Strawberry Cake Roll Recipe

For our Christmas day dessert, I made this delightful Strawberry Cake Roll.  It had a lighter taste to it than the  rich Black Tie Mousse Cake that I also made.  I had never made this cake before, but it sounded good.  I was trying to recreate a cake that my mom used to purchase from the Amish.  It was a sponge cake roll, just like this one, but the filling was totally different. It was made with strawberry jam.  My next attempt at this cake will be to omit the whip cream filling (although it was wonderful), and try it with just a homemade strawberry freezer jam filling.  One thing that surprised me about this cake was the fact that it stayed nice over several days in the refrigerator.  I made it the day before Christmas Eve.  We started eating it on Christmas day, and we ate on it for several days thereafter.  I would have thought that the whip cream filling would have separated, but it was still great.  This would be a lovely Valentine's dessert or it would grace the table of a baby shower beautifully.  Hope you like it!

Strawberry Cake Roll

4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sifted cake flour  (I didn't have that so I used regular All purpose flour sifted several times)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Powder Sugar
1 cup whipping cream
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 (10 oz) package frozen sliced strawberries, thawed and drained
1/4 cup strawberry jam
1/4 cup light corn syrup

Grease a 15x10 inch jelly roll pan, and line with wax paper. Grease and flour wax paper; Set aside.
Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored.  Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, beating well.  Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to sugar mixture, beating just until blended.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Stir gently into combined flour and sugar mixture.
Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.  Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. 

Sift powder sugar in a 15x10 inch rectangle on a tea towel.  When cake is done, immediately loosen from sides of pan and turn out onto sugar tea towel.  Peel off waxed paper.  Starting at narrow end, roll up cake and towel together; cool on a wire rack, seam side down.

After the cake cools, beat whipping cream until foamy; gradually add 3 Tablespoons sugar, beating until soft peaks form.  Add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla; beat until mixed.  Fold in strawberries.  Unroll cake, and remove towel.  Spread cake with strawberry filling, and reroll.  Place on serving plate seam side down.  (I cut my roll in half and placed side by side on my serving plate). 

Combine jam and corn syrup in a small pan.  Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat; brush mixture over cake roll.  Chill until time to serve.  Best if left for several hours before serving.  Right before serving, I sprinkled mine with a bit of powder sugar for garnish.

grace and peace,
julie