Jam Roll / Swiss Jam Roll / Jelly Roll

Jam Roll / Swiss Jam Roll / Jelly Roll

I love making Swiss Rolls !! Believe me , they are the most fun type of cake to make . As I told earlier , it just needs few techniques to be perfect . I’m definitely going to share those technique . 🙂 You just need very few ingredients to make it . The cake needs only flour , sugar and egg . yes , few drops of vanilla essence too . And for the filling use cream , jam , fruits whatever you like . But for jam roll , it is only jam .

Ingredients:

3 eggs ( room temperature)
1/3 rd cup of all purpose flour + 2 teaspoon ( level) cornstarch/ corn flour
1/3 rd cup of caster/ powdered sugar
1 tea spoon of vanilla essence

Other ingredients:

Jam , beaten

You need 1 kitchen towel , damp with water and squeeze the water out . You also need a butter paper larger than your pan , dusted with powdered sugar to fold the cake .

Procedure:

1. Pre heat the oven to 375 FH or 190 Centigrade for 20 minutes .

2.Grease a thin pan , usually called jelly roll pan and line with parchment or butter or wax paper . Use rectangular or square pans . The edges of the pan should not be high .

3. Beat the eggs with electric hand mixer/ beater very well at maximum speed , until triple in volume or becomes very stiff and thick . It should be like , when you take the beater out from the batter , it doesn’t drop . Don’t add the sugar while beating the egg . Beat the eggs first . Beating the eggs is very important for Swiss roll . For the perfect texture , many separates the egg yolk and egg white . But you can achieve the same result beating the whole egg well . It took me almost 9-10 minutes to get the right consistency . The eggs should be of room temperature ,otherwise the volume won’t be that much . So beat the eggs until they are triple in volume , are foamy and stiff . When you will see , the mixture doesn’t falls off from the beater , it means you have the right texture .
It should look like this ; the egg is so stiff , it’s not even falling off from the beater;

4. Now beat with sugar , until it dissolves . Another 2/3 minutes, add the vanilla essence .

5. Sieve the flour and cornflour/ cornstarch together . Now fold in with the egg-sugar mixture with a spatula in three batches . Always fold in clock wise motion, that will ensure even mixing . Pour in the pan and immediately transfer it to the pre-heated oven and bake for only 10-12 minutes . Don’t over bake . Check after 10 minutes . it took me 10 minutes .
Always remember while pouring them in the pan , don’t make it a heavy , thick cake . Thick cake will break apart while rolling out . So it should always be a thin layer of batter . But yes not too thin 🙂

6. While the cake is baking, sprinkle some powdered sugar over a butter paper larger than your cake pan and get one damp kitchen towel ready . The damp towel will help to retain the moisture and the butter paper dusted with powdered sugar will do the same after rolling it out .

7.Once the cake is baked, immediately turn it over on the tea towel. Peel off the parchment/ butter paper and immediately roll cake into the tea towel while it is still warm . Do it quickly . If you hesitate to roll out or take time , it may break apart . If you don’t roll it now , if the cakes cool down the cake will tend to break apart while trying it to roll .
Now place it on the powdered sugar dusted butter paper, sprinkle some powdered sugar over the cake and roll again . Let it cool compeletly and then keep it in the fridger for 20- 30 minutes , before you spread the jam and cream.

8. Now spread the jam . The jam should be beaten . And always use jam, not jelly .Roll out . Keep it in the refrigerator , before you cut it into pieces .

Notes:

1. Whipping or beating the eggs is very important . Keep beating the eggs with electric hand beater or mixer at high speed until triples in volume and stiff . The mixture should not be runny , so when you takes your beater off the mixture , it should be stiff; should not be runny . Whipping of egg is important , because it produces a more flexible sponge cake that doesn’t crack when rolled. For this reason , to ensure more , some whip the egg whites and egg yolk separately . But if you beat the whole eggs well , that’s good enough.

2. Always use room temperature eggs to get the more volume .

3. Don’t beat the eggs and sugar together . Add sugar after your eggs are beaten thick , when it has reached triple in volume and becomes stiff . If you add the sugar , from the very beginning , the egg won’t rise that much and won’t get that stiff the way we want .

4. I don’t use baking powder or any other leavening agent in Swiss cake , though some people does . But it always seems risky to me , because if the cake rises too much it may crack or break apart while folding it .

5. Pan size really matters . Use a pan , that doesn’t have the higher edges . If the cake is too thick , the cake will break apart while folding . So lay a thin layer of batter on the pan , but not too thin . You have to remember the cake won’t rise that much . So keep it in mind pour your batter on to the pan.

6. Don’t over bake and sponge cakes are usually baked on high temperature than the usual ones . I prefer 375FH or 190 centigrade . Just bake for 10-12 minutes . Check after 10 minutes , if the toothpick inserted come clean , it’s ready .

7 . Prepare a damp towel and a butter paper dusted with powdered sugar , a little larger than the pan to fold the cake . Damp towel and powdered sugar would help to retain the moisture .

8. Roll immediately while it is still hot . Do it quickly .

9. After spreading jam and cream and folding , don’t try to cut the cake immediately . Try to set it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour .