Disclaimer: In December 2019, I was commissioned to develop a variety of recipes for Dairy Australia. This one is one of them, highlighting the use of cream cheese. Styling and photography by me. Both the recipe and the photo is now property of Dairy Australia, however I was given permission to publish them on my website. © Dairy Australia. All rights reserved.
We made Swiss roll at culinary school. It was pretty nice, but also pretty boring. We had to fill it with rasplum filling, you know, that stuff that you find inside commercial filled donuts. So sweet!
What I did like very much though was the technique we used for making the sponge batter. Usually when you make a sponge, you fold in the whipped egg whites at the very end. I can see why, you don’t want to knock out any of the air. However, the technique applied in this recipe whips the egg whites first and then super quickly adds the rest of the ingredients.
I think it results in a superior sponge. So light. When I developed the recipe I experimented a lot with the amount of flour that could be added, and you’ll probably think ‘what? that’s all the flour we add? That can’t be right’. But yes, it is. It’s just enough to transform it from a souffle omelette into a sponge cake.
Another thing to try is to freeze the cake. I’m one of those people who cannot, absolute cannot live without an ice cream a day. This Swiss roll, semi frozen for something like 4 hours is the best ice cream substitution! Might be a good idea too when it’s 40°C outside, and you really want something refreshing.
Let me know what you think. Do you like this combination of flavours?
Swiss roll with cream cheese and lemon curd
Ingredients
Lemon curd
- 1 egg
- 2 egg yolks
- 120 g castor sugar
- zest of 1 lemon
- 60 ml lemon juice
- 60 g butter salted
Cream cheese filling
- 200 g cream cheese softened
- 80 ml thickened cream
- 40 g pure icing sugar
- zest of 1 lemon
Sponge
- 4 egg whites
- 4 egg yolks
- 90 g castor sugar
- 50 g plain flour
- 30 g corn flour
- pinch of salt
Additional
- 50 g granulated sugar
Instructions
Lemon curd
- In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and sugar for 1 minute until well combined. Add lemon zest and juice, then place the bowl onto a water bath and cook the mixture while whisking constantly until the sauce thickens.
- Gradually add pieces of butter and stir until it has completely melted. Cook another 2 minutes to thicken.
- Fill into an airtight container and store in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Cream cheese filling
- Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon zest until smooth.
- Whip cream to soft peaks, then fold under the cream cheese to make a soft paste. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Sponge
- Preheat the oven to 220°C (fan forced 200°C).
- Whip egg whites with salt to firm peaks, then slowly rain in sugar while continuing to whip for another 2 minutes until a stiff meringue forms.
- Drop in egg yolks and mix on medium speed until they are blended with the meringue, about 15 seconds.
- Sift the two flours over the meringue and gently fold in to combine.
- Spread the mixture onto a lined rectangular baking tray, approximately 1cm thick. Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden.
- Sprinkle sugar onto a large sheet of baking paper, then turn the warm sponge out onto the sugar. Remove the top layer of paper and trim the crisp edges. Roll up the cake together with the paper it sits on. Let cool to room temperature.
Assembly
- Unroll the sponge, then spread evenly with cream cheese filling first, then lemon curd.
- Roll it up again, cover with foil and let the flavours infuse in the fridge for 1 hour. Before serving, trim both sides of the roll for a clean cut.
- Tip: Dust with icing sugar and candied lemon slices if desired, or, if the sponge cracks while rolling, just cover the roll with whipped cream and decorate to your liking.
