Swiss Roll

Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla on high speed using the balloon whisk attachment for approximately 15 minutes or until egg mix becomes a thick foam. Note;- Eggs at room temperature will whip up quicker that chilled eggs from the fridge.

While the eggs and sugar are whisking prepare 3 shallow gastronome trays, grease the trays with white shortening. then line with greaseproof paper and then grease the greaseproof paper.

Have your warm water and sieved flour stranding by, the addition of this small amount of water helps reduce any cracking when the sponge is rolled.

Return to the mixer and check your eggs and sugar, you will see the volume of the eggs and sugar will have increased and the colour will be considerable lighter as the air is incorporated into the eggs.

When your eggs and sugar have reached the ribbon stage remove from the mixer and remove the whisk from the mixing bowl. The ribbon stage is when you should be able to create a figure 8 in the batter, when you remove the whisk and make a figure 8 shape on the top of the batter from the egg and sugar as it falls from the whisk, that figure 8 ribbon should remain visible as the batter is so thick , this is how you tell if your cake batter is thick enough.

Sprinkle all of the sieved flour over the eggs and sugar, it will just sink onto the foam. Note: all recipes will tell you to fold in the flour, this folding action is recommended so we don't loose too much air from the egg and sugar foam you have just created, but this folding in can be tricky if not mixed sufficiently and can lead to lumps of unmixed flour in the batter. using the whisk and carefully fold in the flour adding the warm water, this mixing in of the flour is the hardest part of the process as we need to evenly incorporate the flour but we don't want to loose the air we have incorporated into the eggs and sugar. Make sur you mix right to the bottom of the mixing bowl, as some flour will sink to the bottom.

I use a hand whisk to gently stir and fold in the flour ensuring the whisk goes right down to the bottom of the bowl, I find in practice of slowly stirring and with a whisk results in a more even mix free from lumps.

Your sponge batter is now read for the baking trays

Divide the sponge batter between the 3 trays gently pouring it onto each tray from the bench level coaxing the thick batter onto the tray from the mixing bowl, not pouring it from above, our prime objective is to keep as much air in the foam as possible.

Using a scraper or pallet knife smooth out the batter to fill the trays right into the corners.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 175C for 10 minutes testing that the sponge feels springy to the touch when baked.

While the sponge is baking set up your bench ready to accept the cooked sponge, place 3 sheets of grease proof paper on the bench sprinkling each with a liberal coat of caster sugar. Place your jam in a bowl and beat or whisk it so that it is easy to spread on the soft warm sponge.

When the sponge is cooked and feels springy to the touch, carefully turn each sponge upside down onto the sugared grease proof paper.

Peel back the grease proof paper from the cooked sponge while it is still warm. and spread with jam, leaving a small strip of sponge without jam.

Turn the swiss roll so that it is horizontal to you with un-jammed strip of sponge away from you.

We are now ready to roll our warm sponge, pick up the edge of the greaseproof paper and carefully fold the first inch of the sponge over to create a fold, then using the greaseproof paper roll the remainder of the sponge keeping it as tight as possible to ensure you get a nice roll, and leave the swiss roll encased in the greaseproof paper to hold the sponge until it cools.

When the swiss roll has cooled remove the greaseproof and place on a chopping board ready to cut.

Arrange the sliced swiss roll on doilies on a serving tray ready to serve.