Saturday 14 June 2014

Sweet Roulade/Swiss Roll


Sweet Roulade


Also referred to as a swiss roll this dessert is elegant and delicious. Originally filled with a layer of jam and rolled up, it is now available in every variation, with chocolate and cream marketed extensively. It is believed that the English based cookbooks had a swiss roll published as early as 1870's.  A roulade can be meringue or cake based while the 'swiss roll' only refers to a cake rolled with a thin layer of cream, chocolate or jam.

It can be fairly easy to make. The flavours are so fresh the perfect way to end a casual dinner on a balmy night.Try adding a creamy blue cheese; available in a variety of peach, apricot and other fruits it will take it up a notch. 




Simple Lemon filling 









Prepare a large baking sheet, generally 15X 9 inches. Parchment paper, butter and flour will do the trick.
Preheat the oven to 375F/190C degrees.



Ingredients
4 large eggs at room temperature
1/2 tsp salt
3/4th cup sugar
1/2 cup twice sifted all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon zest
 tsp vanilla

Method
Beat the eggs till they are a pale lemon coloured, light and airy, tripled in volume. This will take a good 12-15 minutes by an electric beater. 
Lower the beater to stir, or stop and fold in with a  metal spoon by hand. First put half the dry ingredients, gently fold. Sprinkle the liquid. Fold. Add the remaining dry ingredients. Fold.
Pour into prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Test with a skewer to make sure it is baked. The skewer should be clean. Do not overcook or it will be dry.

 Keep a tea towel spread out on your kitchen counter sprinkled with icing sugar or fine sugar.

Remove the ready roll and immediately turn it over on the towel, start from the edge of the towel. Lift the tray and peel the paper. Roll the cake starting from the edge closest to yourself. It will roll easily. Use the thumbs to push it from beneath the towel. Tuck in the sides of the tea towel and leave to cool and assemble until you need it.
Do not refrigerate.

Filling
250gms/8 ozs/1 cup mascarpone cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup passion fruit curd
1/2 cup lemon curd
1 tbsp limoncillo
pinch of salt

In a bowl beat the mascarpone cheese with a pinch of salt. Fold in the passionfruit and lemon curds. Add a dash of limoncillo.
It should be soft and fluffy.

Roll out the cake. Tip over all the filling and spread evenly. Roll the cake with the filling. Nudge gently and it will go back to rolling easily. keep it covered with the tea towel until you need to serve. 
Decorate it with some of the curd drizzling it all over.

Tips
For the more adventurous, add a 1/2 cup of a blue and fruity cream cheese. There are some available in apricot and peach. 
It is fine on its own, but you can serve it with mixed berries, nuts or even some melted chocolate.
Assemble only a couple of hours prior to serving as it dries up in the fridge and can melt if the weather is too hot.
Use only one kind of curd if you prefer.
Any left over extra curd can be applied to the cake in a thin layer before the filling.
Thin down the curd in the bottle to use as a drizzle. Use lemon juice or liqueur.
If you do not have Limoncillo, Gin is a brilliant substitute! Made from Juniper berries it is the fruitiest.
Add vanilla to the filling if you like.
If you don't feel brave enough to roll, make the cake in two 9 inch cake pans and layer them with the filling. Cover the top with your berries. Allow it to drip all over the sides. It looks amazing.
Use the same filling on a pavlova. It tastes and looks great.
Serve with berries.


 To read about an ancient cuisine you can purchase my cookbooks called The World of Parsi Cooking; Food Across Borders and The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine.  

Photo Courtesy
Farah A

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