Vanilla Swiss Roll Recipe

Vanilla swiss roll

1. Lightly grease a 10 x 15 inch jelly roll pan. Line the pan with parchment paper, with an overhang along the short edges of the pan (to make it easy to remove the cake from the pan). Dust the exposed edges with flour. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C.
3. To make clarified butter - Cook about 60 g of butter until the milk solids separate. Measure out 45 g of the butterfat into a bowl (about 2 cup capacity).
4. Add the vanilla extract to the clarified butter, and set aside.
5. Sift the flour, cornstarch, and baking powder into a separate small bowl.
6. Add a few inches of water into a medium saucepan, and bring it to a simmer on your stove.
7. Place the eggs and yolk in a metal mixing bowl that can fit over the saucepan. Add the sugar and salt, and whisk to combine.
8. Place the mixing bowl over the simmering water (without touching the water) and whisk continuously for about 2 - 4 minutes until the egg mixture is warm to the touch or until the eggs reach a temperature of about 110 - 120°F.
9. Remove the egg mixture from the heat. And remove the saucepan from the heat.
10. Place the mixing bowl in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed for about 5 - 6 minutes. The eggs should at least triple in size.
11. To check if the egg mixture is at the right consistency, take some of the egg mixture with your whisk attachment and create some ribbons on the surface. The ribbons should remain on the surface and not immediately disappear.
12. Sift the dry ingredients evenly over the surface of the egg mixture. Make sure it's sifted evenly, so that the flour doesn't collect at one spot and sink to the bottom.
13. Using a wide spatula (or the largest spatula you own), fold the flour into the egg mixture. Rotate the bowl after every fold to make sure all the flour is well incorporated, and there are no dry spots in the batter or the bottom of the bowl. Be careful not to deflate the mixture by overmixing - this should not take more than 15 - 20 folds (see recipe notes).
14. Now it's time to mix in the butter vanilla mixture, which should be warm before being mixed in. If it’s not, microwave for a few seconds to warm it up.
15. Add roughly 1 cup of the cake batter (using your spatula) to the butter vanilla mix. Mix well to incorporate the butter and cake batter until emulsified.
16. Gently pour the butter batter mix evenly over the surface of the rest of the cake batter in the mixing bowl. I use the flat side of my spatula to break the flow of the butter mixture as I do this, so that it doesn’t sink to the bottom of the bowl.
17. Fold the butter mixture into the rest of the cake batter. Do this gently with as fewer folds as possible so as not to deflate the cake batter. No more than 10 folds.
18. Pour all the cake batter into the prepared cake tray. Using an offset spatula, spread the batter into the corners of the tray and make sure it's distributed as evenly as possible.
19. Knock the tray on a firm surface (kitchen counter) about 3 - 4 times to get rid of any large air bubbles trapped in the batter. Give the tray a little shake to evenly distribute the batter again.
20. Bake the cake in your preheated oven for about 10 - 15 minutes (13 minutes in my conventional oven), rotating halfway through the baking process if needed.
21. The cake is done when the surface is springy to the touch, or when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
22. Remove the cake from the oven. Let it cool for about 1 minute.

Rolling up the swiss roll cake

1. The bottom side of the cake will be the presentation side for the swiss roll (see pictures in the post for reference). You can use the parchment paper you baked the cake in to roll up the swiss roll for convenience. If you prefer to use a new parchment paper, you can do that too. See recipe notes for directions.
2. Run a sharp knife along the edges of the cake in the cake pan to loosen it from the pan. Gently lift the cake from the baking tray and place it on your work surface (slip a cake lifter or flexible cutting board underneath for support if needed).
3. Sift confectioner's sugar over the surface of the cake.
4. OPTIONAL STEP ONE - Along one of the short ends of the cake, make a diagonal cut as shown in the pictures in the post. This helps create a neat seal when the cake is rolled up, as described below.
5. OPTIONAL STEP TWO - On the opposite short end of the cake, make two shallow cuts (2 mm deep), parallel to the short edge. The first cut is 1 inch from the edge, and the second is 1 inch from the first cut. DO NOT cut all the way through! See pictures in the post for reference. This step helps maintain an even thickness as the cake is rolled up.
6. Fold about 1 inch of parchment paper overhang over the short edge with the shallow cuts, and start rolling up the cake into a spiral. Make sure the spiral is tight, but not too tight that it crushes the cake. Keep rolling until the cake is completely wrapped in parchment paper.
7. Use another parchment paper or cloth napkin to wrap the swiss roll further to help keep its shape. This will prevent unravelling. Make sure the cake is stored with the seam side down. Let it cool completely to room temperature.

Filling the cake

1. Once the cake is cooled, gently unravel the cake.
2. Spread a thin layer of stabilized chantilly cream, about ½ - 1 cm (¼ - ½ inch) thick, over the surface. Leave about a 2 - 2.5 cm (1 inch) margin at the short edge with the diagonal cut.
3. Now roll up the cake again, but make sure to loosen the parchment paper from the cake as you go. Make sure the cake is firmly rolled up, while maintaining its shape, and the filling isn't squeezed out much. Wrap the cake well with parchment paper and/or a cloth napkin so that the cake doesn't lose its shape. You can use the parchment paper to shape the cake if the roll seems loose.
4. Refrigerate for a few hours until the cake and filling have firmed up.
5. Slice off the ends with a serrated knife, so that the swiss roll cake looks neat.
6. Serve with a dusting of confectioner's sugar, or pipe a border of whipped cream on top. Decorate with fresh fruits if you prefer.

Stabilized cream chantilly (sweetened whipped cream)

1. Make this while the cake is cooling to room temperature.
2. Place the water in a small microwave safe bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the surface. Mix with a toothpick to saturate the gelatin. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until the gelatin has bloomed.
3. Place the chilled cream (1 cup) in a mixer bowl (preferably chilled bowl). Add the confectioner's sugar and vanilla, and whisk to mix the ingredients together. Set aside until the gelatin is ready.
4. Microwave the bloomed gelatin for just 15 - 20 seconds until the gelatin is dissolved. Do NOT let it boil. I prefer to microwave in 5 - 10 second bursts and check in between to make sure the gelatin has fully dissolved in the water (no granules and clear liquid).
5. Stir in 1 tbsp of cream to temper the temperature of the gelatin mixture.
6. Whisk the cream on medium high - high speed using the whisk attachment in your stand mixer.
7. Pour the gelatin mix while the mixer is running and whisk for a few seconds until the gelatin has mixed through.
8. Lower the speed to medium and whisk the cream until it starts to thicken and forms soft peaks.
9. Continue to whisk the cream until it reaches stiff peaks, but is still creamy. I prefer to whisk the cream by hand after reaching soft peaks stage, so that I don’t risk curdling the cream.
10. The cream is now ready to be used.