There was an era of Bake-Off before Prue Leith…

I know, right?! Long, long ago, when Bake-Off ran on BBC, Hollywood had another companion who held an equally high standard but a not-so-equal affinity for booze as Prue. Her name? Mary Berry. One of the first signatures of the first episodes of Bake-Off I ever watched was the Swiss roll challenge. In a few hours, these bakers needed to craft a perfect, springy, non-tearing sponge, adorned with an original topping, frosting, and theme. Meanwhile, on American TV, most contestants can’t even bake a cupcake properly in 45 minutes (I say that like I could do better). For years, I always imagined what that tasted like.

A few years later, on a ritual trip to the Korean bakery, something familiar caught my eye. A neat shelf of tightly wrapped Swiss rolls. A colorful bouquet of strawberry, vanilla, and matcha. Naturally, I begged and begged until my dad opened his wallet, and could hardly wait to get to the food court to tuck in. And as I learned, Mary made a good choice for the signature.

The Asian variant of this dish, is decadent and hearty with a mellower, more well-rounded flavor with an understated sweetness that complements the lightness of the chantilly filling beautifully. It was a fluffy heavenly bite of golden chiffon against a slightly milky, airy mascarpone cream.

I just couldn’t get the flavor out of my head. And a few years later, I decided it was time to try my hand. Inspired by Berry’s intense standards, I hammered through two weeks of cracks, deflations, melts, and god-awful roll-ups that would make Snoop shake his head. But through the dozens of eggs and gallons of whole milk — not to mention the hours I spent scraping batter off my counter — I’ve forged a recipe that is sure to get you that much closer to Star baker.

Word to the Wise

If you don’t have cake flour, use ¾ cup of all-purpose flour, remove 1 ½ tbsp, and put in 1 ½ tbsp of corn starch. Mix it together and voila, you’ve got a passable sub.
Add in only A LITTLE of your sugar at a time to your whites. This helps it dissolve and incorporate more evenly into your meringue, and keeps it from collapsing under the weight of too many grains at a time.
Be sure to fold your white and yellow mixture GENTLY until JUST COMBINED. Seriously, with wax-on wax-off level discipline. Use your spatula and very gently fold bottom to top to make sure you don’t deflate the meringue and ruin the rise.
Make sure you put it in the oven with a flat surface and clean corners. This was one of my biggest problems early on. A smooth, flat top prevents cracks, and neat, straight corners in your parchment paper, will allow you to trim off less. You want a flat, even, sheet of cake.
Always, always let it cool. As much as the scary conductor Tom Hanks might not like that, you really need to let this cake cool all the way before frosting and rolling to avoid cracks or drippy melted filling. Give it about 10 minutes.
Use regular, ungreased parchment paper for your rolling if you want the luscious golden brown skin to remain intact.
If you get a few cracks while rolling, no worries. I cannot tell you how many cracks I got when attempting this. Seriously. If it happens, just let go, let it unravel, and cool for 10 more minutes. It might cool or even stick together a little better with the cream. You don’t really see the inner layers anyways.

Ingredients

Cake

6 egg yolks
6 egg whites
4 ½ tbsp vegetable oil
⅓ cup whole milk
¼ tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup cake flour*
½ tsp cream of tartar
5 tbsp granulated white sugar
⅛ tsp kosher salt

Filling Cream

8 oz mascarpone (1 container or 1 cup)
½ cup powdered sugar
1 ½ cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Cake Base

Line (2) 9x13 baking pans with parchment paper. Cut a line down each of the corners to ensure that it stays upright.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Separate your egg yolks from your egg whites into two bowls. Place the egg whites in your stand mixer bowl.
Combine milk and oil in a separate bowl. Using a sieve, sift in your flower and whisk until combined.
Add the yolks to the flour mixture and whisk until just combined. It should be thick, smooth, and drop into thick ribbons. Drop in the vanilla and salt and mix until just incorporated.
In your stand mixer bowl, wipe down the sides of the bowl and make sure there is absolutely no oil. Whip your whites on high for about 1 minute or until foamy and bubbly.
Add in your cream of tartar and 2 tbsp of the sugar.
Whisk on high until the mixture turns white and solid. Add in 2 tbsp more of the sugar and keep whisking.
When it drips into ribbons, fold in your final 1 tbsp of the sugar. Stop whisking AT SOFT PEAKS. Any further and it’ll collapse the cake.
Pour out ⅓ of your whites mixture into the yellow, and fold gently with a spatula from bottom to top until smooth and one color.
Pour in your mixture into the rest of the whites and fold from bottom to top until fully combined. Smooth, not over mixed, palish yellow.
Pour out half of your mixture into each of your two 9x13 pans. Make sure to run a bench cutter or a spatula across the top to ensure you have a flat batter. Drop each pan from about an inch off the ground about 3-4 times to pop any lingering air bubbles.
One at a time, bake each cake for about 12-16 minutes until the top is golden, lightly crusty, and the cake springs back fully when you push down on the surface. Do your first checks at 12 minutes since oven temperatures can vary.
Let your cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Get started on the cream and place your other cake in the oven.

Cream Filling

Use a spatula and scrape out about half of an 8-oz container, or a quarter of a 16-oz container of mascarpone cream into a medium sized mixing bowl.
Add in your powdered sugar and vanilla. Use a whisk to stir the two ingredients together until just combined.
Pour in your heavy cream. Using your stand mixer’s whisk attachment (after washing it off of course), a handheld beater, or a whisk, whip your cream together until it forms stiff peaks.

Assembly (for each cake)

Once your cakes are completely cooled. Get out another sheet of parchment paper larger than the size of your pan and place it on the counter.
Grab the parchment paper holding your cake by the sides and carefully lift it up and place it on your new parchment. Be sure to unfold the sides.
Flip your cake onto the new sheet, and gently peel off the old sheet you baked with. Some of the crust may come off. That’s okay. Use a sharp knife to trim each of the edges to form a neat rectangle.
Using a spatula, spread about half of your mascarpone whip evenly across the surface of the cake.
Grab the end of the parchment paper closest to you, and very carefully, pick it up and roll it away from you.
Once the end of your cake is bending over, grab it by its end closest to you, and with two hands, gently tuck it in to ensure you don’t get a hole in the middle with no cream, and ensure its as tight as possible.
In a very slow, gentle, rolling pin motion, carefully continue to roll your cake forward until you get a creamy seam. Make sure that this side faces down.
Carefully pick up the parchment holding your roll to a safe plate or an airtight container. Wrap it up with Saran Wrap to prevent any contamination, and place your cake knife the fridge for at least 2-3 hours.
Repeat the process with your other cake after it cools.

Serving

Carefully remove the wrap from your cake to not lose any of that sweet golden brown crust. Use a serrated knife in a sawing motion to get a nice, clean slice that doesn’t squish the cake. Enjoy it while it’s cold!

Heavenly Vanilla Roll Cake