Durian Yule Log Cake

Again a maiden attempt at making X'mas log cakes.  I have always wanted to try making them but I was really lousy with roll cakes back then and did not want to do log cake with cracked roll cake (though I know it will be covered by the cream and all), but the thought of people seeing the insides when sliced stopped me from all of it.

Now thay roll cakes have been mastered, I gained the confidence to get the log cakes coming!  We were invited to my brother in law's house for a X'mas dinner and I definitely did not wanna go there empty-handed - so this log cake came about.

With the long roll cake baked, I sliced it into half and made 2 log cakes with it. Coated the insides and outsides with mao shan wang durian puree. *yummy*

One was brought to my brother in law's place and the other to my Mum's.

Bought these icing sugar figurines from the 100Yen shop in Japan during my recent Kyushu trip.

I had fun making and decorating these log cakes. Will definitely make them again because log cakes are terribly overpriced outside!!!

Durian Yule Log Cake

A
4 egg yolks
35g caster sugar
60ml water
40ml oil
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
80g plain flour

B 
4 egg whites
30g caster sugar
1 tsp corn flour

Durian filling
- (I doubled the below amount for outer log cake frosting)
250g durian puree
3 tbsp fresh milk (or more if required to thin durian puree to desired consistency)

1. Prepare 10inch by 10inch baking tray line with baking paper.  You may lightly grease baking tray with some cooking oil and then line baking paper to prevent baked cake from having "wrinkles".  Preheat oven to 170deg C. Prepare 2 other pieces of baking paper (slightly bigger size than baking tray) or use later after cake is baked.
2. Combine egg yolks and caster sugar in A and beat till egg yolk mixture turns white and pale, and air bubbles show up when beating stops.
3. Add in water, oil and vanilla essence and mix well.  Sift in plain flour and mix well.  Set aside.
4. Beat egg whites in a clean and dry bowl till frothy, add in corn flour and beat till combined.
5. In 3 separate additions, add caster sugar into egg white mixture and beat till stiff peaks form.
6. In 3 separate additions, spoon white eggs into yolk mixture and fold in carefully till a smooth batter forms (take care not to overfold and deflate the batter).
7. Pour batter onto lined baking tray and smooth out top with a scraper.  Put to bake at 170deg C for 14min or till done.  (Cake should spring back when pressed slightly, toothpick to come out dry when inserted into centre of cake, and when pressed gently there should be slight "sss" sound.  Overbaked cake will have cracks showing up when rolled.)
8. Remove tray from oven and overturn tray on 1 piece of baking paper atop a cooling rack. Remove the lined baking paper sticking on cake and cover cake with baking tray.  Let cool for about 10min or till cake is cool.  Remove baking tray.
9. Spread prepared durian filling all over cake, leaving about 1cm of far end clear of filling.
10. Roll up cake into a log shape with the help of bottom baking paper and twist sides of baking paper to hold the cake.  Rest rolled cake with the end at the bottom and leave cake in fridge for 15-30min before frosting the outsides with the remaining half of durian puree.
11. To assemble log cake, you can slice about an inch or 2 inch of rolled cake and placed it by one side of the rolled cake, or however you want your log cake to look like. Slap on the durian puree and frost away with a palate knife - does not matter if you cannot get a smooth frosting because you are gonna make log lines on the frosting anyway!
12. After the full frosting is done, use a fork and "draw" lines on the whole cake to make it look like a log.  Decorate with your favourite (clean!!! :P) Christmas figurines and refrigerate. You can dust the top of the cake with a light layer of icing sugar otherwise it is good to go. Best served chilled.

Durian Roll Cake

Some days back my hubby told me about Ah Seng durian starting their sale of mao shan wang durians again, and we then realised that we still have got 2 packs of durian puree stashed away in our freezer!!! So wait no more, we decided that I should use a portion of the durian puree to make our favourite durian roll cake.  Having previously baked this, I decided to use the same recipe I used before.

Here I present you my yummy roll cake with thick mao shan wang durian puree!  A sinful indulgence but let's just enjoy, because it is December - a month of play and feastings.

