No Crack Swiss Roll Recipe (Wheat Free, with Dairy Free Option)

I cannot believe that in all my years of running this blog that I've never once made a Swiss Roll!

The only time in my life that I've ever made a Swiss roll was when I was about 20: I was meeting the parents of my boyfriend-at-the-time for the first time, and I hate turning up to a house empty handed. It was a few years after that cake that I started doing this here blog, but in the three or four odd years that I've been writing this I've never attempted another one.

However, I've had my interest reignited: my companion has told me that for his birthday in July he'd love an Arctic Roll! (For those of you who managed to miss the '80s and '90s, an Arctic Roll is a Swiss roll made with an ice-cream filling). I figured I'd need to get some practise in rolling cakes before the end of July.

The sponge itself varies quite a lot from recipe to recipe: a traditional English rolled cake uses a 100% fat free cake recipe, whereas rolled cakes from East Asia add in oil and milk to make it more flexible. I have found that the East Asian approach works a hell of a lot better, but I have maintained the ratio of egg-to-sugar-to-flour that I'm used to, as the East Asian recipes tend to use very little sugar and flour to every egg, resulting in something that's more like a slightly sweet omelette.

By blending a little bit of both recipes, I found a way of making a super light and fluffy cake, which is still flexible enough to roll: the addition of cornflour reduces the amount of gluten in the flour, and the addition of milk and oil adds the needed moisture to make the rolling easier.

I will say, mind, that a homemade Swiss roll benefits massively from two major steps: 1) the cake being pre-rolled while hot, so that it re-rolls nice and tightly on being filled, and 2) the said filling should be a thick, firm filling; avoid thin, runny fillings.

With that said, let's move onto how I made it.

INGREDIMENTS
For one 9x13 inch (22x33 centimetre) flat cake

• 4 room temperature medium eggs, separated
• 4 tablespoons (60 millilitres) sunflower oil
• 4 tablespoons (60 millilitres) milk, or dairy-free milk alternative
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) caster sugar
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) white spelt flour
• 2 ounce (55 grammes) cornflour
• Pinch of salt
• 5 to 6 tablespoons (75 to 90 millilitres) filling of your choice: jam, chocolate spread, whipped cream, buttercream icing, lemon curd, etc.
• Optional: icing sugar, for dusting

METHOD

• Line a 9x13 inch (22x33 centimetre) rectangular tin with non-stick baking paper. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4), with the rack in the centre.
• Sieve the spelt flour, cornflour, and salt together onto a plate or piece of baking paper. Sieve it two or three times to make is super light and well mixed.
• In a jug, mix the yolks, oil, and milk together until well blended. In a medium mixing bowl, make a meringue with the egg whites and sugar, whisking to firm peaks.
• Take a scoop of the whites and mix into the yolks to lighten them. Return the yolk mixture to the whites and fold through gently but completely until there are no streaks of white.
• Sieve the flour onto the meringue and fold through completely until there no clumps of flour and the mixture falls from the spoon in thick ribbons.
• Pour into the lined tin and spread out evenly with the back of a spoon. Tap the tin on the work surface several times to further even out the cake mixture and release any trapped air bubbles.
• Bake on the centre shelf for 15 to 17 minutes until pale golden brown, well risen, and springy to the touch.
• Lie a piece of paper on a wire rack, and when the cake is cooked invert it onto the wire rack while it's still hot. Slide the cake off the rack onto a tea towel on the work surface.
• Cut all the crusts off and then--using the baking paper like a sushi mat--roll the cake up tightly. Tighten the ends of the paper, then wrap it in the tea towel. Allow to cool to room temperature, still wrapped.
• Once cool, unwrap and un-roll. Spread the filling over the cake, leaving the end opposite to the rolling end uncovered for about an inch (2½ centimetres). Roll it up again, wrap again, and chill for about an hour before serving. To serve, dust with icing sugar.

THIS TIME IN 2014: Stracciatella Ice-Cream (Egg- and Wheat Free)

THIS TIME IN 2013: Fruit and Nut Flapjacks (Gluten Free)

There were no blogs on this day in 2016 nor 2015.

Happy Anniversary, My Wonderful Companion: Giant Angel Slice

Happy first anniversary to my dearest companion! You have been a rock and support to me in awful times, and a wonderful friend to enjoy the good times with, too!

