Rolls Nice: Japanese Roll Cake

I was wondering if cake decorating term is only applied to cookies and layered cakes. When I saw a Greentea Japanese Roll Cake from Rachmah's blog post, I have a thought the term could be enlarged with decorating roll cakes somewhere under that particular category.

I mean, what's the difference? Although decorating roll cakes doesn't need sugarpaste, royal icing or buttercream, it surely needs imagination like a 'normal' cake decorating needs.



It involves drawing and painting with batter. It involves colours and techniques. 

And there is skills. 



Honestly, I have never met a challenge like it before and it took me by surprise that it is not as easy as it looks. I failed one of my roll cake, cracked and split when I was trying to roll it. I suspect, I was too adamant to put fresh strawberries in the centre and perhaps way too heavy for the sponge to take them all. I learned my lesson.

 

Another tricky thing is to use the right baking paper. Everytime I put coloured batter on to make decorations, the moment it came out of the freezer, the baking paper will be wrinkled. And that means, the final product will not be as smooth as I want it.

Some girls in the group said to use silpat, but my my silpat is way too big for the measurement required on the recipe. I don't know how they did it, but one time around, I decided not to grease the roll tin. The result was just the same, if not only to satisfy my observation on what to overcome with those two techniques. Nah, I'm still not able to make my roll cakes looking perfectly as smooth as I want to. 

There is one thing I have forgotten, a result of not reading the recipe properly. It's that I have to put a pattern paper under the baking paper, so that the baking paper is not on contact with the bottom of the tin. I must try that again one day.

Well, are you feeling challenged now? Here is the recipe.



Japanese Roll Cake (JRC)

Source: Junko Book (Hop on this website to see what the book look like. It includes step-by-step too. I wonder where to get it in New Zealand)
Modified by Rachmah Setyawati
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Ingredients
Batter I
4 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
40cc vegetable oil
60cc water
80g plain flour

Batter for Decorations

60g egg whites
15g caster sugar
10g cornflour

Batter II
160-175g egg whites
0,5g salt
50g caster sugar

1tsp lime juice
15g cornflour
　

1 Tbs Blueberry Paste or dark purple food coloring (I omit this somehow, using different ideas of decorations and colours)

Filling :
Fresh cream, whipped


Methods:

Batter I: Beat egg yolks and sugar until fluffy, drizzle in oil a little at a time while mixing well and then continued with water until all combined. Fold in flour and mix well. Set aside.

Batter for Decorations: Beat egg whites with half of the sugar until foamy, add in sugar a little at a time while still whisking, until all the sugar is used and it forms soft peak. Fold in cornflour, mix well until the batter appears thicken but not hard peak. Set aside.

Get 5-6 tablespoons of Batter I and spoon into the Batter for Decorations, mix well. Divide into two portions. For the first portion of batter, divide into three colours: light pink, dark pink, and light yellow, following the drawing below, provided by Rachmah Setyawati.

Decorations drawing by Rachmah Setyawati

Prepare 2 roll tins measured 20X20X5cm. Prepare your paper which is already sketched with your desired patterns and place it on the bottom of the tin. Grease this paper with a little butter and put the baking paper over. So the paper with patterns is covered by baking paper. Do not grease your baking paper.

Take a little light pink colour, spoon it on to the love pattern. Then get the dark pink one, spoon onto the rest of the love pattern which is not decorated yet. Repeat the process for the dot patterns.

After all patterns are filled and done, put the tin into the freezer until the batter is frozen and dry. Then pour in the Batter I.

You can create another pattern as much as you want. So with this recipe, it will yield two sponge roll cakes.

Preheat the oven to 165C-175C.

Batter II: Make this while freezing the patterns. Beat the egg whites with half of the sugar until foamy, add in the rest of the sugar a little at a time while whisking. Add in lime juice, keep whisking until soft peak. Fold in cornflour, whisk well until thicken. 

 

Combine Batter I and Batter II until incorporated well enough, no egg whites streaks, that is. Divide into two portions. Drop blueberry paste or food colouring as to your liking into one of the portions, mix well. 

Remove the tin out of the freezer, then pour in the blueberry coloured batter onto the love-patterned tin, and the the other portion into the second tin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until well cooked. Peel off the paper and let it cool.

Assemble

When the cake is cooled, spread the filling over the non-patterned side, roll well and wrap with baking paper. Let it be hardened in the freezer for a little while and serve.

My Review:
Although I still bump into difficulties of making it right, I definitely will try again and let my children design the patterns.

So yeah. We had had a good time with Japanese Roll Cake. Afternoon tea feels so cute with these little rolls. Do ahead with yours, and let me know what you come up with!