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Swiss Roll Cake Recipe
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Strawberry Short Cake Roll

This Strawberry Short Cake Roll recipe and the accompanying tips will help make your first (or fiftieth) Strawberry Short Cake Roll cake a success!
Course Cake, Dessert
Cuisine British
Keyword Strawberry Cake Roll, Strawberry Short Cake Roll, Swiss Roll
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 12 servings
Calories 361kcal
Author Rebecca Swanner

Ingredients

Swiss Roll Cake

  • 125 g caster sugar plus 2 Tbsp. for dusting parchment
  • 130 g all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 4 large eggs room temperature
  • 1/8 tsp. vanilla

Strawberries and Cream Filling

  • 1/2 cup strawberry jam
  • 200 ml heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 cup strawberries diced

Instructions

Swiss Roll Cake

  • Create caster sugar if needed by pulsing granulated sugar 15 times in a food processor. Set aside.
  • Line 8"x 12" or 9" x13" pan with parchment paper.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Sift flour and salt together in medium bowl.
  • Separate egg yolks and egg whites into separate bowls.
  • Add caster sugar and vanilla to egg yolks. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
  • Whip egg whites on high until they have soft peaks using standing or handheld mixer and whisk attachment. Scrape into clean bowl and clean mixer.
  • Whip egg yolk mixture on high for approximately 5 minutes until the mixture has grown 3 to 4 times in size and batter has reached the ribbon stage. If you remove the whisk, you should be able to draw a figure 8 with the batter and have it hold for 4-5 seconds before it disappears.
  • Fold in the flour mixture.
  • Fold in the egg white mixture.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared pan, even with an offset spatula, and bang it against the counter twice.
  • Bake for 10 minutes. If not fully baked at 10, you can go up to 12.
  • Meanwhile, lay a piece of parchment on the counter and dust it with 2 Tbsp. of caster sugar.
  • When the cake is baked, carefully flip it immediately onto the parchment paper and remove the parchment paper it was baked on.
  • Score the short end closest to you 1/2" from the end. Fold the parchment closest to you over this end, and begin to slowly roll up the Swiss Roll cake until the whole cake is rolled.
  • Let the Swiss Roll Cake cool completely rolled in the parchment.
  • When the cake is completely cool, add filling. Carefully unroll the cake and spread jam (or your desired filling) on the cake, leaving a 2" gap from one short end and a 1" gap on the long sides.
  • Spread the whipped cream on top. Top with strawberries.
  • Carefully re-roll the cake. Some filling may come out. Chill cake for 20 minutes in fridge. Slice 1/2" off each end to show off filling. Pipe additional cream on top if desired.

Strawberries and Cream Filling

  • Combine heavy cream and powdered sugar in mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Whip on high until mixture is thick and resembles whipped cream.

Notes

How to Roll a Strawberry Short Cake Roll and Other Tips

This is the short version of what you need to know, but should be enough to help you be successful the first time:
1. Time and patience are your friends.
Don't make a Swiss Roll when you're in a hurry or after a long week.
2. Have the right size pan.
Most recipes I saw called for a 20 cm x 30 cm pan, which is about 8" x 12". I baked mine in a 9" x 13" pan because that was the smallest size they had at the store, and it turned out OK. But, I will be ordering this Swiss Roll tin from Amazon for the next time I make one, though. Also, do not use a jelly roll pan if you're following one of the British recipe or the recipe below. Unless you adjust the measurements, you're going to end up with a very very thin sponge and be in a world of hurt. (See photo of first Strawberry Short Cake Roll.)
3. Get the right ingredients.
This sounds like an obvious one, but granulated sugar is different than caster sugar and it seems to make a difference. I could be wrong, but after the first Strawberry Short Cake Roll fail, I wasn't taking any chances. But you don't have to buy caster sugar. Just pour granulated sugar into your food processor, pulse 15 times, and you'll have caster sugar. Also, pick up a kitchen scale. It does make baking a little fussier, but you'll be glad you did. I use this $9 one.
4. Don't overbake the cake.
You don't want to underbake the cake because then it'll be gooey and won't roll, but if you overbake it, it will be dry to eat and crack when you try and roll it. Bake it until it looks set and springs back just a little to the touch.
5. Roll the cake immediately.
Some recipes call to cover the roll with a damp cloth. But, I found that rolling the cake immediately was more effective as I didn't have any cracks in my two second attempt Strawberry Short Cake Roll. When you put the Strawberry Short Cake Roll cake in the oven, lay a piece of parchment on your counter and dust it with two tablespoons of caster sugar. As soon as you remove the cake from the oven, carefully flip it over onto the prepared parchment paper, leaving 2" to 3" of parchment on the edge closest to you. Then, peel off the parchment paper you baked the cake on. On one of the short sides, score the cake with a sharp knife 1/2" from the edge. Fold the parchment over this edge and begin to slowly roll the cake into a tight roll. Go slowly. Set the cake aside to cool completely rolled up in parchment. You might have to take care that you've placed it in a way so it doesn't unroll.
6. Choose the right filling.
The first Strawberry Short Cake Roll I made completely absorbed the whipped cream filling. This resulted in a very moist, yummy cake, but it didn't look so hot. To avoid this on my second attempt, I first spread a protective layer of jam on the sponge, then topped it with the cream filling (and then the strawberries). This prevented the cake from absorbing the cream. The cookie dough filling was thick enough to not be absorbed (for the most part), though. If you want to do a cream frosting, I would either spread the cake with enough so if the cake absorbs some, you still have plenty to create the rolled look, or spread a layer of jam on the sponge before adding the cream. The former results in a moister cake, so if I make another one, I'll probably skip the jam and make one-and-a-half times the cream.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 361kcal | Carbohydrates: 62g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g