Coffee Cake Roll

 

Coffee cake roll
makes one roll

30g oil
50g water
10g instant coffee powder
60g cake flour
3 egg
50g sugar

1. Line baking sheet and preheat oven at 350F.
2. Warm oil to 70C (158F).
3. Sift in cake flour and whisk to combine.
4. In a separate bowl, dissolve instant coffee powder in water. Whisk into oil/flour.
5. Whisk in yolk until combined and lump free.
6. In another bowl, beat whites while adding sugar in increments to medium peaks.
7. Fold whites to yolk mixture gradually.
8. Pour onto pan and spread evenly.
9. Tap gently to release any large air bubbles.
10. Bake at 330F for 10 minutes. Lower to 300F and continue to bake for 5 minutes.
11. Slide to rack to cool. Place a clean parchment paper over to prevent over drying.
12. Once is cool enough to touch, flip and peel off parchment paper.
13. Optional: trim off edges. On a short end, trim at a 45 degree angle. This will help with rolling/ sealing.
14. Spread a thin layer of cream. Roll and wrap to chill.
15. Chill for 1-2 hours before cutting.

Coffee kahlua cream:
25g powdered sugar
5g instant coffee powder
100g whipped cream
1 tsp kahlua

Beat ingredients together to firm peaks.

I love coffee flavored desserts! The aroma and bitterness of coffee complement and balance well with sweets.

The texture, flavor and sweetness are on point for this one. I added walnuts in the cream prior to rolling, and they added such a lovely crunchy texture and a nutty roasted flavor. 

This is definitely a winning flavor combo - coffee, kahlua and walnuts!

Taste: 5 stars out of 5

Texture: 5 stars out of 5

Matcha Cake Roll with Blueberry Jam and Cream

I am a little obsessed with cake roll right now. I saw this matcha one coming before I even finished rolling the latest one. And I see future hojicha, chocolate, coffee, and earl gray variations coming very very soon! I also want to try filling the rolls with fruits, custard, and milk jelly. And how about patterns and that hurricane roll.

Matcha Cake Roll
55ml milk
55ml oil
60g cake flour
12g matcha
4 yolk
4 white
55g sugar

Follow link for steps on how to make the cake roll.

Blueberry Jam
227g (1/2lb) blueberries
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp lemon juice

In a pot over medium heat, mash and bring to a boil. Continue to stir until mixture thickens. Cool and ready to use!

The only difference I made from the last one is to lower the cake flour by 5g and added 12g of matcha. The cake turned out fluffy and light with just the right matcha-ness coming through. Again, no cracks when rolling but the skin did get stuck on the parchment. I need to experiment baking at a lower temp for a longer period to see if this improves. But hey, if the skin rips off completely, I am all for that "towel" look too.

I folded some homemade blueberry jam into the whipped cream and spoon some directly on to give the roll that molten blueberry center.

Love how the blueberry and matcha flavors paired together. A satisfying treat for these WFH's afternoons.

You already know..
Taste: 5 stars out of 5
Texture: 5 stars out of 5

Swiss Roll Cake

Quarantine life has made me watch and re-watch way more baking videos and cafe vlog than ever. I am not complaining because they are so relaxing and inspiring. My "to bake" list just gets longer, and I have not gone a week without baking since quarantine started in March.

This particular video from Sweet Taste Kitchen reminds me how bad I want to check off making a perfect swiss roll and is what I followed for my third swiss roll attempt. My main goal this time is to keep the "skin" on. Spoiler: it didn't stay on.

Swiss roll cake
55ml milk
55ml oil
65g cake flour
4 yolk
4 white
65g sugar

1. Whisk together milk and oil until emulsified.
2. Sift in cake flour. Whisk to combine.
3. Whisk in yolk until combined and lump free.
4. In another bowl, beat egg whites. When bubbles are formed, slowly add in half of sugar. Keep beating until soft peaks form. Add rest of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks.
5. Fold egg white into egg yolk mixture 1/3 at a time until no more white streaks.
6. Pour batter in one spot onto lined pan. Smooth into even thickness and gently tap to rid of large bubbles.
7. Bake in preheated 338F oven for 25 minutes or until cake is spongy to touch. For last 3 minutes of baking, use convection setting.
8. Slide to rack to cool. Place a clean parchment paper over to prevent over drying.
9. Once is cool enough to touch, flip and peel off parchment paper.
10. Optional: trim off edges. On a short end, trim at a 45 degree angle. This will help with rolling/ sealing.
11. Spread a thin layer of cream. Roll and wrap to chill.
12. Chill for 1-2 hours before cutting.

