Jelly Roll

Here was an easy way to use up a jar of last year's jam.  Again, I'm not fond of jam cakes, but it's part of my learning process.

Jelly rolls have to be made with all-purpose flour, so they don't fall apart when you roll them.  They need structure.  And there isn't any butter or shortening.  The only fat is from the egg yolks.  This means this cake isn't going to be moist.  That's what the jelly filling is for.

You can use the techniques here for any kind of rolled cake, just like you can change the fillings in a cinnamon roll once you've made the basic dough.  You can make a chocolate cake and do a mocha roll, or a Yule log, or any other kind of rolled cake.  The main difference between the way I'm making it today and most jelly roll recipes is that I'm rolling it from the long side instead of the narrow one.  The narrow one makes larger slices that are a full serving.  Going up the long side produces smaller and far more slices, which are better for tea or if there's more than one dessert.  At a potluck, you can serve twice as many this way, and guests are more likely to take a slice when there are multiple desserts.

The downside was that I had to make a full-sized cake.  It's really hard to roll a small one.  You could stack it, though.  This recipe would work for petit-fours.  The tiny cubes would hold up to cutting and frosting better than a cake-flour cake.  This batter is also very thick and could be piped into ladyfingers or Nilla-style cookies.

3/4 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs, separated, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 C sugar
about 1/2 C powdered sugar
10 oz smooth jam or jelly of choice

1.  Grease a 15-1/2" by 10-1/2" jelly roll pan (or as close as you can get) with shortening.  Line with wax paper, then grease again.  The cake is only going to be about half an inch high, so don't worry if the paper barely goes up the sides.

2.  Preheat oven to 375º.  In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

3.  In another small bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  Slowly add 1/3 C sugar and beat to firm peaks.

4.  In a larger bowl, beat egg yolks until pale and fluffy.  Add 1/3 C sugar and beat until lemon-colored and falls in ribbons.  Beat in vanilla.

5.  Fold flour into egg yolks until it barely starts to combine.  Add the egg whites and fold everything together until uniform.  Don't stir hard or beat the batter.  You'll deflate the egg whites and create too many gluten strands.

6.  Pour batter into prepared cake pan.  Spread with an offset spatula, trying not to deflate the batter too much.  Make sure it gets into the corners.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until slightly golden and top of cake springs back when touched.

7.  While cake is baking, sprinkle 1/3 C powdered sugar on a clean dish towel.  Think of it as flouring a board for rolling out pie crust or cookies.  As soon as you pull the cake out of the oven, invert it onto the towel.  Be careful; I burned my arm.  Remove wax paper.

8.  Roll up cake, with the towel inside where the jam will be.  This way, the cake cools in the roll shape and does not tear later.  Place on a cooling rack until room temperature.

9.  Unroll cake.  You can leave the towel under it, since it needs a wash at this point anyway.  If the jam is too thick, thin with a bit of warm water.  Spread over the inside of the cake.  I stopped a little short of the inside, so it wouldn't be a double layer, and kept it thin at the outer edge in case anything squished forward.  The left and right sides should have jam all the way to the edges.

10.  Roll the cake back up, minus the towel.  Cut off the two outer ends and snack on the crusty edges.  If serving right away, plate and dust with powdered sugar.  If serving later, wrap in plastic so it doesn't dry out and refrigerate.  Dust with the sugar when ready to serve.

One roll is at least 12 servings the long way and 8 the short way

Difficulty rating  π