In celebration, I made my companion his favourite kind of cake, although in much larger dimensions than usual: an Angel slice!

For those who don't know, and Angel slice is a Mr Kipling favourite: it's a sandwich cake, with a white and a pink layer, filled with a vanilla flavoured cream, and iced with white and pink fondant. Usually, you buy them in packets of four slices. The cake is super light and fluffy, like a fondant fancy, and the filling is sticky, sweet, cheap, and nasty.

As such, I made two 4x8 inch (10x20 centimetre) cakes using this recipe scaled up to two eggs—one left plain, one coloured with a hint of pink—and sandwiched them together with some vanilla flavoured buttercream, before topping it off with a simple fondant style icing of 8 parts icing sugar to 1 part melted butter, thinned to a nice fondant consistency with milk. I coloured some of it pink and drizzled it on the top.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the cake before he and I tucked into it as a naughty anniversary breakfast, but I did take a picture of what was left!

I also made a nice wall hanging of envelopes which I folded from fancy paper, each containing photographs commemorating each month of our first year, and pictures from the weekend when we first started dating. I was super pleased with it!

Here's to many more years with you, my dearest lovely.... ^_^ x

Kitchen Experiment: Baked Milk Tart

Wil jy graag melk tert? Here is my take on the traditional South African treat, Milk Tart!

I have done a milk tart on this blog before, but not like this. Usually, milk tart is made with a cornflour thickened custard, somewhat like a crème pâtissière, but this time I thought I'd do a little experiment...

I've been interested in trying a baked custard for quite some time, and I thought this would be a good excuse. I've been doing a lot of research on baked custard and my findings have shown that generally for one UK pint (580 millilitres) of milk, you add four eggs, and four ounces (115 grammes) of sugar. My first attempt obeyed this ratio, scaling down to three-quarters of the quantity.

The first one I did had a little too much of an eggy taste for my liking, and had too firm a texture. Once I looked up why this may be, I found that egg white adds egginess and rubberiness. As such, I adjusted the ratio of egg white to egg yolk, by removing two of the egg whites from the eggs to make it smoother. It worked quite well!

I also learnt from reading a lot of South African blogs that milk tart should be made with puff pastry. I'll give that a try next time and see what it's like. This tart, however, is made with shortcrust pastry.

INGREDIMENTS
For one 9 inch (22 centimetre) tart

• One blind-baked 9 inch (22 centimetre) deep tart crust, still in its tin
• 5 UK fluid ounces (140 millilitres) whipping cream
• 10 UK fluid ounces (285 millilitres) whole milk
• 2 whole medium egg
• 1 medium egg yolk
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, or 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) vanilla essence
• Ground cinnamon

METHOD

• On a cutting board, slice the vanilla pod lengthwise, leaving a little at the top to hold the two sides together. Using the back of the knife, scrape the seeds out of both sides of the pod.
• Put the vanilla seeds, empty vanilla pod, cream, and milk into a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until it it begins to simmer. Remove from the heat. If you don't have a vanilla pod, just mix in the vanilla essence after cooking.
• Separate one of the whole eggs, putting the yolk into a medium mixing bowl, and keeping the white aside for later. To this egg yolk, add in the other whole egg, and the egg yolk, and sugar. Whisk together well. 
• Constantly whisking, very slowly pour in the hot cream until fully whisked. Make sure to add it slowly so the eggs don't cook.
• Pour the custard through a sieve into a jug with a spout, and then throw away whatever is left behind in the sieve.
• Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F, Gas Mk.2). Whisk the leftover egg white until broken up, then brush it onto the inside of the tart crust. Place the tart tin on a flat sheet, and gently heat the blind-baked crust in the oven for about 5 minutes on the centre shelf.
• Once the egg white is set, pull the oven shelf out slightly to get better access to the tart crust. Slowly pour the custard into the crust, then sprinkle ground cinnamon all over the surface.
• Bake in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes, until the custard is set on the surface,but still jiggly underneath.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before chilling for at least an hour before serving.

THIS TIME IN 2016: Confirmation Day! (I'm Getting Good at Jam and Cream Gâteaux)

THIS TIME IN 2013: Fool-Proof Meringue (Unless You're a Really Foolish Fool)

No blogs on this day in 2015 nor 2014

Southern States Caramel Cake

Howdy, y'all! I present to you a Southern States style caramel cake.

