What’s a Swiss Roll?

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A Swiss roll is a light sponge cake filled with various spreads, rolled into a log shape, and served as a dessert with tea. Despite its name, it originated in Britain and is popular worldwide. The sponge cake is made with eggs, flour, and sugar, and can be filled with lemon curd, fruit jelly, buttercream frosting, chocolate cream, whipped cream, or fresh fruit.

A Swiss roll is a baked dessert that essentially consists of a light sponge cake garnished with a filling and then rolled into a log shape. While many different types of sponge cake can be used, the dessert needs to be light enough and pliable enough to roll without breaking. Almost anything with a spreadable consistency can be used as a filling for this pie, although seedless gelatin, lemon curd, chocolate paste, and buttercream frosting are all commonly used. A Swiss roll is a common treat served over English tea and can be quite quick and easy to make.

Despite the name “Swiss roll”, this dessert is probably of British origin and does not derive from any kind of Swiss tradition or cuisine. Thanks to its popularity in the UK, this treatment also spread to much of the world that was part of the British Empire. Numerous bakeries in regions of the world, from Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and the United States, prepare Swiss rolls. The popularity of Swiss roll in Hong Kong and Chinese baking is so great that they are prepared and sold by many bakeries in America’s “Chinatowns”.

A Swiss roll typically begins with the sponge cake being prepared and baked. While different recipes call for different ingredients, a simple sponge cake can be made using just eggs, self-rising flour, and sugar. Some recipes call for the eggs and sugar to be combined and beaten until light and frothy, with enough body to form ribbons when taken out of the bowl in which they are mixed. Other recipes call for the eggs to be prepared separately, and this can provide extra lightness when the egg whites are beaten alone.

Regardless of the recipe used to make a Swiss roll, the pan on which the sponge cake is baked should be sufficiently greased and lined with parchment to ensure that the cake can easily release from the pan after baking. Different fillings can be used to make a Swiss roll, although the traditional filling is lemon curd or seedless fruit jelly. Other fillings may include buttercream frosting, which may be flavored with various extracts or vanilla, chocolate cream, whipped cream, and fresh fruit. A Swiss bun can also be made by using cocoa powder in the sponge cake itself, resulting in a cake that is brown and tastes like chocolate.




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