Basic Cake Roll

Cake Roll with cherries and whipped cream

This is one of the most amazingly cake  I have ever baked. Because of the fine air pockets, the cake was very flexible and could withstand rough handling during rolling without suffering any cracks.

The cake was light and spongy even though it appears relatively thick. It was a delight to roll and unroll even for the amateur in me.

For the filling, I used some leftover whipped cream and canned cherries but otherwise, the sky's the limit.

This is the by far the best recipe for the basic cake roll and definitely the new cake roll standard for me.

From NasiLemakLover  with slight modifications.

Ingredients :

One 26 cm by 26 cm shallow tray lined  with parchment paper.

5 egg yolks 

50g soya bean oil

50g milk

20g fine sugar

85g cake flour

5 egg white

1/4tsp cream of tartar

50g fine sugar

Filling :

100 ml Whipped cream + 2 Tbsp fine sugar, whisked until stiff

1 cup of chopped cherries

Method :

Preheat the oven to 160C, with baking rack.

In a rounded mixing bowl, use a hand whisk to whisk egg yolk with sugar  until sugar is dissolved.

Manually whisk in the oil to emulsify oil and egg.

Manually whisk in the milk until yolk batter is homogenous.

Sieve  cake flour over the yolk batter , fold to combine. Set aside.

In a separate mixing bowl, use an electric whisk to whisk cream of tartar and egg white at low speed.

Whisk until foamy.

Slowly whisk in sugar until it forms  stiff peaks, about 5-6 minutes. I started  from low speed and crank up to high speed halfway through the whisking.

Transfer 1/3 portion of the egg white to the egg yolk batter. Use a hand whisk to fold the egg white into the egg yolk mixture until mixture is light and less thick.

Fold the remaining  egg white  into the egg yolk with a spatula, in 4 batches. Fold  until  the white is incorporated into the yolk batter.

Pour the final batter on the prepared tray. Level off the batter with a spatula.

Bake at 160C for 25mins. Skewer pierced into the center of the cake should come out clean. Do not over bake.

To assemble the cake roll :

Prepare 2 new pieces of parchment paper. Work while the cake is hot.

Carefully invert the baked sponge cake, uneven surface onto parchment paper #1.

Remove the original parchment  lining the tray from the cake.

Place parchment paper #2 over the sponge. Invert the sponge  back again. Remove parchment #1. The uneven cake surface will again be facing you.

Make very shallow cuts across ( from your left to your right ) the uneven cake surface, 1 inch apart. This surface will be the inside of the cake roll.

Roll up the cake for 5 minutes to set the shape, using parchment #2 to hold the log, for 5 minutes.

Unroll the cake. Spread whipped cream and dot with berries on the cut side of the cake.

Finally roll up the cake again to make a roll. Secure the roll with parchment #2, like a cracker. Chill the cake for at least 30 minutes before serving.