Deco Roll

My apologies to all my readers who keep on coming and visiting my blogs and finding no new postings - sorry!!!!!  no excuses.  Year 2013 has been busy, spring is over and summer is upon us, yard work is not done.  So much eating but did not share anything interesting.  I hope you all will find this Deco Roll interesting as it is so appealing and so fun to bake.  The best part is that the cake is so light and healthy, so acceptable.  You can use any design of your choice and this particular design that i chose had a strange way of sticky to me.  It was a recycled plastic bag which i used when i was packing my bags for my trip home from Malaysia. When i was home, I recycled it again and put in some dvds for my dear friend, Peng.  She was coming to collect them and i had to leave them on the bench outide the house as i was not going to be home.  Peng did come and collected her dvds but she left me a gift(3 lovely bittergourds) and she left her gift in the same recycled bag.  I just don't seem to rid of this bag and when i decided to bake this Deco Roll, I used the design, it was so lovely.  Thank you Peng for the gift and the bag which refuse to leave me.


Necessary Equipment:
1/4 size sheet pan
electric mixer
1 ziploc bag

Ingredients:

Egg Yolk Batter
1 egg yolk
2 tbsps fine granulated sugar
3 tbsp cooking oil(to be added twice)
4 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup cake flour
red food coloring

Pattern
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 egg white
a pinch of cornstarch

Base Batter
4 egg whites
1 1/2 tbsp fine granulated sugar
1 tsp. cornstarch

Simple Syrup
1/2 tbsp fine granulated sugar
2 tbsp hot water
1/2 tbsp. fruit liquor *optional

Filling
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream chilled
1 tbsp fine granulated sugar
1 tsp. fruit liquor *optional
10 fresh strawberries

Method:

To prepare the pattern batter:

Place the design of your choice at the bottom of 1/4 sheet pan and then place a  well greased parchment paper on top.(I used a washable liner and grease it thoroughly well).

To prepare Egg Yolk Batter

Beat egg yolk, fine granulated sugar and 11/2 tbsp cooking oil until white.

Add the water, the remaining 1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil, and  vanilla extract, then mix well.

Sift in cake flour(cake flour tend to clump up) and mix until well combine.

To prepare the pattern batter:

Remove 2 tbsp of the Egg Yolk Batter and place into a small bowl.

Add in 1 tsp cocoa powder into egg yolk batter.

In a very clean bowl, whisk  egg white until soft peak, then add a pinch of cornstarch and continue to beat until stiff.

Add 2 tbsp of this meringue to the 2 tbsp of cocoa egg yolk batter and fold in.

Transfer this into a small ziploc bag and snip off a tiny end. Then trace the pattern. When done,  bake in the preheated oven at 325F for 1 minute until the surface of pattern dries out.

To prepare the Base Batter:

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites with an electric mixer(@ medium speed), until soft peaks form. Then add the leftover meringue and whisk them together. Add sugar a little at a time and whisk until stiff glossy peaks form. Lastly add cornstarch and continue whisking until firm peaks form.

Add this meringue into the Egg Yolk Batter,  1/3 at a time. Mix until the batter continuously drips back into the bowl like a ribbon when you scoop it up with the spatula. Add a little more meringue if the batter is too thick, cos if batter is too thick it will create air holes when baked.

Pour and spread the batter into the cake pan. Drop the pan lightly on the counter and tap the bottom of the pan to raise the air bubbles out of the batter.

Bake in the oven at 325F for about 14 minutes until surface is golden brown.

When it's done, use a spatula to remove cake from around the pan sides where there is no baking liner. Then place parchment paper over the surface, flip upside down, and place it on a wire rack. Remove the baking liner and  cover with another parchment paper, and leave to cool.

To prepare simple syrup:

Mix fine granulated sugar and hot water, stir until dissolved. Then mix liqueur if using.

Flip the cake upside down, and remove the parchment paper at the back.

To roll the cake nice and round, cut off both ends diagonally.

Make 3 shallow cuts in the middle of the cake, approximately 3/4 apart.

Gently brush the cake with syrup.

To make Filling:

Combine 1/2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream, fine granulated sugar, and liquor (if  using) in a dry, clean bowl. Float the bottom of the bowl in ice water, whisk the cream until it forms a stiff peak.

To assemble Cake Roll:

Coat the surface of the cake evenly with the whipped cream (leave an inch at the top).

Hull strawberries and cut into quarters.

Roll up the cake. Twist the ends of the parchment paper to look like a candy wrapper.

Chill the cake roll in the fridge for more than an hour before serving.

ENJOY