If you make one cake this year, let it be this one. This cake, simply put, is pure sweet indulgence- but with a few gratings of butternut squash to make you feel better about the sugar coma certain to ensue. The crème fraîche, won’t relieve you of any guilt but the fact that it’s gluten-free and you can feed it to your celiac friends may just rouse you enough to spread the good word. About this cake, that is.
If, however, you gave up sugar for lent, then you have served yourself a severe misfortune and this certainly isn’t for you. At least not for the next five weeks. As someone who is personally trying to go easy on the sugar, I admit I really let myself down on this one. I fell and I fell hard. Some people cave at the candy bar displays at check out lines but no. not me- I cave when I come across a truly beautiful baking book. Particularly ones with titles like red velvet & chocolate heartache and pictures of teddy bear tea parties, cakes in doll houses and fairy princesses. That was all it took and it was only a matter of how long it took me to get back to my kitchen before I would well and truly give myself up to its charms. All I can say, is it’s a good thing I’m back on the running wagon.
If there’s one kind of baked good that truly allures me, it’s a rolled one. A sheet of meringue rolled and filled with berries and cream is about enough for me to hit the ground and beg, a chocolate roulade filled with ganache and cream and you’ll have me pounding the floor for mercy- and a steamed jam roly-poly, well, I’d be offering to kiss feat for a slice covered in warm custard. I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is that has me so intrigued- the spirals, the way the filling oozes, or maybe it’s the ratio of cake to filling. Perhaps it’s all of the above and the fact that they are generally filled or served with cream doesn’t hurt either. Hey, if there’s no butter in a cake I should be allowed the cream!
This cake is particularly good served warm- the dulce de leche seeps into every nook and cranny of the sponge and the crème fraîche lazily begins to warm and melt around the sliced of banana. Unless of course you forget to, sigh, put the bananas in and you have to serve them on top- but lets not talk about that. It also, only takes 15 minutes to bake and the same amount to prep plus 10 minutes on the other side to roll it up and fill it. It’s one of those bish-bam-boom cakes for times when you have unexpected guests or when you’ve promised to bring dessert and have once again procrastinated. A rolled cake, are you kidding me?! People will think you’ve been cooking for hours. It can be our little secret
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Serves 8
Diet Facts: Gluten Free
a little icing sugar/confectioners sugar
100g/scant 1/2 cup sugar (caster sugar if you are in the UK)
1/4 tsp salt
4 medium free-range eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
100g/4 oz peeled and and seeded butternut squash or sweet potato
70g/ 1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp brown or white rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
For the filling
1 x 225g/8 oz tub crème fraîche
1/3-1/2 tin of carnation caramel or 1/3-1/2 cup dulce de leche
2 medium bananas, optional
Prep work
Heat your oven to 180C/375F/Gas 4 and put the oven rack in the middle. • Line a 33cm x 24 cm x 2 cm swiss roll tin with parchment paper along the bottom and dust generously with icing sugar using a fine sieve. • Separate your egg yolks from your whites. • Finely grate your butternut squash or sweet potato. • Measure all of your ingredients. • Have ready a clean tea towel (hand towel) and rubber spatula.
How to make
1/ Put the egg whites into a large mixing bowl (ideally for a Kitchen Aid mixer, or equivalent) and attach the whisk attachment. Add all of the sugar, minus 2 Tbsp and the salt to the egg whites and beat on medium-high until the whites form stiff peaks. Set aside
2/ In another mixing bowl (or you can transfer your egg whites carefully and clean out the bowl) beat together the egg yolks and 2 Tbsp of reserved sugar for 4 minutes on medium-high or until they are pale and fluffy. Turn the mixer to low and mix in the grated butternut squash or sweet potato and vanilla extract.
3/ Remove the bowl from the mixer and using your rubber spatula stir through a spoonful of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Once fully incorporated fold through 1/3 of the remaining egg whites carefully so that you don’t knock out all of the air. Repeat the process, making sure that you have incorporated any loose mixture on the bottom. You should have an airy pillow like consistency.
4/ Carefully pour the contents onto your prepared swiss roll tin and gently coax the mixture to all of the corners so that it is even without pressing it down. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and be prepared to act quickly once it is ready. Lay out your clean tea towel on a flat surface and cut another piece of parchment paper slightly smaller than the tea towel. Turn the sponge out onto the middle of your tea towel/parchment in one quick movement and gently peel away the parchment on the underside of the cake. You may need to use a palette knife to avoid any cake sticking.
5/ Now with the cake facing you vertically roll up the tea towel and parchment paper like a cigar and once you hit the cake carry on rolling, including the cake in your roly-poly. Continue until you have rolled up the whole cake and let cool like this for 10 minutes.
6/ Meanwhile, in a clean bowl beat your crème fraîche until soft and thickened. If you are using bananas, peel and thinly slice at this point. After 10 minutes, unroll your cake and delicately spread wtih your dulce de leche. If you are using the bananas dot all over with the slices and then spread over the crème fraîche. Roll up the cake again, this time without the tea towel and parchment and dust with more icing sugar. This is best served soon after making but you can refrigerate for a few hours before serving.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
oooh I love this soft and tender cousin of the famous bannoffee!
I had this before and it is incredible. Yummy.
Caviar Merchant Company they are the best.
You’ve described it beautifully! I love to hear it’s quick as well as oozily delicious.
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