Cake Roll with nougat filling

I have previously mentioned about the fabulous café in Heidelberg,Germany, called Café Gundel. They have a special dessert which is a cake ball with nougat filling, covered in marzipan and chocolate. It was absolutely delicious! I kept going back to the café everyday during my short visit to the pretty little town. I was totally smitten by the simple yet indulgent cake, plus it looked so unique, the window display of the shop itself made me totally drool standing outside the shop.

Cafe Gundel window display, Heidelberg

So, it was only time that I would try and recreate the taste. I made the sponge cake into a roll since making it into a ball would be very tricky. I covered it with a very thin layer of marzipan. Covered it with white chocolate and rolled it in sweetened coconut flakes.

The delicious cake balls on display

Cannot wait to sink my teeth in!

….and its yummmmmm!!

So for this super sweet cake roll you need:

2 eggs separated
a pinch of cream of tarter
60 g of granulated sugar + another tablespoon granulated sugar
30 g melted butter, cooled
120 g plain flour

And for the filling:

60 g icing sugar
200 ml whipping cream or double cream
¾ cup of marshmallow fluff

For the topping: approx 150-200 gms marzipan, white chocolate about 150 gms and a cup of sweetened desiccated coconut flakes. These were more by eye than measurement. I do not like marzipan except when I cannot taste it! So I had rolled it out really really thin.

For the sheet cake

1. Pre heat your oven at 180˚C (fan).
2. Beat the egg whites with the cream of tarter till it forms stiff peaks.
3. Mix the egg yolks and sugar and beat till they are light and fluffy.
4. Fold the yolk mixture into the meringue taking care not to deflate the egg whites too much.
5. Add in the melted butter and the flour in small portions alternating between the two, folding them in till all of them have been incorporated.
6. Line the baking tray with a parchment and spread it out on a baking sheet.
7. Bake in the middle of the oven for 7-10 minutes till it is lightly browned. Cool the cake on a wire rack. Once cooled, peel it off the parchment paper.
   

   cover the roll with melted white choclate

   Lack of light as it was late at night by the time I finished baking, makes the above pictures a bit dull!

For the filling- whip the cream with the icing sugar till a spreading consistency. Then fold in the marshmallow fluff.

Spread the filling on the cooled sheet cake and roll. Now you can make into a log or cut into smaller portions.Roll out the marzipan and cover the cake from all sides. Melt the white chocolate and allow it to cool for 10-15 minutes. Then pour it over the marzipan covered cake roll, turn the cake around so that it is fully covered. Spread the coconut flakes on a tray and then roll the cake in it so that it is covered in coconut. The white chocolate will solidify quickly so do this before it becomes solid.

And of course the pictures are much better in day light as you can see the two above! The combination of a soft sponge, the light nougat filling, the sweet sweet white chocolate and chewy flaky coconut- fantastic combination and such a simple cake! The cake can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

I would love to hear from you! Please leave comments below.

Cherry Blossom Cake Roll

I had been waiting to make a Japanese style cake roll but somehow could not make time to do it because I knew this would take time and I wanted a whole day of baking before I would undertake this cake roll the first time. So, one happy sunny weekend, I totally dedicated to blissful baking, and made this cake roll as a celebration for a friend who got engaged around the same time last year under the cherry blossom trees in Japan (how romantic!!). I came across various techniques to make the cake roll, while some people have frozen the different layers of the design and baked the cake in one go, others suggested baking each layer as you go and that’s what I did. It worked perfectly and I have to say it came out better than I expected. I was quite surprised that delicate designs and details held together once I finished off the cake roll. Since it was a dedicated baking-full weekend, I also ended up making a birthday cheesecake for my husband as I always do for his birthday every year! It his favourite (and kind of mine too so I love to get an excuse to make it)- white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake.

Back to the cake roll, the cake itself is very light and still sturdy, and it was very easy to roll it without any cracks. I filled it with whipped cream and fresh strawberries but of course this is very versatile and it can be filled with any fruit one fancies. What I would have loved to do it fill it with flavours of cherry blossom but unfortunately I had nothing at hand.

For the cake, you will need:(adapted from honeybeesweets88.blogspot.co.uk)

Mixture A:
4 egg yolks
40 g caster sugar
75 ml water
50 ml sunflower/vegetable oil
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
100 g cake flour ( to make your own cake flour- for every cup of plain flour- a cup of plain flour, remove 2 tbsp of the plain flour and add 2 tbsp of cornstarch and sift this mixture 2-3 times so that the cornstarch is distributed evenly)

Mixture B:
1 egg white
pinch of cream of tartar
10 g caster sugar

Mixture C:
5 egg whites
40 g caster sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar

1. Pre heat the oven to 165˚C.
   
2. For the cake- Mixture A- whisk egg yolks, sugar, water, oil and vanilla extract together. Sift cake flour and mix well. Keep this aside.
3. Mixture B- Whisk the single egg white with pinch of cream of tartar and 10 g caster sugar till it forms stiff peaks.
4. To make the batter for coloured layer: mix 1 tbsp of the cake batter (A) and 1 tbsp of single egg white batter (B).
5. For the design coloured layers: take 1 tbsp (this was enough for each colour for my design but judge according to how much of particular colour is in your design) of the coloured layers mixture and add the desired colour. I used yellow for the inside of the cherry blossom, two shades of pink, green for leaves and brown for the stem. I use sugarflair gel colours as they give a brighter colour and you do not end up changing consistency of your batter unlike liquid colours so I would strongly recommend using gel colours.
6. Mixture C: I made this after i had already baked the design layer so that the meringue did not have to sit out for long. Using a clean, oil-free, dry bowl, preferably metal bowl, and beat the 5 egg whites till they are foamy, add cream of tartar and sugar and beat the whites till the meringue forms stiff peaks.
7. You can keep the design under the parchment paper and pipe over it. I had just sketched it and looked at it as guideline. So on a baking tray lined with parchment, trace out the first layer of the detail. Bake for 1 min in the oven and take it out. Do not over bake else it will discolour and crack eventually. Pipe the next layer, that is the cherry blossom flowers and bake for another minute.
8. Once all the designs are complete, fold in the whipped egg white (mixture C) into the remaining yolk mixture (mixture A). Now spread some of this mixture around the design first so that all corners and edges of the design are occupied by the cake mix and then pour all the batter and spread evenly on the baking tray. Bake for 12-14 minutes or till golden brown in colour.
   

   before baking, after baking

   

9. Cool on the wire rack for 10 minutes and then put another piece of parchment on top of the cake, flip so that the design is on the top, then carefully remove the parchment on the design side, put another parchment and flip it back on the wire rack. Remove the parchment on the bare side and leave the cake to cool completely.
10. Once cooled, spread whipped cream and strawberries on it. Now tightly roll along the length of the cake. Once rolled, cover in parchment and keep in fridge overnight.
11. Next day, remove the parchment to reveal the cake and ta-dah!! Enjoy your cake.