The roulade is another one of those baked items that is so very versatile, and everyone should have a great recipe to use that comes together quickly and easily…and this is one of those recipes. A roulade is what is called a good ol’ jelly roll here in the USA and even though in most cases it is rolled up, you can also use it as individual cake layers for both individual pastries and larger cake applications. For individual pastries, you can use a small cutter to cut out cake rounds that can be used in small molds alternating with layers of mousse, frostings or buttercreams. You can either use the whole sheet of cake to make a large roulade or you can cut it in half lengthwise and make smaller rolls for mini pastries.
This cake is used to make the Christmas time dessert called Buche de Noel. Once rolled up, the cake is decorated to look like a log with chocolate frosting on the outside, and then garnished with meringue mushrooms and marzipan holly leaves and berries then dusted with powdered sugar to look like snow…it makes a great Holiday centerpiece.
So whether you want to make a jelly roll, or something a little fancier with whipped cream, custard or a combination of both, just make sure to use this wonderful recipe. I used some great homemade blueberry jam that I received from my friend Donna, and added that into the cake along with the vanilla custard. Ohhh, so yummy….
Vanilla Custard Roulade with Homemade Blueberry Jam (makes one 1/2 sheet pan)
8 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar (8 oz)
1 cup cake flour, sifted (5 oz)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil (4 oz)
½ recipe simple syrup (I added about ¼ cup rum to mine and used 1/3 of the syrup for 1 cake)
½ recipe vanilla pastry cream (lighten with a little sweetened whipped cream)
1 small jar of your favorite jam (I used blueberry)
NOTE: For chocolate roulade, follow the same process but use 2.5 ounces cake flour and 2.5 ounces sifted cocoa powder
First, make sure to make the vanilla pastry cream and the simple syrup and then set them aside to cool for a few hours before using. Next, separate your eggs. Place whites in the bowl of your stand mixer and the yolks in a medium sized bowl. Begin whipping the whites with the salt. Add half the sugar to the egg yolks and whip together until well incorporated. Then add the vanilla, oil and sifted cake flour to the egg yolk mixture and make a thick paste then set aside.
When the whites have whipped to a soft peak, add in half of the remaining sugar and let them whip to a stiff peak. Once they have reached the stiff peak, add the rest of the sugar and whip for another minute or so until slightly glossy.
Add half of the whites to the egg yolk paste and use a whisk to fold in quickly then fold in the other half of the whites.
Pour this right away into a paper lined half sheet pan and bake in a 350°F preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until golden brown on top.
Allow to cool completely. To remove from the pan just flip onto another paper lined pan and peel off the parchment underneath. Soak gently with a flavored simple syrup, then spread the jam all over the cake. You can use the pastry cream as is, or you can lighten it with some sweetened whipped cream. For half a batch of pastry cream I would use 1 cup of heavy cream sweetened lightly with some powdered sugar. Don’t add too much, because the custard is fairly sweet too.
Make sure that the edge that will become the bottom of the cake, does not have too much cream because it will all squeeze out and make a mess.
Now let’s roll!
Begin rolling the edge closest to you by folding it in then use the paper to help you roll the rest by folding it into itself. Once it is rolled, make sure the opening is on the bottom before you put it in the refrigerator to set up. Allow to rest for about half an hour or so, then slice and enjoy!
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