- The swiss roll is rolled up whilst still warm, to prevent any cracks. Gently roll the cake up in the baking paper from the short, scored side. Leave to cool completely.
- Using the electric whisk, beat the whipping cream on high until the cream forms stiff peaks. If the cream is too runny it won´t hold its shape in the swiss roll.
- Once cool, carefully unroll the cake. Spread over a layer of jam followed by the whipped cream. Leave a slight edge to prevent too much filling oozing out of the cake when you re-roll it. Gently re-roll the cake to form a neat spiral.
- Trim the edges of the cake to create a neat finish.
You can decorate the swiss roll cake to your liking. I piped some extra cream on top, decorated with fresh strawberries and dusted it in icing sugar.