Beautiful golden brown | springy to touch

It was so promising up until this point! No cracks and the skin was intact after rolling.

After chilling, the parchment paper ripped the skin :(

Next time, I will bake in the convection setting for 2 more minutes at the end (5 minutes total) and make sure it's completely cooled before rolling. The difference in temperature between the roll and fridge probably caused condensation and made the skin stick to the parchment. 

The cake is super fluffy and tasty. This nostalgic treat never fails to satisfy. The cake was gone in less than 48 hours.

Taste + Texture: 5 stars out of 5
Appearance: 4 stars out of 5 - got to perfect the skin!

Check out my past attempts:
2010
2017

Original Swiss Roll with Mascarpone Cream

One roll closer..

Making a swiss roll has been a daunting task to me. I was traumatized in the early days when I've failed miserably at it (Check out first attempt here). Cracks, uneven sheet, melting cream. I've been though it all. Every new year resolution since is to perfect a swiss roll, and years have passed with no new attempts. This year will be swiss roll year I promise.

Black Sesame Petit Fours with Honey Cream

While most fear the making of macarons, I intensely fear the seemingly simple but extremely difficult swiss rolls.

I love swiss rolls. Growing up, swiss roll was one of the more indulgent items I get to have from Asian bakeries. It's cake in a portable and breakfast-friendly form. Swiss roll has a special place in my heart. It brings me back to the middle school days, and also recent years when I would go to the bakery with my mom and buy swiss rolls scraps at a discounted price.

So far, my attempts at swiss rolls have led to THREE fails and ONE success. That's a pretty low success rate, and the one time success was barely passable. Why does youtube make it everything look so easy?

Let me tell you what happened and also keep this as a reminder to myself to not make the same mistakes.

Black Sesame Swiss Roll (Petit Fours) 

recipe adapted from le jus d`orange

makes one roll or many petit fours

1 cup cake flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
pinch sea salt
5 eggs, separated into yolks and whites
3/4 cup - 1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup whole milk
2 tbsp black sesame paste ( 2 tbsp black sesame ground up + 2 tbsp honey)

1. Line a jelly roll pan or deep baking dish with parchment paper. Prepare a clean tea towel and sprinkle powdered sugar over it. Set aside. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, black sesame paste, and milk until pale yellow and thicker.
4. Whisk egg whites until foamy but stiff peaks form and stay in shape.
5. Add flour mixture to yolk mixture and fold until combined. 

6. Add 1/3 of the egg whites and fold until just combined. Add another 1/3 and fold. Add the final 1/3 and fold. The texture should be light but not fluid like water. It should be thick.
7. Spread batter into prepared baking sheet.
8. Bake for 7-8 minutes, until toothpick test comes out clean.
9. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake. Invert onto your prepared tea towel. Gently remove parchment paper. Gently roll, starting from the shorter edge, to create a loose roll. This shapes the cake without causing any cracks. 

10. Cool completely to room temperature.

Whipped Cream Filling (Frosting)
1 cup heavy cream, cold
2 tbsp honey

1. In a cold bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks form. Fold in honey. Cover and chill in fridge.

To assemble roll cake,
1. Gently unroll cake roll when it is at room temperature,  Spread whipped cream across the surface.
2. Tightly roll starting from the shorter edge. 

3. Wrap and chill for at least 1 hour. 

Whisk yolk and sugar until pale and thick.

Whisk/fold dry mixture in yolk.

Whisk whites until stiff peaks form.
*Note to self: start at low speed or whites will separate ):

Fold whites into yolk mixture 1/3 at a time.

Things usually goes wrong as I spread the batter onto the baking sheet. Either my baking sheets are never the right size, or the batter is always suppose to be paper thin.. Anxiety kicks in and doubts about whether just turning it into a chiffon cake surfaces.

The cake still managed to rise despite the thin layer and excess handling. However, the center was noticeably thicker than the sides. Being super careful not to overbake, I checked for doneness with a toothpick every minute after the 5min mark. Clean toothpicks and a light spring to touch were the cues that the cake was finally done at 7min.