Durian Roll Cake


A
4 egg yolks
35g caster sugar
60ml water
40ml oil
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
80g plain flour

B 
4 egg whites
30g caster sugar
1 tsp corn flour

Durian filling
250g durian puree
3 tbsp fresh milk (or more if required to thin durian puree to desired consistency)

1. Prepare 10inch by 10inch baking tray line with baking paper.  You may lightly grease baking tray with some cooking oil and then line baking paper to prevent baked cake from having "wrinkles".  Preheat oven to 170deg C. Prepare 2 other pieces of baking paper (slightly bigger size than baking tray) or use later after cake is baked.
2. Combine egg yolks and caster sugar in A and beat till egg yolk mixture turns white and pale, and air bubbles show up when beating stops.
3. Add in water, oil and vanilla essence and mix well.  Sift in plain flour and mix well.  Set aside.
4. Beat egg whites in a clean and dry bowl till frothy, add in corn flour and beat till combined.
5. In 3 separate additions, add caster sugar into egg white mixture and beat till stiff peaks form.
6. In 3 separate additions, spoon white eggs into yolk mixture and fold in carefully till a smooth batter forms (take care not to overfold and deflate the batter).
7. Pour batter onto lined baking tray and smooth out top with a scraper.  Put to bake at 170deg C for 14min or till done.  (Cake should spring back when pressed slightly, toothpick to come out dry when inserted into centre of cake, and when pressed gently there should be slight "sss" sound.  Overbaked cake will have cracks showing up when rolled.)
8. Remove tray from oven and overturn tray on 1 piece of baking paper atop a cooling rack. Remove the lined baking paper sticking on cake and cover cake with baking tray.  Let cool for about 10min or till cake is cool.  Remove baking tray.
9. Spread prepared durian filling all over cake, leaving about 1cm of far end clear of filling.
10. Roll up cake into a log shape with the help of bottom baking paper and twist sides of baking paper to hold the cake.  Rest rolled cake with the end at the bottom and leave cake in fridge for at least an hour before cutting.  Best served chilled.

Note:
You may lessen durian puree to 150g and add 100ml of whipping cream to durian filling if you do not like thick durian filling. 

Matcha Swiss Roll Cake with Yuzu Jam

I am so loving the green tone of this roll cake!

And so...

It's the return of the swiss roll. And this time a matcha one. Have always been a fan of anything matcha and so... I naturally have packs of matcha powder stashed away in my fridge - I can make anything matcha anytime!

Cake was not well rolled and it cracked at the start of rolling.

As you know, I am not a cream lover and never like to have cream in my bakes as much as possible, so fillings for cakes will normally be substituted by jams or chocolate spread. Same thing here, I used yuzu jam for the roll cake filling. A bit of tangy sour taste with the yuzu jam but I enjoyed this roll cake all the same, over a cup of espresso coffee, or a cup of tea if you like :)

Matcha Swiss Roll Cake with Yuzu Jam

80g egg yolks (about 4 eggs)
20g castor Sugar
30g olive oil
2 tbsp tsp Japanese Matcha Powder
65gm plain flour

150g egg whites (about 4 eggs)
70gm castor sugar


Filling
Yuzu Jam


(You may use other filling, just that the lazy me, as usually tries to keep away from creaming cream so jam is my easy way out keke.)


Matcha Swiss Roll Cake Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C. Line baking tray with baking paper, leaving about an inch of extra baking paper up the sides of the baking tray.

2. Beat egg yolks and sugar till well mixed and sugar has dissolved. Add in oil and mix well.

3. Sift in flour and matcha powder and mix well. Set aside.

4. Beat egg whites using an electric mixer under low speed till whites turn foamy. Add in sugar gradually in 3 additions and beat till slightly stiff peaks are formed.

5. Beat whites under low speed for one minute to get a smooth and fine egg white mixture.

6. Fold in the 1/3 of whites into the yolks mixture. Mix well with a hand whisk. - this is done to allow easier incorporation of the remaining egg whites when you fold in later.

7. Pour the mixture into the remaining whites and fold well using a spatula.

8. Pour into the lined baking tray and even out batter top.

9. Bake at 170 deg C for 15 minutes. (For my Rowenta oven, I baked it at 180 deg C for 22min, no preheating needs to be done.) Cake is done when the surface turn brown and springs back when pressed lightly with finger.

10. Remove lined baked cake from baking tray to cool on cooling rack with a sheet of baking paper on top.  After about 5 minutes, invert cake over and carefully peel off baking paper from cake bottom.

