FvF Cooks: Swiss Roll - Friends of Friends / Freunde von Freunden (FvF)

FvF Cooks: Swiss Roll

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“We wanted to recreate old favorites with exciting new flavors and textures.”

For the fourth and final installment of our ‘Afternoon Tea’ series with Laura and Nora, of Our Food Stories, the lovely duo have created for us a fresh, modern take on the sweet, spongey delight that is the Swiss Roll – a much-cherished dessert of many a childhood.

Inspired by Nora’s mother’s recipe, the girls were keen to play around and bring this traditional European delicacy into the realm of stylish, contemporary ‘High Tea.’ Both comforting and sophisticated, they have certainly succeeded in this glorious revival of a childhood classic. “For me the idea of Swiss roll is not necessarily just a German thing, but it was certainly a tradition in my family and something we wanted to reinvent.” Experimenting with different flavors and textures, they decided upon apricot jam, ginger and macadamia-coconut cream filling, finished off with the subtle crunch of coconut flakes and nuts. The result is fruity, fluffy and perfectly formed.

Laura tells me with a smile that “we both have serious sweet-tooth’s”, which explains why they have been so well-suited to our ‘Afternoon Tea’ series. Through their exciting selection of sweet-treats Laura and Nora have given a new, vibrant lease of life to the age-old pleasure of a well-timed cake and tea. And herein lies the beauty of Our Food Stories: this inherent belief in the glory of eating because you want to. “If you have a feeling your body is craving something then I would always say go for it, because I think it’s just as important to listen to your body….and if it tells you it occasionally wants a slice of cake, then why not?!”

Ingredients for 1 Swiss Roll (10 slices)

  • Sponge dough
    • 1 60g rice flour (or regular flour)
    • 2 45g corn starch
    • 3 1.5 tbsp tartar baking powder (or regular baking powder)
    • 4 4 eggs
    • 5 90g sugar
    • 6 ½  vanilla pod
    • 7 1 dash salt
  • Filling
    • 1 250g apricot jam
    • 2 Small piece of fresh ginger
  • Macadamia coconut cream
    • 1 50g macadamia (or other nuts you like)
    • 2 20g coconut flakes (or grated coconut)
    • 3 200g heavy cream
    • 4 100ml milk
    • 5 2-3g agar-agar (or another gelling agent)
    • 6 1-2 tbsp sugar
  • Topping
    • 1 2-4 tbsp sugar
    • 2 Coconut flakes for decoration
    • 3 Macadamia nuts chopped for decoration

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C (top/bottom heat). Line a baking sheet with baking parchment (take care that the sides and corners are covered). Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites together with a dash of salt until half stiff, then add half of the sugar while continuing to beat until stiff. Now beat the egg yolks together with the remaining sugar and vanilla seeds for 1-2min. Then fold in gently the egg yolks and cream into the beaten egg whites. Mix the rice flour, corn starch and tartar baking powder in a separate bowl and sift in 3 portions to the egg mix. Then gently fold in the flour mix with a big (wooden) spoon. Pour the dough on the parchment paper and spread the dough with an angled spatula (or cake lifter) evenly to all sides and corners. Shake the baking sheet carefully in the end, so the dough flattens even more so that you get a nice even result after baking.

Bake the dough for 10 minutes at 190 °C. Meanwhile sprinkle 1-2 tbsp. sugar on a clean kitchen towel and then turn the baked dough upside down on the kitchen towel. Take off the baking parchment carefully and sprinkle a bit more sugar on the top (the sugar prevents the dough sticking to the kitchen towel). Roll up the dough (from the shorter side) together with the kitchen towel and leave to cool on a cooling rack.

Shred the coconut flakes with an immersion blender (cover the bowl with a kitchen towel, because the coconut grates can come flying out easily). Purée the macadamia nuts until they turn into a nut cream. Beat the heavy cream semi-stiff, then add the sugar and beat until stiff and set aside for a moment.

Mix the milk with the agar-agar in a small saucepan and bring to boil for one minute. Let it cool for 2-3 minutes in a medium-sized bowl (stir occasionally), then stir in the macadamia creamand the grated coconut. Fold in gently the whipped cream – do it in 3-4 portions.  Unroll the dough, mix the apricot jam with a bit of grated fresh ginger and spread the jam onto the roll. Then spread carefully about half of the macadamia-coconut-cream on top of the jam (not too thick and leave a thin gap at the edges).

Now roll up the Swiss Roll and spread more macadamia-coconut-cream on top. Decorate with coconut flakes and chopped macadamia nuts. Leave for minimum 1 hour in the fridge. Cut off the sides before serving.

What a great way to satisfy our sweet tooth! Thank you, Laura and Nora, for this take on the Swiss roll.

Afternoon Tea is a series of four recipes – have a look at the previous ones: a gluten-free Berry Goat Cheese Cheesecake, a Lemon & Zucchini Cake and Banana & Cherry Muffins. Visit all of our FvF Cooks episodes, from sweet to savory and everything in between. For our previous culinary series, try out our Breakfast and Lunch dishes.

Photography: Our Food Stories
Text: Emma Winterschladen

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