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Strawberry Roll Cake
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A light and fluffy strawberry roll cake, filled with light whipped cream and whole strawberries. Great to go with tea on a hot afternoon!
Have you tried making roll cakes? Or do you think that they are challenging to make?
This strawberry roll cake is actually quite fool-proof, because it doesn’t matter if it cracks slightly! You will just need to be careful when you fold in the flour in the last step, before the batter is being sent to bake.
What Ingredients Do I Need?
You will need just a few ingredients for the sponge:
- Eggs: Use 55g – 60g eggs (medium to large size).
- Caster Sugar: Use caster sugar so that it is easier to dissolve in the batter.
- Cake / Top Flour
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch helps to make the cake light and fluffy.
- Icing Sugar: The icing sugar will be used to dust on the sponge batter just before baking.
And for the syrup and filling:
- Caster Sugar
- Water
- Dairy Cream (At least 35% fats): I used Elle & Vire whipping cream here.
- Icing Sugar
- Strawberries: I have used about 8 pcs of Korean strawberries inside, and 3 pcs of strawberries (halved) to be placed on the roll cake for deco. The amount of strawberries to be used will also depend on the size of your strawberries.
Making the Sponge Batter
The sponge is very similar to the ladyfingers that we use for charlotte cakes or tiramisu – but a softer and moister version. It also feels like a dry version of genoise sponge, so be sure to brush generously with the syrup, before spreading whipped cream onto the sponge.
Using an electric hand mixer, we will first whip up the egg yolks and sugar till it turns pale yellow, and the volume double up after whipping. Then, whip the egg whites and sugar to stiff peaks. If you are using the same hand mixer, wash and wipe dry the beaters thoroughly before whipping the egg whites. Otherwise, the fats from the egg yolks will not allow the egg whites to be whipped up properly.
Once the egg whites reach stiff peaks, fold 1/3 of the meringue twice, into the whipped egg yolks. Pour the batter back into the remaining 1/3 amount of the meringue and fold well. Lastly, sift in the flour and cornstarch, and fold.
It is important to be careful at this last step to not overmix. Simply fold till no traces of white flour can be seen – check the bottom of the bowl, as well as centre of the batter. You may see that the batter is lumpy or “curdling” and that’s fine, as long as there is no more white flour in the batter.
We will then pour the batter into piping bag to pipe out the batter onto a 30cm x 30cm baking tray.
Piping the Batter
I have used Wilton #10 for piping the batter. We will just need to pipe diagonal lines in the lined baking tray.
Leave some distance above the baking tray when you are doing the piping – slightly higher than piping macarons. Be sure to not leave gaps in between the batter, otherwise the sponge will bake flatter.
Once we are done with the piping, dust icing sugar twice on the sponge batter and it is ready to be baked.
Decorating the Roll Cake
Once the sponge is baked, let it cool briefly. In the meantime, whip up the cream. Spread the whipped cream onto the sponge, place the strawberries, and roll it up. You can then chill the extra whipped cream in the fridge for decorating later on.
Wrap the cake in baking paper and chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins to firm up. If you have extra time, let the cake mature overnight in the fridge. I find the flavor develops and gets better after chilling in the fridge overnight.
Whipping Dairy Cream
If you are beginner to whipping dairy cream, take note of the following:
- Use a metal mixing bowl to whip the cream, not plastic ones.
- Place mixing bowl and beaters or whisk in the freezer for about 10 mins.
- Prepare a larger bowl with ice water.
- Weigh out the cream in the metal mixing bowl. Whip using medium speed, placed over the larger bowl that has ice water in it.
- Once the cream has thickened, you can change to high speed to continue whipping till firm or stiff peaks form.
Alternatively, if you are really not confident of whipping dairy cream, you can use non-dairy cream, such as Millac Gold or Redman Whip Topping instead.
Can I Reduce the Sugar?
I wouldn’t recommend you to reduce the sugar for the sponge. Meringue (egg whites) will need a certain amount of sugar to make it stable.
The sugar for the syrup is in lesser ratio than the usual 1:1 syrup ratio; the whipped cream also uses lesser sugar than usual. So on the whole, the roll cake itself wouldn’t taste super sweet. Just note that since it is a dessert, there will still be sweetness to it.