11.  Place a new piece of baking paper over cake and invert.  Peel off top piece of baking paper, make about 3 slits 1/3 down start of cake to allow easier rolling.  

12.  Spread yuzu jam evenly over cake with a spatula and roll up cake tightly.  Twist both ends of baking paper to secure roll cake, leave in fridge for an hour before cutting.

Chocolate Roll Cake with Nutella filling

Currently on a 10 days break before starting on my new job,  I have lots of time on hand to spare. Catching up on the hours of sleep that I have lost, prepping food,   cooking dinner as well as prepping breakfast for Hubby. I am so enjoying this period! Counting down to the days I get back to work again, if only time could stay still haha!

Now, you are in for some eye feasting here. I made my first ever chocolate roll cake and it was a nice one.

If you are a chocolate lover, you will love this cake. Chocolate cake with nutella filling, convinced? Nothing can really go wrong with Nutella actually. Heehee!

Will make this cake again because I love chocolate cake :)

Anyway, Happy Golden Jubilee Weekend to All! Have a wonderful long weekend break with your family and loved ones :)

Chocolate Roll Cake with Nutella filling

20g cocoa powder
40g hot water
60g egg yolks (about 3 big eggs, or 4 small eggs)
50g caster sugar
50g canola oil
15g milk + 15g espresso coffee, without milk/sugar (can just skip this and use 30g milk if no coffee. I use coffee to intensify the chocolate flavour and taste.)
75g plain flour

130g egg white
55g caster sugar

1. Mix cocoa powder with hot water amd stir well to form a thick smooth chocolate paste. Set aside.

2. Whisk egg yolk and sugar till well mixed and sugar is dissolved.  Add in canola oil, milk and espresso coffee and whisk to combine.

3. Add in chocolate paste and mix well with the egg yolk mixture.
4. Sieve plain flour into egg yolk mixture and whisk till combined.

5. With an electric mixer, beat egg whites till foamy. Add in caster sugar in 3 additions, making sure each addition is well mixed before adding more. Beat till stiff peaks form.
6. Place 1/3 of egg white into yolk mixture and fold in gently with a spatula or a whisk.
7. Fold in remaining egg whites in 2 additions till just incorporated. Make sure not to over fold and deflate the chiffon mixture.
8. Pour chiffon mixture into lined tin (10"×12"),  use a scraper to spread out and level mixture.

9. Put to bake in preheated oven at 180deg C for 12 to 15min or till done. (I baked 180deg, 21min in my Rowenta oven) To test done-ness, when cake springs back and makes a "sss" sound when pressed, it is done.
10. Remove and place on cooling rack. Place a new baking paper over top of cake and flip over to other side of cake. Remove baking paper and let it cool slightly before  rolling. You can choose to roll cake on either side of the cake.
11. Slice off end of swiss roll to form somehwat 45deg angle so that when cake is rolled till the end, it gets tucked nicely underneath. At the front of the cake where you will start the rolling, make 2 horizontal cut gently on the cake to allow easier rolling. Take care not to slice through cake.
12. Spread your favourite fillings and start rolling! (I used the all-time favourite Nutella spread)
13. Wrap rolled cake in baking paper and leave in fridge to set its shape for about 45min before slicing.

I prefer leaving the roll cake out till nutella filling has softened a little before eating.

Purple Sweet Potato Roll Cake with Vanilla Greek Yoghurt Filling

Seems like I am not quite done with my swiss roll craze! I am still rolling away and am certainly enjoying each roll better :). Getting the hang of baking and rolling this cake which was on once a big challenge for me.

Cracked cake, sticky tops, I had them all but I am glad I made it through with practice (and no giving ups!). I got to know what is the comfortable temperature and time to turn out a good cake, easy for me to handle and of cuz yummy enough for the tummies.

So, what's with the purple sweet potato in my roll cake? It was not in my plan to bake this actually but as I was peeling some purple sweet potatoes and putting it to steam for my breakfast, I thought I could try making some purple roll cake with it! Sadly the cake did not turn out to be a nice purple hue that I imagined it to be. It was still good anyway.

