Jam and Cream Swiss Roll

My mother used to always make us the best birthday cakes as children. My favourite was a princess castle I got for my 5th or 6th birthday (I think). I also recall ballet slippers, bumble bee and a caterpillar. They were amazing. We were never allowed to see them though until they came out with candles on them at our parties but that didn't stop us looking high and low for them. Anyone who grew up in an Irish household may (or may not) have had a good sitting room and an every day sitting room. Well we were only allowed in our good sitting room for Christmas but this was where I spotted my princess castle cake that year.. I saw it through the window in the back garden and I was in awe! As we got older though we grew out of the novelty cakes and having big birthday parties so I remember as teenagers we would have a family dinner and after dinner we would have a cake purchased from the local bakery. My favourite was a jam and cream swiss roll. A light and fluffy sponge filled with strawberry jam and fresh whipped cream. Delicious! For this recipe I used a strawberry jam that had 'no bits' as its just the one I prefer but you can use any jam you want. You can also leave out the cream if desired or add more than I have put in here. To bake this I used a 37 x 27cm silicone flexi-sheet from lakeland but you can use any swiss roll tin or shallow baking tin you have. As you may notice the flour and caster sugar quantities are the same and there is one egg for every 25g of flour and caster sugar so if you do have a smaller baking tin just adjust your quantities as desired!

Ingredients

(as shown above)

125g Self-Raising Flour

125g Caster Sugar

5 Eggs

150mls Fresh Cream (whipped)

Jam

Prepare

Preheat your oven to 200^oC / Gas Mark 6

Line and Grease your Swiss roll tin or a shallow baking tray

Method

Begin by placing the caster sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl and whisking on high speed (if you have an electric mixer) until light and fluffy. This may take about 2-3 mins. If hand mixing this may take longer.

Then fold in the flour until well incorporated. Be careful not to over mix as you will lose all the air you have whisked into the sugar and eggs. 

Place the mix into your prepared tin and spread out to all the edges and smooth. Place in your preheated oven and bake for 7-10 minutes or until golden brown and springs back to touch. 

Remove from the oven and place on another sheet of grease proof paper that has been sprinkled with caster sugar. Leave to cool for a few moments and then roll up (from the shortest edge) with the grease proof paper and leave for another few moments before rolling out and leaving to cool completely before filling.

Because this is a relatively thin sponge it won't take that long to cool. You can use this time to prepare your fillings. Depending on the size of your sponge I used about 3 heaped tablespoons of jam. I placed the jam in a bowl and stirred it to loosen. If your jam is very thick or just out of the fridge place in the microwave for about 10 seconds before stirring. Spread the jam over the sponge  covering the sponge but leaving about 2cm around the edges and repeat with the whipped cream. Leaving those spaces free around the edge of the sponge will prevent your filling from over spilling.

Now this is completely optional but I trimmed about 1cm off the long edges of the sponge before folding it. This just tidies up the edges a bit before you roll it. Now with the shortest edge facing you, begin folding using the paper to help you and roll tightly. 

Sprinkle with icing sugar when serving. Don't be too worried if your sponge splits; It adds to the character of it I think :-). I hope you all enjoy baking it as much as I did. Let me know if you try it or if you have any questions for me? You can find me on twitter and instagram. 

Happy Baking!

O x