swiss roll.

i made swiss rolls today! the second thing i've baked now that im back home. although i fancy some things about it could be improved, so im going to try it again tmr.

because i didnt have an electric whisk, i had to do the manual whisking. dear lord, that was tough. i shall try NOT to ever have to do that again. (kudos to you tiffy for making meringues by hand!) but since im baking this tmr i suppose im just being self-contradictory :x

instead of the 5-7 minues recommended whisking on high with the electric mixer, it took me 25 minutes to do it by hand. i fancy that's because i only got into the hang of it somewhere in the middle. but in any case, i got it to the ribbon-like consistency as mentioned; folded in the flour and oil and milk, and set it in a greased and lined long pan.



after baking (dont know how long, i just merely check every once in a while to check doneness with a toothpick) what you need to do is dust a teatowel with powdered sugar, cut the crusts off the cake, and sliced it to desired thickness. roll the cake in the towel with the topside on the outside of the roll, and leave to cool.



prepare a simple sugar syrup of 1 part water to 1 part sugar and brush it on the cake (inside roll) to prevent the cake from drying out. essentially this is just a traditional way of locking moisture in cake layers and swiss rolls, and will work for layer cakes as well.




after the cake has cooled, gently unroll. you can see the slight specks of powdered sugar on the outside of it. here's where you have to be really careful about not cracking the roll.




ta-da!



i peeled and cut the semi-ripe kiwis into strips that can be inserted into the roll before rolling.



horrors of horrors! i was so tired from manually whisking the meringue that i went out to buy sweetened READY whipped cream. do not get this though! it makes for cream that will dissolve and melt into cake later on and not be as visible as you would want it to be. i think the traditional route of making the cream yourself from whipping double cream would result in much tastier and prettier rolls.



smear the whipped cream on the cake in an even layer. you dont want it so thin you can't see it in the roll, but if you use too much, it's going to ooze out in the end and defeat the purpose in any case.

lay out the kiwi. i didnt take a piture of this, but what i did after was also to pipe cream between the rows of kiwi as well! it makes for a more even look i think.


here's what happens. the cream will ooze out anyway, but that's alright because you would want to cut off the ends anyway to even it out.



trimmed!



clingfilmed and fridged so that the cream sets and it looks better. i was really worried at this stage that it would flop and then i swear i'd cry.



and after it's unwrapped. i seriously think this might be one of the better things i've made. and one that both my parents liked, and now there's only one slice of it left :/ darnit.



and my dad said that taking a bite out of it would make a more picturesque shot, and so i indulge him.

recipe taken from here.