I was lazy to beat up butter or whipped cream for the cake filling, so I used greek yoghurt instead. With a slight sour twist to it, it gave the cake a refreshing feel since the purple sweet potato (seriously) did not contribute much taste to the cake.  I enjoyed it anyway :)

Purple Sweet Potato Roll Cake with Vanilla Greek Yoghurt Filling

60g egg yolk
30g canola oil
15g caster sugar
45g milk
50g mashed purple sweet potato (steam sweet potato and mash it right after it is dteamed and still hot)
65g plain flour

160g egg white
70g caster sugar

1. Whisk egg yolk and sugar till well mixed and sugar is dissolved.

2. Add in canola oil and milk and whisk to combine.
3. Add in mashed purple sweet potato and whisk well to break up potato mash and incorporate it well with egg yolk mixture.
4. Sieve plain flour into mixture and whisk to stir till combined.
5. With an electric mixer, beat egg whites till foamy. Add in caster sugar in 3 additions, making sure each addition is well mixed before adding more. Beat till stiff peaks form.

6. Place 1/3 of egg white into yolk mixture and fold in gently with a spatula or a whisk.
7. Fold in remaining egg whites in 2 additions till just incorporated. Make sure not to over fold and deflate the chiffon mixture.
8. Pour chiffon mixture into lined square tin (10"×10"), then use a scraper to spread out and level mixture.
9. Put to bake in preheated oven at 180deg C for 12 to 15min or till done. (I baked 180deg, 21min in my Rowenta oven) To test done-ness, when cake springs back and makes a "sss" sound when pressed, it is done.
10. Remove and place on cooling rack. Place a new baking paper over top of cake and flip over to other side of cake. Remove baking paper and let it cool slightly before  rolling. You can choose to roll cake on either side of the cake.
11. Slice off end of swiss roll to form somehwat 45deg angle so that when cake is rolled till the end, it gets tucked nicely underneath. At the front of the cake where you will start the rolling, make 2 horizontal cut gently on the cake to allow easier rolling. Take care not to slice through cake.

12. Spread your favourite fillings and start rolling! (For me, I used vanilla greek yoghurt.)
13. Wrap rolled cake in baking paper and leave in fridge to set its shape for about 45min before slicing.

Pandan Roll Cake with Pandan Kaya Jam

Some time back a lovely lady got me a yummy kaya swiss roll from the famous Rich & Good Cake from Kandahar Street, and I was so so in love with their roll cakes from then on. 

I had always been wanting to replicate a roll cake similar to that kaya swiss roll, I thought why not try using the kaya custard we use for pandan kaya sponge cake as filling for my pandan roll cake, and so I did. 

I rolled the cake with the cake skin layer on the outside (外捲法), but did not do a good job there and a portion of the cake skin came off after I unwrapped it after refrigerating it. Looks aside, the cake was good. The pandan kaya jam filling was good when paired with the chiffon roll cake. This cake is not like the kaya swiss roll from Rich and Good Cake shop but it was okay enough for me when my crave for roll cakes come on.

Filling is a custard like kaya jam that is used for pandan kaya sponge cake, except that I spread it and rolled it inside.

This cake was made for mum since she is a pandan and kaya fan.  I am quite like mum, so I will surely make this cake again!

Oh one last note, do use fresh pandan juice for this if it is available within your country. Fresh pandan juice does make a whole lot of difference compared to using pandan essence.

Pandan Roll Cake
Recipe adapted from Copy Cake Kitchen 

A
60ml homemade pandan juice
50ml corn oil
10g sugar
pinch of salt
50g cake flour (sifted)
10g corn flour
3 eggs yolk

B
3 eggs white
35g sugar
1 tsp lemon juice (I did not use it)

1. Whisk ingredients A- pandan juice, corn oil, sugar and salt until sugar dissolve.
2. Add in sifted flour, continue to whisk. Then, add egg yolks, stir to combine. 
3. In other bowl, beat egg white,sugar and lemon juice until soft peak form.
4. Take 1/3 of egg white and use a hand whisk to mix into egg yolk batter.
5. Fold in the balance egg white with a spatula till well combine.
6. Gently pour the batter into lined baking tin (10"x10"x3"). 7. Smooth out to the corners with a scraper.

8. Bake in preheated oven at 170c for 25 minutes.
9. Once the cake done, transfer the cake to wire rack.

10. Invert the cake and gently remove the baking paper.
11. Spread Pandan Kaya filling evenly onto cake.

12. Roll it up gently and tightly, wrap and chill for 30-60 minutes.

After all the above is done, slice and nom rightaway!

