A swiss roll with a generous swirl of jam and even cream is a real luxury and something that has been enjoyed at tea for well over a century.
The Swiss Roll is also a good baking test. You may have seen it on the Bake-Off competition. I would always advise looking out for it in Mary Berry’s book, My Kitchen Table: 100 Cakes and Bakes because it has the honour of being her second recipe after her signature Victoria Sponge.
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Preparation time:Cooking time:
Serves 6
Ingredients:
- butter, to grease baking tins
- 3 – 4 large eggs lightly beaten
- 125g/4½oz caster sugar, plus extra 2 tbsp to dust
- 100g/4oz self-raising flour, sifted/sieved
- 100ml whipped cream (optional)
- 100g/½ jar/4 tbsp strawberry or raspberry jam
Preparation:
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan/356ºF/gas 4 or 220ºC/200ºC/fan 7.
- Lightly grease the base of an 18 x 28cm or 33cm x 23cm Swiss roll tin with butter.
- Cut a sheet of baking parchment or greaseproof paper to fit the base of the tin exactly. Grease the paper as best you can with more soft butter, then dust with caster sugar and flour. Some bakers use vegetable oil and use a brush but that leads to the danger of a slightly oily cake surface.
- Whisk the sugar and eggs into a large bowl and whisk with an electric hand whisk for 10 minutes, until pale, slightly fluffy and thick enough for the mixture to leave a trail when the whisk is lifted out.
- The flour is added in two batches. Sift half the flour into the mixture and fold it in very carefully with a large metal spoon until no traces of flour are left. Repeat with the remaining flour. You can also fold in a tbsp of warm water as this helps with reducing the viscosity of the mixture when it comes to spreading.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and use a spatula to smooth it evenly into the corners. Mary Berry suggests turning the mixture in the tin and then shaking so that the mixture finds its own level and that it spreads itself into the four corners. It’s important to take your time and do it gently.
- Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes at whichever temperature so that the sponge turns a golden brown and shrinks slightly from the edges. Check it is firm to the touch. The hotter the oven the shorter the time needed but it does need some watching as overbaking causes the sponge to break when it is rolled up. Place the tray in the centre of the oven.
- Measure up a piece of baking paper which is slightly bigger than the size of the tin.
- Sprinkle 2 tbsp caster sugar over this square of baking parchment. Lay it out on a flat damp clean towel.
- Warm the jam in the microwave for 20 secs.
- Run a knife around the edge of the warm sponge and then turn out (invert) the baked sponge onto the sugared paper. Peel off the baking paper. Trim off the edges of the sponge and spread the sponge with the warm jam. Leave a little border of clean sponge around the edge.
- Let the jam cool and then add the whipped cream if that is your idea. Warm cream will just run everywhere so its a tricky step here.
- Make an incision about 1cm in from the short edge near you, being careful not to cut through the cake: this makes it easier to roll up. The incision is there to help with the first turn.
- Roll up from the short edge using the paper to help you then cool on a wire rack.
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