Recipe- Homemade Swiss Roll To Brighten Up Your Day

Let’s do something we all love but nobody makes anymore. Even people who have no interest in baking often lament the demise of the Swiss roll.

It’s the type of cake you could drop into an elderly neighbour who will put it ceremoniously on a china plate and eat it with a fork. They may reminisce about a point in time where ladies competed for the annual prize for the best Swiss roll, the type of event that also had a prize for bonniest baby. There was even a special Swiss roll baking tin with right angled sides which was in constant use in our home for flapjacks, caramel squares and shortbread.

A classic Swiss roll is a thin, light sponge cake rolled while hot around a raspberry jam filling. It is known as a jelly roll in the US, in France as a gateau roulé, in Germany as biscuit rolle and in Spain as brazo de gitano. Fillings vary and I like adding whipped cream – lemon curd and buttercream are popular too.

Ingredients

Butter to grease
2 large eggs
50 grams caster sugar plus extra 2 tbsp to dust
50 grams self-raising flour sieved
100 grams strawberry jam

Method

* To make a swiss roll, first, beat the eggs and sugar together for 5 mins with an electric hand whisk until thick and pale.

* Gently fold in the flour in two batches using a large metal spoon.

* Meanwhile, heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas

* Grease and line a 16 x 28cm Swiss roll tin with baking parchment.

* Pour the mixture into the tin and gently ease into the corners.

* Bake for 10-12 mins until golden and firm. Be careful not to over-bake, or the sponge will break when rolled.

* While the sponge is baking, sprinkle 2 tbsp sugar over a square of baking parchment.

* Turn the baked sponge onto the sugared paper. Peel off the lining paper and roll it while it's still warm.

* This is the most important step as this makes sure that the sponge doesn't break when it's being rolled.

* Rolling when it's warm ensures that the sponge retains the muscle memory of being rolled up.

* Let it cool down in it's rolled form.

* Once it is cooled, unroll it and spread the jam and roll it back up.

* Let it set in the refrigerator for an hour.

* Cut the slices up and lo and behold you have it ready.