Pandan Kaya filling:

Recipe adapted from Fong's Kitchen Journal with slight adjustments made

50g sugar (I used 35g sugar)

200ml water (I replaced this with 200ml fresh pandan juice)

3g agar agar powder

25g hoon kueh flour (green bean flour)

150ml coconut milk

1/2 tsp pandan paste (I skipped pandan paste and used 3 drops of green food colouring instead)

Pinch of salt

1. Boil water (replaced by pandan juice) and sugar in a small pot on medium heat till the sugar dissolves.  

2. Mix together the agar agar powder, hoon kueh flour, coconut milk, pandan paste ( replaced by green food colouring) and salt.  Pour this mixture into the pot and keep stirring till the mixture thickens.  

3. Remove from heat and continue to stir the mixture for another minute to cool down the filling.  Let it cool slightly before using.


Notes:
I blended 8 pcs of pandan leaves with 270ml water for use with the cake and filling. Squeeze the blended pandan leaves to get the excess juice. Pour the juice through a sieve to remove pandan pulps.

Espresso Roll Cake

I have kept away from 3-in-1 instant coffee for a long time. Somehow those coffee taste too artificial for me. I prefer coffee from my Nespresso machine.

Being quite a coffee addict, I decided it is time to settle with a roll cake, since I have not been baking much coffee stuff for a long time. And so, I used my Nespresso machine brewed espresso coffee in my roll cake. Made espresso buttercream too. Everything coffee!  Hubby's No. 1 choice too when I asked if he prefers a chocolate or coffee roll cake.

If you are a coffee lover like us, this roll cake should be your cup of tea.

Espresso Roll Cake

Makes one 31cm x 21cm cake

80g egg yolks (about 4 eggs)
20g castor Sugar
30g olive oil
3 tbsp Espresso coffee, cooled (I used a Nespresso Coffee Machine Espresso (Kazaar) capsule, mixed with 1/2 tsp sugar, balance for buttercream)
65gm plain flour

150g egg whites (about 4 eggs)
70gm castor sugar


Espresso Buttercream

80gm softened Butter
40gm Icing Sugar 
40gm Espresso coffee, cooled

(I normally prepare cake fillings before doing the sponge cake.  Leave the cream into fridge for later use till cake is baked & cooled for use.)

1. Sift in icing sugar into softened butter and mix well with a spatula first before beating under high speed till fluffy and creamy.

2. Pour Espresso coffee into butter mixture over 4 additions, making sure to beat well before adding more coffee, to prevent curdling. Beating of this stage has to be on high speed, with room temperature coffee (applies to other liquid as well).
3. Beat to combine well and it is ready for use.


Espresso Roll Cake Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C. Line baking tray with baking paper, leaving about an inch of extra baking paper up the sides of the baking tray.

2. Beat egg yolks and sugar till well mixed and sugar has dissolved. Add in oil, cooled Espresso coffee and mix well.

3. Sift in flour and mix well. Set aside.

4. Beat egg whites using an electric mixer under low speed till whites turn foamy. Add in sugar gradually in 3 additions and beat till slightly stiff peaks are formed.

5. Beat whites under low speed for one minute to get a smooth and fine egg white mixture.

6. Fold in the 1/3 of whites into the yolks mixture. Mix well with a hand whisk. - this is done to allow easier incorporation of the remaining egg whites when you fold in later.

7. Pour the mixture into the remaining whites and fold well using a spatula.

8. Pour into the lined baking tray and even out batter top.

9. Bake at 170 deg C for 15 minutes. (For my Rowenta oven, I baked it at 180 deg C for 22min, no preheating needs to be done.) Cake is done when the surface turn brown and springs back when pressed lightly with finger.

10. Remove lined baked cake from baking tray to cool on cooling rack with a sheet of baking paper on top.  After about 5 minutes, invert cake over and carefully peel off baking paper from cake bottom.

11.  Place a new piece of baking paper over cake and invert.  Peel off top piece of baking paper, make about 3 slits 1/3 down start of cake to allow easier rolling.  

12.  Spread Espresso coffee buttercream evenly over cake with a spatula and roll up cake tightly.  Twist both ends of baking paper to secure roll cake, leave in fridge for an hour before cutting.

Here I leave you with a last photo of my Espresso roll cake I snapped.  I am glad i got the outer roll cake skin all nicely baked and no cracks from the rolling.