Strawberry Swiss Roll

This swiss roll was made some time back after chinese new year. After all the baking of cookies, I yearned to bake a cake. Yup, I still prefer to bake cakes, as baking cookies is more time consuming, when I need to bake batch by batch; and cakes are more popular with my family, as well as myself.

After having many unsuccessful attempts with rolling swiss roll, I decided to go for a recipe that uses 3 eggs instead of 4, which I felt could reduce the thickness of the cake sheet, thus making it easier to roll. I adapted the recipe from Zu's - Quick 'n' Easy Treats, and made my own adjustments by adding some strawberry emulco and colouring.

Ingredients:

3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup caster sugar (I reduced it to slightly less than 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup self-raising flour. sifted
1/4 cup corn flour, sifted
2 tbsp hot milk
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp strawberry emulco
2 drops of pink colouring

Strawberry jam (filling)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Sift both flours together and set aside.
Place egg whites in a clean, dry bowl and beat till soft peaks form.
Add sugar slowly and continue beating till think and glossy.
Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition followed by strawberry emulco and colouring.
Lightly fold in flour with milk till well combined.
Add melted butter and lightly mix till no streaks.
Pour batter into a greased and lined swiss roll pan (mine is 14 inch by 11 inch) and bake for 8-10 minutes or when a toothpuck inserted at the centre comes out clean.
Leave the cake in the tin for about 5 minutes and remove it from the tin to cool.
When still slightly warm, spread with strawberry jam, and roll it tightlywith a tea towel or greaseproof paper.
Leave it wrapped for about 10 minutes.
Slice and serve.

Note: If you are using whipped cream, it may melt when the cake is still warm. Thus, one way would be to roll and leave it for some time, then unroll and filled it with cream again. I have not personally tried this method but have seen many using this method.

Recipe Source: Quick 'n' Easy Treats From Zu's Kitchen

As you can see, it almost cracked at the bottom and I did not roll it tight enough. I wished I had rolled it tighter so tha it would have a nicer round log shape. :(

Nevertheless, it's my most successful attempt! The sponge cake recipe is very good; soft and moist. The cake s indeed easier to roll with 3 eggs, which is just right for my pan.
I'll definitely try this recipe again! Will practice my rolling.......;)