Raspberry Jelly Roll

The post for the Jelly Roll is coming sooner than planned. Since I'm a competitor in Project FoodBuzz, I need to make a blog post dedicated to that competition which I will post this week. So get ready for that and don't forget to vote for me on Sept 20th!! :D One more thing, if you haven't entered my second giveaway, you should!! Just head on over to my Molten Chocolate Cake Blog Post and enter to win a $35 gift certificate to CSN Stores!!

Any who, this weekend I was watching "Ghost Adventures" on the Travel Channel and this show is so addictive! I've been fascinated with paranormal stuff since the seventh grade along with some of my friends. We actually tried to hunt for ghosts in our old elementary school. haha. They say ghosts come out as "orbs" in pictures so I would take my friend's camera and take pictures down the hallway to see if orbs came up. To much disappointment, nothing came up. However, just because I was fascinated with the paranormal stuff, it doesn't mean I'm not afraid of it. I am extremely scared of it all!! The thought of coming face to face with a paranormal thing scares the heck out of me! I mean, after watching "Paranormal Activity", I couldn't sleep for weeks because of the thought of a ghost lifting up the blankets to get into bed. Scary, much? lol. So, why is it that these ghost shows are so addictive? I mean, you don't want to watch it but you just can't stop. What this has to do with Jelly Rolls, I have no clue. haha. But here's the Results, Tips and Recipe!

Results

-Taste: Not that great. Sponge cake had a nice subtle vanilla flavor but the jelly overpowered the jelly roll making it too sweet (I added a bit too much jelly)

-Texture: Sponge cake was dry and broke during the rolling process. Parts surrounded by jelly made the cake "mushy"

Tips

-Another way to make sure the sponge cake is fully cooked is to press the top slightly. If the cake springs back to its original form, it's done.

-There are 2 methods for rolling a jelly roll:

1. Some recommend you invert the cake immediately, after coming out of the oven, onto a towel that is covered in powdered sugar. Then you roll it in the towel and let it cool completely. After cooling, you unroll the cake, remove the towel, spread the jam, then re-roll

2. Others recommend you let the cake completely in the pan after coming out of the oven. Once cooled, remove the cake from the pan, spread the jam and roll.

-If using method 1, I advise to sprinkle powdered sugar not only on the towel where the cake will be positioned, but on the top of the cake when the cake is on the towel as well. It will reduce the "sticking".

-I tried both methods and found that method 2 worked best for me (even though my cake cracked multiple times).

-If filling the sponge cake with something other than jam, such as whipped cream, refrigerate the rolled and filled cake for at least 6 hours to allow the cake to set.

Sponge Cake (Serves 8-10)
Ingredients
4 eggs, bring to room temperature
100g caster sugar
4g salt
140g cake flour
30g salad oil
30g fresh milk

Directions
Sift cake flour, set aside. Grease and line a 20cm round pan, set aside. Pre-heat oven to 180degC. Position rack at the lower bottom of the oven.

With an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar & salt on HIGH speed for about 5 to 7mins, until the batter double in volume and is ribbon-like (the beater should leave a ribbon-like texture when the batter is lifted up). Turn to LOW speed and whisk for another 1 to 2 mins. Whisking at low speed helps to stabilize the air bubbles in the batter.

Add sifted cake flour into the batter. With a spatula, gently fold in the flour until well blended.
With a spatula, mix about 1/3 of the batter with the salad oil in a separate bowl. Fold in this mixture into the remaining batter. This method will help to ensure the oil will be fully blended and at the same time will not deflate the batter.

Add in fresh milk and fold in gently with spatula.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 35 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Unmold and cool completely.

**For a Jelly Roll, prepare the sponge cake the same way. Once prepared, pour the batter into a 15'' x 10'' inch baking pan that is greased and lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 20 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.

From this point you can either roll the cake in a towel that is covered with powdered sugar or let it cool completely in the pan. Once fully cooled, spread about 1/2 cup Raspberry Jam onto the cake and roll. Let it sit for about an hour before consuming.

-Aaron John

My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure

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