Strawberry Roll Cake
- Prep Time: 30 Mins
- Cook Time: 15 Mins
- Total Time: 60 Mins
- Yield: 3-4 Adults 1x
Ingredients
Sponge
- 3 egg yolks
- 25g caster sugar
- 85g cake or top flour
- 5g cornstarch
- Meringue: 3 egg whites, 60g caster sugar
- Icing sugar, for dusting
Syrup
- 15g caster sugar
- 30g boiled hot water
Filling*
- 185g dairy cream
- 12g icing sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 8 pcs strawberries*
Deco
- Whipped cream from filling (optional)
- Strawberries, blueberries, gold leaf (optional)
Instructions
Prep
- Rinse and pat dry strawberries. Remove the calyx (green leafy part) for 8 pcs of strawberries. Set aside on a plate. For the strawberries that will go on top of the roll cake, simply dry and slice into half.
- Prepare syrup by dissolving the caster sugar in the hot water. Set aside to cool.
- Line 30cm x 30cm baking tray with baking paper. Place piping tip into a large piping bag. Set aside.
Sponge
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg yolks and sugar (25g) with a electric handmixer, till fluffy and pale in color. The volume should also double in size. Cover with cling wrap to prevent a skin from forming.
- With clean and dry beaters, now whip the egg whites till foamy (full of large bubbles), on low speed. Add in sugar in 3 additions. As the meringue turns white, increase speed to medium and continue beating till stiff peaks form. The peaks should stand up straight and not fall back.
- Add 1/3 of meringue into egg yolk mixture. Fold gently till well incorporated.
- Add in another 1/3 of meringue. Fold gently.
- Pour egg yolk mixture back into remaining 1/3 meringue and fold till well incorporated.
- Sift in flour and cornstarch. Fold gently till no traces of white flour can be seen. Be careful to not overmix here. The batter can look lumpy and slightly “curdled”. The batter will be ready as long as there is no trace of flour left.
- Pour batter into large piping bag. Pipe diagonal lines onto lined baking tray. Be sure to leave some distance above the baking tray when you are piping, so that the sponge will not be too flat after baked. Do not leave gaps in between the batter.
- Dust icing sugar with a small sieve onto surface of batter twice.
- Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 10-13 mins, until surface is evenly browned.
- Once baked, remove from oven. Remove sponge cake from tray and let cool on cooling rack. Pull the sides of the baking paper away from the sponge.
Filling
- As the sponge cools, prepare the whipped cream. Place metal mixing bowl and beaters or whisk into freezer for 10 mins. (You can also place the bowl in the freezer after you send the batter to bake)
- Prepare another large bowl with ice water. Set aside.
- Weigh dairy whipping cream into cold metal bowl from freezer. Place bowl over the larger bowl with ice water and beat on low speed.
- When cream thickens, increase speed to high and continue to beat until firm or stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat, otherwise the cream will separate and you will have to restart with a new batch of whipping cream.
- Add in vanilla and mix well.
Assemble
- Place a pc of baking paper on working surface. This pc of baking paper should be slightly larger than the sponge. Overturn the cooled sponge onto the baking paper. Peel away the baking paper that is on the sponge cake.
- Brush on syrup generously. Spread about 2/3 of the whipped cream onto the sponge. Make the front 1/2 portion thicker with whipped cream, and lesser whipped cream towards the back portion of the sponge. This will make the rolling easier.
- Place whole strawberries on the front portion of the sponge. Roll up the cake.
- Roll and wrap the roll cake with the baking paper. Seal well and place into fridge to chill for at least 30 mins.
- Place remaining whipped cream into a bowl (cling wrap the top) for later use.
- When roll cake has set, pipe whipped cream and decorate with strawberries, blueberries and gold leaf if preferred.
- Slice and serve chilled.
Notes
Be sure to pat the strawberries dry after washing, otherwise they may spoil easily.
Whipping cream whips better when the bowl and beaters are cold. If you find whipping dairy cream challenging, you can also use non-dairy whipping cream.
If you prefer more cream for the filling, increase whipping cream to 300g and icing sugar to 20g.
Let the sponge cool for about 10 mins or until it is no longer warm to touch. Do not let sponge cool on cooling rack for too long.
If you have extra time to make this roll cake ahead of time, I’d recommend you to prepare this 1 day in advance, as the flavors develop better overnight.
- Category: Cake
- Method: Bake
Keywords: Roll Cake
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