A staple of Chinese and Japanese bakeries, the Swiss roll (aka jelly roll, or roulade) cakes are not very sweet, have a relatively fine crumbed, dry sponge, light whipped cream, and layered only on the inside, so slices can be handled with fingers. My inaugural project for the new Bosch Styline Mixer was the Coffee Almond Roll Cake, an more elaborate confection that includes sponge brushed with syrup, slathered frosting, and a coat of candied almonds.
Elements (and their method)
Simple Syrup
Candied Almonds
Sponge Cake (aka French Biscuit, incl. basic Meringue)
Coffee Syrup 1 & 2
Custard (aka Creme Anglaise, Pastry Cream)
Meringue (Italian)
Butter Cream (aka French/Italian)
Many of these elements require a lot of whipping, so the Bosch got a good workout. More elements also meant more steps and more questions and lots of reading. During the execution of the recipe, I discovered that the "right" technique for a particular affect is sometimes just a matter of circumstance. Is the sugar very fine? You do it this way. Is the kitchen hot? Cold? You do the other way. To prevention a particular disaster from occurring, or fixing a disaster already occurred, you might use a microwave/blowtorch/warm hands/hot towel... If you know why, then you know what and how! A mistake (aka method) might yield a new flavor. Who knows until you try it?
COFFEE ALMOND ROLL CAKE
Simple Syrup
1 part water
1 part sugar
Nothing more than sugar dissolved in an equal part of simmered water, make a bunch of syrup and store it in the fridge. Use for lemonade and lots of stuff.
Candied Almonds
120 g almonds, chopped - I used sliced almonds but found that the cake was easier to cut using chopped almonds.
100 g simple syrup
Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F and toast almonds for 8 minutes. On medium, heat simple syrup to a boil. Dump in the toasted almonds and stir. The syrup will form threads and very sticky. Coat as much as possible and lay out on Silpat to cool.
Coffee Sponge Cake
Sponge
30x30 cm pan (12x12 inch)
3 large eggs, separated
1 tsp instant coffee
Meringue 1: Egg whites go in to the machine and get foamy. I used the balloon whip, started the mixer on the lowest setting and then brought it up to the highest setting.
Meringue 2: Meringue coming together quickly with little fuss. Watching the gaps from the whipped cap and bowl is the best indicator of the ETA.
Egg Yolks 2: I didn't clean the bowl fully before adding the egg yolks. The amount of meringue getting incorporated, told me how well the mixer was performing. Not having any other experience, I thought it did well - scraping out the bowl took care of any leftovers. Here, the egg yolk is forming ribbons.
Coffee Syrup
60 g sugar, divided
55 g cake flour
10 g cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
Prepare pan. Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F. Beat egg whites until they are foamy, then add sugar. Continue beating until whites form stiff peaks. Mix in coffee, sugar, and egg yolks. Rest until coffee begins to dissolve. Beat until mixture is smooth and forms ribbons.Whisk together cake flour, cornstarch and salt. In stages, first fold 1/3 of the egg whites and egg yolk mixture together. Then, whisk in 1/3 of the flour. Continue till the ingredients are combined.ASAP, Pour batter into pan and smooth the top. Use less batter towards the first and last edges. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove the cake and parchment from the pan and let cool on a rack.
Prepare pan. Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F. Beat egg whites until they are foamy, then add sugar. Continue beating until whites form stiff peaks. Mix in coffee, sugar, and egg yolks. Rest until coffee begins to dissolve. Beat until mixture is smooth and forms ribbons.Whisk together cake flour, cornstarch and salt. In stages, first fold 1/3 of the egg whites and egg yolk mixture together. Then, whisk in 1/3 of the flour. Continue till the ingredients are combined.ASAP, Pour batter into pan and smooth the top. Use less batter towards the first and last edges. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove the cake and parchment from the pan and let cool on a rack.
Egg Yolks 1: Bright yellow egg yolks mixed with a balloon whisk.
Coffee Syrup
20 g simple syrup
1 tsp instant coffee
1 tbsp rum
Meanwhile, while egg is meringue-ing, warm simple syrup, mix instant coffee and rum. Cool.
Flip over the cooled sponge and carefully peel off the parchment paper. Brush syrup on the "ugly" side of the sponge, whichever side that is.
Coffee Butter Cream
Custard
30 g egg yolks (about 2 large)
Flip over the cooled sponge and carefully peel off the parchment paper. Brush syrup on the "ugly" side of the sponge, whichever side that is.
Coffee Butter Cream
Custard
30 g egg yolks (about 2 large)
50 g sugar
75 g milk
Coffee Syrup 2
2 tsp instant coffee
2 tsp golden syrup (or honey, maple syrup)
Bring milk and coffee up to just below a simmer. While it is heating, whisk the egg yolks and sugar to ribbons. Temper and set the mixture back on the heat until the temperature reaches 175° F, or custard passes the spoon test (like Moses, part the custard sea on the back of a wooden spoon.) The custard cannot b e raised above 182° F or it will scramble. If you strain it, it will taste overly eggy. Avoid using the strainer! Stir in the golden syrup. Let cool completely. Butter Cream
150 g custard (ref to above)
180 g unsalted butter (about 1.5 sticks)
Beat room temperature butter into the fully cooled custard 1 tbsp at a time until everything is fully incorporated.
