You can use any seedless jam or preserves to fill this jelly roll, although a red raspberry or strawberry looks especially festive. This recipe teaches young bakers how to keep a sponge cake from breaking apart as you roll it up.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cake or all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Confectioners' sugar
- 3/4 cup fruit preserves or seedless jam
- Whipped cream
Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 15- by 10-inch jelly roll pan, then line it with waxed paper or parchment. Butter the paper and dust it with flour.
2. Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt into a mixing bowl, then set the bowl aside.
3. Show your child how to separate the eggs by hand or with an egg separator. Transfer the yolks to a medium bowl and the whites to a larger one. Add 1/4 cup of the sugar and the vanilla extract to the yolks and beat with a mixer on high speed for 5 minutes.
4. Beat the egg whites with clean, dry beaters (any moisture will keep the whites from reaching the desired consistency), gradually adding the last 1/4 cup of sugar. Beat on low speed at first, then on high, until the egg whites are stiff and shiny.
5. Show your child how to gently fold the yolk mixture into the egg whites until they are evenly mixed. Sprinkle about one third of the flour mixture over the eggs and fold gently to mix. Add the remaining flour in 2 more stages, folding the batter until it is uniformly blended. Then spread the batter evenly in the pan. Tip: Use a rubber spatula to gently scrape the foamy jelly-roll cake batter from the mixing bowl and spread it evenly in the lined baking pan.
6. Place the pan on the center oven rack and bake for 15 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and springy to the touch. Meanwhile, your child can sift confectioners' sugar over a clean tea towel to cover an area roughly the size of the baking pan.
7. When the cake is done, invert it onto the tea towel. Immediately peel off the paper and roll the cake and towel up together like a rug. If you wait too long, the cake will begin to cool, becoming less flexible and more apt to break. Place the roll on a wire rack, seam down, and cool thoroughly. Tip: Roll up the baked cake and the sugared towel as soon as you've peeled off the waxed paper, while the cake is still flexible and less apt to break.
8. Unroll the cake. In a bowl, stir or whisk the preserves to a smooth consistency, then spread them evenly over the cake. Snugly reroll the cake -- this time without the towel -- and transfer it to a serving plate. Sift confectioners' sugar over the cake. Slice the jelly roll with a serrated knife and serve with a dollop of whipped cream. Serves 8 to 10.
Food , Recipes
