Super Swiss Roll, The Betty's Way

Its now Great British Bake Off Season here in the UK, and in honor of that each week Betty's will be sharing a delicious recipe, plus a video and their baking tips to go with each recipe. The kind of thing you won't find in any cookery book! Here is week Six of their delicious hints and tips and recipe on how to make a really super Swiss Roll!

Super Swiss Roll

INGREDIENTS (serves 6-8)

4 eggs (medium)
100g caster sugar  (1/2 cup)
100g plain flour (3/4 cup)
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
150g strawberry jam  (about 1 cup)
200ml double cream, lightly whipped (3/4 cup)
Caster sugar (for sprinkling)



METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan assisted). Grease and line the base and sides of a baking tray with baking parchment. Sprinkle caster sugar over the paper.

2. Beat the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until thick and creamy.

3. Remove the bowl from the heat and continue beating until the mixture is cool and forms a figure of eight when the beaters are lifted out of the bowl.

4. Sift the self raising flour into the bowl and with a metal spoon quickly and carefully fold into the mixture.

5. Spoon into the prepared baking tray. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden and ‘springy’ to the touch. Remove from the oven and leave for 5 minutes.

6. Place a clean tea-towel on the bench and top with a piece of baking parchment. Turn the sponge onto the baking parchment. Carefully remove the baking parchment from the sponge.

7. Roll up across its width enclosing the baking parchment as you go. Place on a wire rack and leave to get cold.

 8. Unroll the sponge and spread with the strawberry jam and the whipped cream. Re-roll. Trim the edges. Dust with sifted icing sugar.

NOTES IN THE MARGINS

Super Swiss Roll

ZONE THE MIX Use a glass bowl - it’ll keep the batter at the right temperature. Whisk until you’re able to make a full figure of eight in the mix. Use a large metal spoon – the flattest you have. Hold your baking paper in place with few dots of mixture. Don’t pour the mix – ‘zone’ it and then join the mixture together for an even covering.

MAKE ITS MEMORY Invest in an oven thermometer for accurate temperature readings. Sprinkle sugar on some baking paper so your sponge doesn’t stick to it. To release the sponge from the paper it was baked on, wet your hands and massage the back of the paper. Score a little wedge in the sponge and roll it to make its ‘memory’. Do this while it’s warm – it will remember that form and roll more easily later. Allow to cool. See the recipe card for Bettys Baking Secrets Week Three, Perfect Piping, for our tips about whipping cream.

CHEF’S PERK Apply your jam first – it’s a barrier to the cream which can dissolve your sponge. Loosen your jam by working it with a teaspoon so it spreads more freely and doesn’t tear the sponge. Zone it and join the dots (like you did with the sponge mix) for an even spread. Don’t spread to the edge – it will spill out when you roll. Whenever cutting cake use a serrated knife – saw and let the knife do the work. Remove the ends for a neat presentation – they’re the chef’s perk!

For more Bettys Baking Secrets, including our own recipes and secret tips for piping, visit www.bettys.co.uk/bettysbakingsecrets.