Name: Strawberry Swiss Roll with Mascarpone Cream
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: New Zealand
Ingredients: 4 large eggs; 80g granulated sugar; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract; pinch of salt; 80g all-purpose flour; 10g cornstarch*; 300g fresh strawberries; 2 tablespoon granulated sugar; 150g mascarpone cheese; 3-4 tablespoon powdered sugar; 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract; 300ml heavy cream

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This strawberry swiss roll features a super light vanilla sponge, filled with macerated strawberries and whipped mascarpone cream.

A swiss roll is a simple but beautiful cake to serve to guests.

This strawberry swiss roll has the prettiest colours with the bright red of the berries, the yellow of the cake, crisp white cream, and fresh green mint.

strawberry swiss roll with powdered sugar being dusted on it

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What is a Swiss roll?
Swiss roll ingredients
Equipment
The sponge
The strawberries
The cream
Rolling a Swiss roll
Topping
Serving
Step by step instructions
Storing
Other filling ideas
Related recipes
Strawberry Swiss Roll with Mascarpone Cream

What is a Swiss roll?

A Swiss roll (also known as a cream roll or a jelly roll cake) is a light sponge cake that has been spread with a filling and rolled up into a log (the same way as when shaping strawberry rolls!)

The cake slices beautifully and reveals a spiral of the filling.

The cake in a Swiss roll is usually a genoise sponge. It's a light and pliable sponge that is flexible to roll up while still warm and holds its shape well.

It's quite a plain sponge on its own and can be a bit dry so it pairs really well with a creamy fruity filling.

Swiss roll ingredients

The ingredients in a traditional Swiss roll are very simple - eggs, flour and, sugar.

The eggs are heavily whipped. This creates a leavening effect in the sponge so there is no need for baking powder.

The flour used in a light sponge should be low in protein such as cake flour. Cake flour isn't readily available everywhere or in every country, so I make my own by combining an all-purpose flour (one with a low protein content of around 10%), with cornstarch to help soften it.

Sugar brings sweetness, and there is an extra addition of a little vanilla paste (or extract), and a pinch of salt.

Equipment

For the sponge, you will ideally use a bench mixer with a whisk attachment. Alternatively, you can use an electric hand beater.

You'll also need a clean kitchen towel to roll the sponge in and a 39x26x2cm (15x10x1 inch) Swiss roll baking tray.

The sponge

A genoise sponge is super light with a slight chew. It's the perfect sponge to roll as it holds its shape well and if it's made correctly it won't crack.

All the leavening comes from the eggs, so whipping them enough is key. Traditionally a genoise batter is made by whipping whole eggs with sugar until they have about tripled in volume. Sometimes over a little heat to help them thicken.

I prefer separating my eggs and whipping each with a little sugar separately. I think it creates a lighter batter when the whipped egg whites are folded in.

The strawberries

The filling is fresh and simple - strawberries and cream.

Fresh strawberries are finely chopped and sprinkled with granulated sugar. Leave them to sit for a while and the sugar will draw out all the strawberry juices and it helps to intensify the strawberry flavour.

This step is done first so that they have a while to sit before being added to the cream.

The cream

The strawberries are layered over a whipped cream and mascarpone mixture. You could just use whipped cream but the addition of the mascarpone helps to stabilise the cream a bit better.

You could substitute the mascarpone with cream cheese or creme fraiche too.

Rolling a Swiss roll

To ensure your Swiss roll holds its shape without cracking, it is first rolled up in a powdered sugar-dusted tea towel and left to cool at room temperature.

The tea towel will allow the steam to escape and the roll can cool down. Once cooled, unroll it and spread on the fillings. Then roll it back up (without the towel this time!)

If you kept enough air in the batter of your sponge it should feel super light, soft and pliable when you're rolling it up.

Topping

The topping is another layer of mascarpone cream with sliced fresh strawberries and shredded fresh mint. The fresh mint adds a nice contrasting green but it's also a great flavour addition.

Strawberry and mint are an awesome pair.