Some suggest flipping the cake on a tea towel dusted with powdered sugar after it's done, as well as rolling it to prevent cracks after it's cooled. I decided to deviate and just let my cake cool in the pan covered with a bigger pan to not lose moisture. I went on to make my whipped cream while the cake was left to cool.

Feeling excited that everything was promising thus far, I flipped the cake onto a separate parchment paper and rolled it in to a log. The cake was flexible and did not crack!

I took my chilled cream out, dropped the first dollop on the cake, then realized I forgot to flip back the cake. "Oh wells, it's just aesthetic right?" was the passing thought. 

The top side which was now facing down on the parchment paper was.. STUCK! It was so moist that as I attempted to roll, it cracked. Worst nightmare.. so close to finishing yet one little thing ruined it all.

Swiss roll 1 - Me 0.

Lessons to be learned:

• Start off in low speed when beating egg whites.
• Check pan size. When in doubt, use smaller pan.
• Even out batter because it will not spread and become even in the oven.
• Follow tea towel and powdered sugar step.
• Flip back to have top side spread with cream.

At least, I don't think I am making the same mistakes with each attempt. The very first time I spread cream on a hot cake..

First Attempt@ Swiss Roll = Semi- Failed

I was debating whether I should post this. But hmph.. I guess this blog is about keeping track of how I have progressed over the years so this needs to be a part of it-- my semi-failed and messy attempt at swiss roll. Ehh.. it just wasn't a good day for me to bake (my attempt at bread that day failed as well).

My fiasco..
First, this recipe called for 1 whole egg and 3 separated eggs and I mindlessly separated all the eggs. Well, no big deal right? I just had to scoop a yolk and some egg whites out of the bowls to get back my whole egg. Then! Given my mishap with over beating the egg whites last time, this time I "under- beated" it. The batter came out really runny and thin and there was no way it could be piped like the recipe asked for. I skipped the pipping step and just scooped the cocoa mixture in and baked the batter anyways. The cake came out ..... Before I get to that, let me also mention that I messed up on evening the batter on the pan. (After baking) The corners of the cake were noticeably thinner than the center and some were thin to the point that they just cracked off. Major fail.



While the cake was in the process of baking, I was bothered by the watery batter and decided to you-tube some swiss roll tutorial. As expected, their batter were definitely not as thin as mine. Most of them were thick enough so that you can scrap and even them on the pan.. At this point, I was still hoping for some miracles to happen to my sponge cake.



The top of the cake came out looking alright.. nicely browned. However, the bottom side (the side attached to parchment paper) was a tragedy. It was wet and moist looking. It was glossy and sheen. Absolutely no visible pores like that of a sponge cake.

I think I unconsciously gave up on the cake when I know the batter was way too thin to begin with. RIGHT after I took it out of the oven, I flipped the cake onto a parchment paper and attempted to cream it. Oh boy.. what was I thinking? The whipped cream melted instantly. I quickly scraped the melting whipped cream off and wiped the cream liquid left on the cake with some paper towels.. This was when it became super messy. The melting whipped cream got onto everywhere, so I decided to put the cake onto a new parchment paper. UH-oh. The top was... ruined.



FAILED FAILED FAILED! I transferred the sponge cake onto a cooling rack after and let it cool for a good amount of time before I creamed and rolled again. A good explanation to my absurd action is the lack of planning. I am not yet experienced enough to act on common baking sense and impulses. I thought the cake needed to be pre-roll immediately after taken out of the oven. I should have known better to at least slightly cool it first. ):


The ultimate question: how did it taste? (Taste> Look!!)
EGG-y. egg-y bad.

It would be fine if it was egg-y AND fluffy! The texture was nothing like a sponge cake. It was extremely firm and tight? Not fluffy and airy at all.

FINAL PRODUCT:


It's not a complete fail because I still got my dad to finish this cake off for me. Hehe. He said it wasn't too bad and it was still edible. I am going to go with a chiffon cake based swiss roll next time.

---update!
I gave the cake another try after it has been chilled in the fridge for a day. It's not too bad actually. The egg-y taste was less prominent.


^not pretty ): The cake broke as I was rolling it.. that's why the center is one whole chunk instead of a nice swirl.