Italian Meringue
35 g egg white (about 2 large)
70 g sugar
15 g water
On medium heat, allow sugar and water to come to boil. As the syrup reaches 100°C/220°F, start beating egg whites to soft peaks. When the temperature of the syrup reaches 120°C/238°F (the syrup will have thickened and viscosity will slow the bubbles rising and breaking at the top), pour the syrup into the eggs in a steady stream. Beat the eggs till they have cooled and the meringue forms very stiff peaks and is glossy rather than foamy at the surface. The meringue balls up on the balloon whisk, so I knew it was close to complete. Immediately, beat buttercream into the meringue until the mixture is homogeneous, without noticeable bubbling, and has a very satiny in texture and glossy appearance.
Reserve 1/4 of the finished butter cream and spread the rest on the cake (syrup side up). Roll up the sponge like sushi, making sure to pull the parchment to tighten. Rest on the seam side and frost with the rest of the butter cream. Press almonds all over to make a tasty armadillo shell coating! Serve at room temp.
Notes:
75 g milk
Coffee Syrup 2
2 tsp instant coffee
2 tsp golden syrup (or honey, maple syrup)
Bring milk and coffee up to just below a simmer. While it is heating, whisk the egg yolks and sugar to ribbons. Temper and set the mixture back on the heat until the temperature reaches 175° F, or custard passes the spoon test (like Moses, part the custard sea on the back of a wooden spoon.) The custard cannot b e raised above 182° F or it will scramble. If you strain it, it will taste overly eggy. Avoid using the strainer! Stir in the golden syrup. Let cool completely. Butter Cream
150 g custard (ref to above)
180 g unsalted butter (about 1.5 sticks)
Beat room temperature butter into the fully cooled custard 1 tbsp at a time until everything is fully incorporated.
Italian Meringue
35 g egg white (about 2 large)
70 g sugar
15 g water
On medium heat, allow sugar and water to come to boil. As the syrup reaches 100°C/220°F, start beating egg whites to soft peaks. When the temperature of the syrup reaches 120°C/238°F (the syrup will have thickened and viscosity will slow the bubbles rising and breaking at the top), pour the syrup into the eggs in a steady stream. Beat the eggs till they have cooled and the meringue forms very stiff peaks and is glossy rather than foamy at the surface. The meringue balls up on the balloon whisk, so I knew it was close to complete. Immediately, beat buttercream into the meringue until the mixture is homogeneous, without noticeable bubbling, and has a very satiny in texture and glossy appearance.
Reserve 1/4 of the finished butter cream and spread the rest on the cake (syrup side up). Roll up the sponge like sushi, making sure to pull the parchment to tighten. Rest on the seam side and frost with the rest of the butter cream. Press almonds all over to make a tasty armadillo shell coating! Serve at room temp.
Notes:
- Learn the master recipes for baking, then build on them
- Know the standard ratios and ranges of ingredients by weight
- Review the methods
- Back up any weight or method modifications with science when applicable
- Make the basics ahead of time if possible
- I was thinking about creating an excel spreadsheet that categorized the confusing number of names, methods, ratios (fat, sugar, etc), weights of various bits of master recipes listed in a specific recipe, but then I came across the Ron Viloria website and the work was already done for me. How awesome is this?!
- The base recipe is essentially the Almond Coffee Roll Cake from dailydelicious (lovely site with lots of entremet). But... The base layer is a foam sponge (the white and yolk are separated during beating ie biscuit) rather than genoise (eggs are not separated during beating). In lieu of Kahlua, I substituted dark rum and instant coffee. I omitted vanilla powder because I didn't have any.
- How to make a basic custard (Ron Viloria)
- How to size an egg (Crafty Baking)
- How to make a basic meringue (Le Cordon Bleu) - Do you really need lemon, a copper pot, or cream of tartar? Why do you put the sugar a little at a time?
- Scalding milk and why bother? - If heating is used to infuse flavor in the milk (ice cream), pasteurize milk to kill bacteria (un-pasteurized milk), kill bacteria in pasteurized milk capable of competing with yeast in breadmaking (not applicable), denature proteins that inhibit the rise of bread (not applicable), speed the warming process (temp x + temp x = temp x?)... then why not just whisk eggs, coffee and milk together and heat to 175 F?
- Types of cake (Ron Viloria) - Apparently, I don't much like American cake, ie leavened cake cake, ie oil cake, ie buttercream made with flour.
- Types of buttercream (The Tough Cookie: Battle of the Buttercreams)
- How to fix a broken buttercream - It's all about temperature!
- Stages of cooked sugar (Crafty Baking) - What am I making really?
- What are golden syrup and invert syrup - Prevent crystallization!
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