Serving

When serving, dust with extra powdered sugar. Use a serrated knife to cut 1.5-2cm slices.

bird's eye view of strawberry swiss roll cake

Step by step instructions

Finely chop up 250g strawberries, add them to a bowl and sprinkle over 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar. Set these to the side.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/374°F regular oven with a rack in the centre. Grease the Swiss roll baking tray, then line with parchment paper. Greasing the tray first helps the parchment stick and keep the bottom surface flat.

The eggs

Separate 4 large eggs. Add the egg yolks to a small bowl and set them aside. Add the egg whites to a clean bowl of a stand mixer.

Turn on the mixer and whisk on high until the mixture is and foamy. Slowly pour in half the sugar and keep whisking until the egg whites hold medium peaks. The egg whites should hold their shape very well and not sink back into themselves, but if you lift the beater from the mixture the peaks will flop to the side.

Scoop the egg whites out of the mixing bowl into a clean bowl and set them aside.

Using the same bowl you just whipped the egg whites in, add in the egg yolks, remaining sugar, vanilla and salt. There is no need to clean the bowl first.

Whip the egg yolks for around 4 minutes on high until more than doubled in volume, thick and pale. If you lift the beater out it, it should drop thick flowing ribbons back into the bowl.

Combine the eggs

Fold a third of the egg whites into the beaten yolk mixture using a rubber spatula. Take extra care that you don't deflate the egg whites. Bring your spatula through the middle of the mixture, up the side, and fold it over top. You can rotate the bowl as you do this.

Repeat two more times with the remaining egg whites.

The flour

If you're making your own cake flour, use a hand whisk to whisk together the all-purpose flour and cornstarch in a bowl.

Balance a sieve over the bowl of eggs and sieve in about half the flour. Gently fold this into the mixture, taking care once again to not deflate it too much. Repeat once more times with the remaining flour.

The end batter should be airy and thick.

Baking

Pour the batter into the prepared tray and use the rubber spatula to scoop it from the bowl.

Use an offset spatula, dough scraper or knife to carefully spread the batter out into an even layer in the tray. It's a very thick and light batter so it won't fill out by itself the way that wet cake batters do.

swiss roll batter being poured into flat tray

Bake the sponge for around 10 minutes until golden on the top. While the cake is baking, prepare the tea towel to roll it in.

Lay a clean tea towel on a workbench, horizontally so the long edge is closest to you. Liberally dust it with powdered sugar.

Once the sponge has finished baking, carefully tip it upside down with the long edge closest to you, onto the tea towel. Carefully peel off the parchment paper.

Dust the cake with more powdered sugar, then starting from the short side, roll the cake and the tea towel up together into a spiral. Leave it to cool on a wire rack at room temperature.

The cream filling

While the cake is cooling, make the cream filling.

In a bowl add the mascarpone, vanilla and powdered sugar. Using a hand mixer, whisk it up until combined. Slowly stream in the heavy cream and keep whisking as you do until it is thick.

This can happen quite quickly so take care not to overmix it.

Assembling the cake

On a clean bench, carefully unroll the cooled cake. Spread over two-thirds of the cream mixture and use an offset spatula to spread it out, leaving a ½ cm border on all the sides.

Take the bowl of strawberries and use a spoon to scoop the strawberries on top of the cream, holding back the extra liquid the strawberries have released.

chopped strawberries and cream on swiss roll

Carefully re-roll the cake, without the tea towel, back into a spiral. Some of the thin crust of the outside of the cake may stick to the towel as you roll but don't worry, this can be covered with powdered sugar and cream.

Wrap the tea towel around the rolled cake and let the cake chill in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.

Remove the cake from the fridge and cut off about 1cm of each end to neaten them up. Pipe or spread on the remaining whipped cream. Top with extra strawberries and shredded mint and dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Storing

Once assembled the cake is best eaten on the day it is made.

Freezing - Unfilled genoise sponge can be stored, rolled in the tea towel in an airtight container for a day. It can also be wrapped up and frozen for up to 3 months.

The macerated strawberries can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in the fridge. The excess liquid that comes from the strawberries makes a yummy syrup you can add to drinks to flavour them!

Other filling ideas

A simple genoise sponge can be filled with all sorts of delicious fillings! Try -

Lemon curd
Whipped chocolate ganache
Jam
Whipped cream and other berries

Yield: 8-10 slices