 I've been wanting to do another American style cake for a while, and ever since I saw a post about caramel cake on Pinterest, I knew it would be that one. I know I do a lot of American style things, but I find the cakes and sweets so fascinating because we have nothing like them here.

My father recently went on a business trip to New York, which was his first time in the United States. He works for a multinational company that designs LED signs, and one of the signage systems in the subway system had gone a bit haywire. As such, he was flown from Ireland to New York to investigate the problem for a couple of days; luckily for his wanderlust, the problem took all of three minutes to fix. He showed us all the photos of his trip when he returned, and it looked to us like he had a whale of a time.

(I think it speaks volumes of the company's faith in my father's programming ability that they wanted him flown over from here! Well done, Daddeee!)

As such, hearing about my father's transatlantic adventures reignited my interest in American baking. So I decided to have a shot at the caramel cake.

From my research, there are many, many, many ways to make caramel cake, each purporting to be the authentic way. So, I turned to retro recipe hunting: how was this cake made by all American grandmas? The cake itself has to be a good firm cake, a lot of the recipes for which advise using sour cream to make the crumb dense. And, although many recipes use icing sugar, the way to make the icing is a traditional boiled sugar beaten fudge.

Now, boiling sugar is one of those things that sends bakers running in the opposite direction: there are so many things that can go wrong. However, please don't feel overwhelmed as this one is quite easy! I just tweaked one of my fudge recipes in response to my research to make the mixture more like an icing. If you've made fudge before, you can make this icing.

I have made a baby little 4 inch (10 centimetre) cake just to try the recipe out, and I've scaled up the icing recipe for a full 8 inch (20 centimetre) cake. If you want to make a mini cake like I did, just half the quantity and cooking time, making sure to test for what sugar stage you're at.

INGREDIMENTS
For one 8 inch two-layer round cake

• One deep 8 inch (20 centimetre) round cake, vanilla flavour
• 1¼ pounds (570 grammes) caster sugar
• 8 fluid ounces (225 millilitres) whipping cream, slightly warmed
• 8 ounces (225 grammes) unsalted butter
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon (1 to 3 millilitres) fine salt
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) vanilla essence

HOW TO

• Prepare your cake for layering by cutting off the dome and cutting it in half horizontally, keeping the layers equal.
• In a large saucepan with a metal or enamel interior (don't use a dark coated pan), add two ounces (55 grammes) of the caster sugar and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it turns a deep, deep brown. Don't be afraid of burning it: if it does burn, just start again with another 2 ounces of sugar.
• Once the sugar has browned, add in the warm cream, the rest of the sugar, and half of the butter. Stir well until everything has dissolved nicely and is a golden brown syrup. Bring to a simmer.

• When it begins to simmer, turn the heat to medium-low and simmer gently for up to 30 minutes, until it reaches soft-ball stage (112°C to 115°C (235° F to 240° F)). On reaching this temperature, remove from the heat immediately and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the bubbling has completely stopped.

• Cut the remaining butter into small cubes, and then beat the syrup with an electric hand mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
• As the syrup begins to thicken and lose its gloss, taking on a matte appearance, start adding the butter, a cube at a time while beating, making sure to beat in each cube fully before adding the next. The whole process should take about 5 to 6 minutes.
• Eventually, you will get a deliciously thick, caramel icing. If the icing begins to split, leaving oily patches or film, add in half a teaspoon of cold water and beat until it comes together again.
• Fill and ice the cake with the icing quickly. If the icing begins to seize as you're using it, once again add a little water and beat to get a nice icing once more.
• After icing the cake, allow to set for at least 2 full hours before serving. This cake is best served the day after preparation.

THIS TIME IN 2015: Sausage Rolls (Wheat Free)
No blogs on this day in 2016, 2014, nor 2013

2-Ingredient Chocolate Mousse

Bonjour, mes amis! Encore, un dessert Français: mousse au chocolat!

I absolutely love chocolate mousse! It has such a pleasing texture, and feels really indulgent, despite its lightness. What I love more about it is that it only uses two ingredients.

For those who are not fans of raw egg, however, I've got bad news for you: one of those ingredients is indeed raw egg. At its simplest, chocolate mousse is made by mixing melted chocolate with whipped egg, at a ratio of an ounce (30 grammes) of chocolate per egg. Mousse can also be made with the addition of butter and cream, but I find that makes it unnecessarily laden with calories. Give it a go if you like!

