Coffee Swiss Roll

Does the frosting look like a caterpillar? It looks like one to me, except it is not a green caterpillar. Haha ...........

How about a cup of freshly brewed coffee with a slice of coffee swiss roll on a lazy afternoon? This coffee roll is frosted and filled with coffee-flavoured swiss meringue butter cream. Definitely for coffee addicts. 

For this swiss roll, I used the chiffon cake method and the result is a soft, moist and springy roll. I've been reading up on how to roll the cake without any cracks and this method of creating a shallow slit along the sides of the two vertical edges before rolling it up works perfectly. I also tried rolling up the roll about 5 minutes after removing it from the oven to prevent the cracks. It works beautifully too. The only not so perfect outcome is that the skin tends to stick to the parchment paper it rests on for the rolling purpose and hence some parts of the skin peel away. If you dust the parchment paper with some icing sugar, the roll will not stick as much to the parchment paper. If you frost the roll or do not want the skin on, it's not a problem. The imperfections will be covered up by the frosting. However, if you want to make sugar rolls, you would want a beautiful skin on the roll. I have not found the perfect method to do this yet. Maybe I'll try letting the roll rest a little more to cool down first before rolling it up next time.

Here's a picture of the sugar roll I made when I made the coffee swiss roll. I was in a roll mood that day. Look at the almost perfect skin on them.

Ingredients:

Swiss Roll:

4 egg yolk

36g castor sugar

2 tbsp instant coffee granules dissolved in 30ml hot water

¼ tsp salt

30ml fresh milk

40g corn oil

4 egg white

54g caster sugar

¼ tsp cream of tartar

80g cake flour

½ tsp baking powder

Coffee Swiss Meringue buttercream:

2 large egg white

70g sugar

Pinch of salt

180g unsalted butter, cut into cubes

¼ tsp coffee essence

¼ tsp coffee liqueur

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven at 200°C.

Line a 10” x 14” x 1” or 11” x 14” x1” or two 9.5” x 6.5” x 1” baking trays with parchment paper. Leave an overhang of the shorter sides of the parchment paper.

Method:

Swiss Roll

(1) Sift the cake flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl.

(2) Whisk the egg yolk , salt and 36g castor sugar until a little fluffy.

(3) Add in the corn oil and fresh milk into the egg yolk mixture above and mix until well blended.

(4) In another clean mixing bowl, whisk egg white using medium speed till foamy stage. Add in cream of tartar. Increase speed to medium high until soft peak stage and gradually pour in 54g castor sugar. Whisk at high speed until stiff peak forms.

(5) Take 1/3 of egg white mixture and fold gently into the egg yolk mixture. Pour this mixture into the egg white mixture and fold gently until well blended. Use a large balloon whisk or rubber spatula to fold.

(6) Pour the above batter into the prepared baking tray(s) and bake at 200°C for about 10 mins.

(7) Take out the baking tray(s) from the oven and leave on the wire rack to cool.

(8) Spread the coffee butter cream onto the cooled swissroll and roll into a swissroll. **

(9) Slice and decorate with the remaining coffee buttercream before serving.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

(1) Combine egg white, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved.

(2) Attach the bowl to a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low speed and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff peak forms. Continue beating until the mixture is fluffy and glossy and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl).

(3) With the mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter has been added, whisk in the coffee extract and coffee liqueur.

(4) Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all bubbles are eliminated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth.

(5) Use immediately or transfer it into an air-tight bowl and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

** Sprinkle icing sugar on parchment paper and place above moist tea towel. Roll after cooling it for 5 min. Let it cool for 5 min before unrolling and spreading buttercream on it.

Serves 10 slices