Lemon Roll Cake, #SundaySupper

 

Spring ushers in showers, flowers and a slew of goddesses who bring renewal to the world. Persephone (of Greek mythology fame) returns from her underground romps with Pluto and the earth blooms again in 3-D color. In China, the goddess Ma-Ku brings healing and reigns over springtime rites. And the Japanese goddess, Yaya-Zakurai insists on purity/chastity whilst the cherry blossoms are in bloom. (After the petals fall…well, that’s another story.)



Kamakura's Hasedera Temple sings springtime!

For those of us who are domestic goddesses, closets are cleaned out and windows are flung open to welcome in a new season. Along with the physical cleaning, many of us allow cobwebs of old thinking to be cleared from our minds.

This Ninja Baker reads blogs like Crazy for Crust and is convinced by the talented baker/writer, Dorothy Kern, that it is time to throw out any fears surrounding cream roll cake-making. And eagerly announce,  “Yes! I’ll contribute a lemon roll cake for the 7 p.m. ET #SundaySupper on 17 March at Twitter.com.” 



Proof of the Ninja Baker's Virgin Voyage into the Land of Cream Rolls

Dorothy reports that her first time roll cake produced no cracks and was super-easy. My experience was not exactly identical. Perhaps the following tips will produce a stellar situation in your kitchen.


Tips:
A. Pour a thin layer of batter into the jellyroll pan, so that your cake isn't so thick that you need to saw it in half like yours truly
B. Mixing in jam or chocolate into the whipped cream filling so rolling the cake up proceeds smoothly.
C. And, by all means, visit Crazy for Crust and read up on Dorothy's tips for roll
cake-making.

Alice Choi, the Hip Foodie Mom, remedied my grievous cake cracks. She recently posted a gorgeous recipe for mini bundts with white chocolate ganache. Thanks to Alice’s  ganache recipe, I was able to cover the cracks of my cakes and the cream rolls are presentable.



Lemon Cake Rolls with White Chocolate Ganache


Lemon Cake Roll:
Bake up a lemon cake (using a cake mix or your favorite recipe) in a jellyroll pan. Make sure the pan is lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Spraying the paper or foil with baking spray helps, too. I’ve got a small gas oven so my smallish jellyroll pan took about 26 minutes to bake at 350 degrees. (It will take less time when the batter is thinner!)

Filling:
Until lovely soft peaks appear, whip up 8 ounces of heavy cream with ¼ cup of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon lemon zest and ¾ teaspoon of powdered lemon peel.

Method:
On a cooled rectangle of cake, carefully spread the cream. As mentioned 3 tablespoons of strawberry jam seemed to help the process.

Cautiously roll the cake in a heavily powder sugar sprinkled wax paper or towel.

Freeze overnight.

Make the Hip Foodie Mom’s White Chocolate Ganache. The recipe is here. Pipe the ganache onto the cake or liberally slather. Whichever way the spirits of spring move you.

As appealing springtime flowers bloom, a feeling of hope appears that in the future, my cake rolls will be even nicer.



 


In the meantime, please enjoy the following recipes celebrating the season and St. Patrick's Day by the best of the food blogosphere. Mama’s Blissful Bites is hosting the #SundaySupper Twitter party so prepare for bliss!

Breakfast

Apps, Bread, Salads, Soups and Dressings:

Main and Sides:

Desserts:

Beverages:

Wishing you Emily Dickinson’s springtime
Hope (which) is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul, ?
And sings the tune--without the words, ?
And never stops at all.

The Ninja Baker

© ™ Watkinson 2012

The Ninja Baker has guest blogged and contributed recipes to numerous food sites. These additional recipes can be found here.

 

Tags: 
Japan
Cream Roll Cake
Asian Goddesses
Spring
#SundaySupper