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.

Mini Pavlova with Raspberries

Rain rain go away, come again another year!!
Arrgghhh…there has not been a single rain-free day for in the past 2-3 weeks. Really could do with some sunshine in Scotland.

One of my all time favourite desserts is meringues and pavlova. They are the easiest things to serve when entertaining. They look gorgeous and taste delicious. One of my best friends was visiting a while back and I made these mini pavlovas for dessert.

I have used this recipe many times and have got it from a BBC goodfood dessert recipe book. For a pavlova to serve 6, you will need:

2 tsp cornflour
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp white wine vinegar
5 egg whites
300 gm caster sugar
400 ml lightly whipped cream
200 gm of raspberries
2 tbsp of icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 120°C fan oven. Line a baking tray with a baking sheet.
2. Mix the cornflour, vanilla extract and white wine vinegar and keep aside.
3. Whisk the egg whites with a hand mixer or a whisk till it is frothy. Then start adding caster sugar and add all the sugar in 5-6 parts. Beat the egg white and sugar till it forms soft peaks then add the cornflour mixture and beat till the mixture is smooth and shiny and forms stiff peaks. Do not over beat the mixture.
4. Spoon the mixture onto the baking sheet, swirl the edges with the back of the spoon and make a dip in the center . Since I wanted to make mini pavlovas, I had halved the ingredients and it gave me enough mixture to make 4 small pavlovas.
6. Bake at 120 °C in the preheated oven for an hour. You will be able to see some cracks on the meringue when they are done. Switch the oven off and leave it to cool with the oven door open. If the meringues are going brown, that means your oven temperature is too high. Lower the temperature by about 10 degrees.
7. I usually add about 2-3 tablespoon of sugar to my whipped cream while whipping but it is totally to personal liking as to how sweet you would want your dessert.
8. Spoon 3-4 tablespoon of the whipped cream on the mini pavlova. Decorate with raspberries and dust with icing sugar.

And there you go…

Have fun!