Roll Cake

This is not a sweet cake. The sweetness is in the fruit and cream. If you want it more sweet, increase the sugar in the batter by 2-4 T.

Preheat oven to 190ºC (375ºF).

Line a long, thin pan with cooking parchment. If you have a jelly roll cake pan (10½"X15½"), use that. I don't, so I just use what I have.

Prepare your ingredients. You will need 3 bowls (one for mixing the cake, one for whipping egg whites, and one for sifting the dry ingredients into). Two whisks are also handy, one for the cake, and one for the egg whites.

4 eggs
½ C sugar
1 t vanilla
2 t cornstarch
¾ C minus 2 t flour
¾ t baking powder
½ t salt
fine or powdered sugar (for dusting)

whipped cream
strawberries

Separate the eggs. Put the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another.

Whip the egg yolks until light and airy. Gradually add the sugar and then the vanilla. Set aside.

Place the cornstarch in a measuring cup, and add flour until you have ¾ C. Pour this into a sifter, then add the baking powder and salt. Sift it all together into a bowl.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture. Set aside.

Whip the egg whites until stiff (when you pick up your whisk, there will be little peaks). Use a spatula to gently fold the batter into the whites. Continue folding until the batter is one color. Do not overmix. Overmixing will cause the cake to become rubbery.

Spread the batter in your pan, and bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the cake is lightly browned and bounces back when gently touched.

Loosen the sides with a knife and gently slide the cake onto a cooling rack. Get a tea towel, and sprinkle on it a very light layer of powdered sugar. Turn the cake onto the sugared towel, peel off the parchment, roll it up carefully, and put it on the rack to cool.

When the cake is cooled, unroll it, remove the towel, and fill with whipped cream and strawberries. (If you like, you can prepare the strawberries ahead of time by washing, cutting, and sprinkling them with a little sugar. Keep them in the refrigerator until you use them.) Of course, you can use other fruit, like kiwis, bananas, blueberries, etc.

Alternately, you could fill it with whipped cream mixed with 10-20 grams of dark chocolate, melted in the microwave with a little coffee liqueur or espresso, then cooled before whipping into the whipped cream.

Refrigerate the cake until serving.

PS This cake can be covered with a chocolate ganache made from shredded dark chocolate with a little simmered heavy cream poured over it. Try using the same amounts of chocolate and cream. Make it in a ceramic or glass bowl, let it sit until the chocolate is mostly melted, and then stir with a rubber spatula. Once it is mixed, stop stirring. When cooled to a good pouring consistency, pour it over the refrigerated cake.