Sponge roll with jam: a thin sponge rolled hot, no cracks
The classic Swiss roll of childhood: a fluffy five-egg sponge baked thin on a large tray, rolled up hot in a tea towel, cooled, unrolled, spread with plum butter or jam and rolled again. The whole secret is rolling while the sponge is still hot: it remembers the shape and won't crack once cold. Half an hour of work, cake for coffee for two days.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Whipping 15 min
- Baking 12 min
- Rolling hot 5 min
- Cooling rolled 30 min
- Filling 10 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneWhip the eggs with the sugar
Heat the oven to 200 °C and line a 30 × 40 cm tray with paper. Whip the whole eggs with the sugar, vanilla sugar and salt at top speed for 8 minutes, until pale, thick and tripled in volume. The test: batter falling from the beaters leaves a ribbon on the surface that takes a few seconds to sink.
Ingredients: 5 pcs eggs · 120 g sugar · 1 tbsp vanilla sugar · 100 g plain flour · 30 g potato starch · 1 pinch salt
TipThere is no baking powder in a sponge: it rises only on the air whipped into the eggs. Eight minutes isn't excessive, it is the minimum. Fridge-cold eggs whip poorly; take them out an hour ahead.
Pale, thick, a ribbon on the surfaceFold in the flour gently
Sift the flour and potato starch straight onto the foam, in two batches. After each, fold with a spatula from the bottom up, turning the bowl, only until the flour disappears. Not with the mixer: every turn knocks out the air the sponge stands on.
Sifted, in two batches, bottom to topSpread thin and bake
Pour the batter onto the tray and spread it with a long spatula evenly into the corners, about 1 cm thick. Bake 10–12 minutes at 200 °C, until golden and springy to the touch. No longer: an over-baked sponge cracks when rolled.
TipEven thickness means an even roll. Thin spots dry out and crack, thick spots stay raw. Spend a minute getting it into the corners.
Evenly into the corners, 10–12 minutesTurn out onto a towel and peel off the paper
Sprinkle a clean tea towel evenly with sugar. Take the hot sponge out and immediately flip it onto the towel; peel the paper off carefully in one movement. The sugar stops the sponge sticking to the towel.
Ingredients: 300 g plum butter or jam · 2 tbsp sugar · 2 tbsp icing sugar
Onto the sugar, paper offRoll up hot with the towel
Roll the sponge from the short side together with the towel, snugly but without pressing. Leave it rolled on a rack for 30 minutes, until completely cold. Warm cake is pliable and remembers the shape; cold cake cracks.
TipYou roll with the towel inside so the layers don't stick together. Without this step there is no crack-free roll: it is the most important half minute of the recipe.
Towel inside, from the short sideUnroll and spread
Carefully unroll the cold sponge. Spread the plum butter or jam in an even layer to the edges, leaving 1 cm bare at the far end so the filling doesn't squeeze out. Thick jam spreads more easily after a stir with a spoon.
Even, to the edges, a centimetre bare at the endRoll again and dust
Roll the sponge up again, this time without the towel, using it as a mat to help. Set seam side down and dust with icing sugar. Slice with a serrated knife into 2 cm pieces. Keeps 2 days covered.
Seam down, icing sugar, a serrated knife
Before you start
With whipped cream and fruit
250 ml whipping cream beaten with 2 tablespoons of icing sugar and a handful of raspberries or strawberries instead of jam. Keep that roll in the fridge and eat it the same day.
Cocoa
Replace 20 g of the flour with 20 g cocoa, sifted with the rest. Fill with plum butter or a cream of 200 g mascarpone with icing sugar.
The sponge cracked
Baked too long, rolled too late, or too thin in the corners. Hide cracks with icing sugar or a glaze; next time take it out a minute earlier and roll while it still burns your fingers.
