In over 40 years of cooking, I have never made a jelly roll. I am not sure how or why I haven’t made one. I figured it was about time.
Basically, a jelly roll is a very thin sponge cake. This sponge is made by cooking the egg yolks with the sugar. You beat the mixture with a rotary beater to add a large amount of air to the mix.
A sponge cake needs a lot of air in the batter. This is what makes it “spongy.”
You also get a lot of air from the stiffly beaten egg whites. I really like this method for making cake. It really does give you a very light and airy cake.
It is an absolute must to use the parchment paper. And to grease it. You will never get the cake from the pan if you don’t use both methods.
It is also very important that you roll the cake in the towel while it is still hot. You need to cool the cake in the roll.
If you attempt to roll the cake while it is cool, the cake with crack apart. If you roll it while hot, it will stay in one piece with no cracks.
I made a number of jellies and jams over the summer, so I had a lot to choose from.
I opted for a Plum Jam. I love the flavor of the plum jam, and it has a lovely reddish purple color. It added the perfect amount of sweetness to the cake.
The cake really doesn’t need any frosting or anything. Just a sprinkling of powdered sugar is enough.
The end result is a lovely moist cake with a tart jam filling. And it looks really pretty.
JELLY ROLL
3/4 Cup Sifted Cake Flour
3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Water
4 Eggs, Separated
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Tart Red Jelly
Sift flour with baking powder and salt three times. Add water to egg yolks and place bowl over hot water. Beat until very light with a rotary beater. Add 1/2 the sugar gradually and continue to beat until thick. Remove bowl from hot water, add vanilla. Sift in flour mixture gradually, folding with a whisk. Beat egg whites with a clean rotary beater until almost stiff. Add remaining sugar gradually, beat until the mixture stands in shiny peaks. Fold whites in lightly but thoroughly using whisk. Spread batter in a greased and lined jelly roll pan. Bake I a 400 degree oven for 8 minutes. Loosen edges and turn out onto a towel sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. Remove paper and cut off crusty edges. Roll up in the towel and let cool on a wire rack. Unroll and spread with jelly. Re roll and sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.
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