This is such a simple treat that it's a great one to do with children as one of their first forays into the kitchen.

INGREDIMENTS
For four servings of mousse

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) your favourite milk or dark chocolate
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

METHOD

• In a heatproof bowl, melt the chocolate gently over simmering water or in the microwave until fully melted.
• Working very quickly, beat the egg yolks into the warm chocolate, beating vigorously so that the egg yolks don't cook.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to firm peaks. Take about a third of the egg white mixture and mix it fully into the warm chocolate.
• Pour the chocolate mixture gently into the rest of the egg whites, and fold through gently until there are no streaks of egg white left.
• Divide the mixture between four ramekins, tumblers, or other kind of serving vessel. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving chilled.

THIS TIME IN 2015: Experiments in Homemade Soft Drinks: Raspberry Lemonade and Orange Cream Soda
No blogs on this day in 2016, 2014, nor 2013

Crumpets (Wheat- and Egg Free)

Readers of Sweetie Pie Bakes Stuff, I present to you a project I have always thought about since I was very young: crumpets!

When I was much younger, I was given a book called The Book of Afternoon Tea by Lesley Mackley, which I'm sure I've mentioned many times in the past. In this book, is a recipe for crumpets. Now, if one is a half-English person living in Ireland, there are some creature comforts of England that are kinda misunderstood here: one of which is crumpets. They go in and out of the supermarkets every so often, but don't have much staying power. I don't think the locals quite understand them.

Not only are regular crumpets widely unavailable, wheat- or gluten free ones are unheard of all together. You can buy them at great expense in Marks and Spencer, but it turns out that making them at home is much cheaper, even if spelt flour has risen to an eye-watering €3.80 per kilogram (ouch!). But to make them at home you need a specific piece of kit: a crumpet ring.

Recently, as I mentioned in my last post, I was in England with my companion to collect a car from his friend. While I was there, I went looking in a local kitchen supply shop and found just the thing I was looking for: crumpet rings! I bought two in a pack for about £4.50, which isn't too bad. And on my return home, I couldn't wait to use them!

I did a little research online for the best recipe, and many recipes advise to add some bicarbonate of soda to help a) the production of the little holes, and b) neutralise some of the acidifying nature of yeast. I don't know if there's any science behind this, but I trusted the advice. As such, this recipe is basically the same one as found in the Afternoon Tea book, with the addition of bicarb.

INGREDIMENTS

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) caster sugar
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) salt
• One quarter-ounce (7 gramme) sachet of dry active yeast
• Half a UK pint (285 millilitres) milk, lukewarm
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) water
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) bicarbonate of soda

METHOD

• In a medium mixing bowl, mix 2 ounces (55 grammes) of the flour, the salt, the sugar, the yeast, and half the milk until is is a well combined, thin mixture. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes until all the little yeast particles dissolve.
• Mix in all the remaining ingredients, using a balloon whisk, until you get something like a thin pancake mixture.
• Cover the bowl with cling film or a clean tea towel, and allow to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to one hour, until doubled and bubbly.

• Once it has risen, grease a heavy frying pan and two to three crumpet rings. Preheat the pan over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Place the rings onto the pan, and fill each one halfway full, about half an inch (1 centimetre), being careful to keep all the lovely bubbles in the mixture. Cook until the tops are pitted and dry, about 6 minutes. If the bottoms are browning too quickly, turn down the heat.

• One the tops are pitted, dry, and nicely full of holes, flip over and cook for a further minute. Serve immediately with butter, or jam, and any left overs can be cooled on a wire rack and stored for three days.

Bibliography: Mackley, L. The Book of Afternoon Tea. HP Trade. July 1992

THIS TIME IN 2015: June Afternoon Tea Party: "Picnic"

THIS TIME IN 2013: Vegan Banana Bread (Wheat-, Dairy-, and Egg Free)

No blogs on this day in 2014 or 2016

Apologies for the Delay: Trip to England, and College Work

Hello all!

Apologies for my radio silence recently: I was away last week for a last minute trip to England to retrieve a car, and have also been very busy with my masters coursework.

I'll be back to my usual tricks this week!

Sweetie Pie xxx