Roll, roll, roll away...

I was on a swiss roll baking fenzy few months back after I bought this chinese book 孟老師的美味蛋糕卷 by Elyn. When I received the book from my mail box, I was so thrilled and really love the book so much that I began reading right from the beginning on the introductory and tips on swiss roll making, and flipped through the pages over and over again, just to drool at the beautiful pictures of the swiss rolls. The book wasn't light, but I did not mind bringing the book to work so that I could read it while I'm travelling to work on the train, after which I would complain that my bag was too heavy and why on earth am I bringing such heavy book to work.

The funny thing was, despite I love this book, I only tried one of its chocolate swiss roll recipe, and it was superb! However, that was not what I am blogging about for this post. I'd wanted to go according to date to blog about the earlier two swiss rolls again from "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida. I think this was one of a cookbook which I had attempted most of the recipes, due to the well written recipes with clear instruction and pretty pictures. I have to admit I'm very visual when it comes to cook books and food.

This was a basic sponge swiss roll. The ingredients are so simple that I doubt it would turn out anything fabulous. But I attempted this because on that day, I was tempted to bake a swiss roll, but was lazy or press of time (I couldn't remember) that I just wanted to find a simple recipe that would not require beating twice in separate bowls (if using the chiffon cake method). I contemplated for quite a while before finally decided to give it a try. I have confidence in her recipes, so I thought I should be able to churn out a swiss roll, the only thing was the texture. Without oil, butter, milk or any cornstarch but just three basic ingredients - 3 eggs, 60g castor sugar and 50g of pastry flour (sifted twice), and beating as you would for a genoise - beating eggs and sugar over a double boiler until light before folding in the flour. Wouldn't the roll turn out dry? So I believe you would now know why i hesitated.

So how did it turn out? Well, it was dry, but was quite soft and roll-friendly. Haha.. As you can see from the texture, the texture is quite coarse, due to the lack of oil/butter and milk as a tenderiser. This recipe, as used in Keiko's book, is for a banana swiss roll, where the roll is wrapped over a banana, and can be used for cake base or cake layers. In fact this recipe exist as one of the basic recipes at the front pages. So, I shouldn't have used it purely for a swiss roll. It would be better used as a base such that the sponge itself doesn't take centerstage of a piece of cake. :)

Alright the other swiss roll that I made was this dark brown sugar swiss roll with white chocolate cream. Using dark brown sugar, this swiss roll has an interesting taste that doesn't feel too sugarly sweet. The texture was soft and fine and just one bite into it, my friends' comment was nice! :) What I like about this recipe is that althought it separates the egg whites and yolks, it doesn’t require you to make the egg yolk batter and meringue separately as you would for a chiffon cake. You make the meringue, fold in beaten egg yolk, followed by the flour and melted butter, all in one bowl. This method is new to me as it is not introduced in any one of the 5 method introduced in 孟老師的美味蛋糕卷, yet the texture was really soft, moist and easily rolled without cracks even though I rolled it with the baked surface on the outside.

The sad thing was I didn’t allow the white chocolate cream to chill overnight, causing the cream to melt soon after it was out of the fridge. :(

I'd recommend this recipe for those who have been making a swiss roll but have yet to try a method like this. :)

Recipe for white chocolate cream

150g whipping cream
50g white chocolate

Recipe for sponge cake

40g pastry flour
15g rice flour
40g unsalted butter
70g dark brown sugar
4 egg whites (about 140g)
20g castor sugar
5 egg yolks (about 90g), beaten

Method

1. Prepare white chocolate cream one day in advance. In a saucepan, bring whipping cream to a boil. Place whie chocolate to a boil and pour hot cream over. Wait for 30 seconds, then stir the mixture with a spatula until smooth. Set aside to cool, then chill in the refrigerator to overnight.
2. On day of baking, preheat oven to 200°C. Line a sheet of swiss roll pan with parchment paper. Sift both flours twice.
3. Melt butter in a double boiler or microwave. Set aside.
4. Make meringue. Place egg whites into a clean bowl and beat until foamy. Add castor sugar and 1/3 of the brown sugar and continue beating for a few minutes, then add remaining brown sugar and beat until egg whites are glossy and stiff peaks form.
5. Add beaten egg yolks and fold lightly. Add flour and fold gently with a spatula, then add hot melted butter and fold through.
6. Pour batter into a prepared pan and spread evenly with a scraper. Bake for 10-13 minutes.
7. When done, unmould the cake from pan and place into a plastic bag to cool. (The recipe says it can be kept in the plastic bag until the next day if you do not intend to roll it that day).
8. To assemble, whip white chocolate cream until light and fluffy using an electric handheld mixer. Turn cooled sponge onto a clean work surface. Peel off the parchment paper and spread the whipped cream evenly.
9. Gently roll up the sponge to make a swiss roll. Chill in the freezer to allow the swiss roll to set before slicing into pieces.

Recipe adapted from: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida