Strawberry sponge roll - for 12

 I made this cake for a xmas gathering, and it was perfect, special but light.  You could serve it with a strawberry sauce to make it even more special.  the recipie originally came from one of Adam Liaw' weekend newspaper page, but I accidently made it a bit differently, and I ran out of plain flour, so I had to improvise.  Anyway my was is so easy anyone can do it.  So, apologies to Adam.

The cake serves 12 - 14, and if you do not have a large tin, just make 2 and squish them together.  The larger the strawberries are, the more impressive it is, but you could easily use raspberries or blackberries.  You do need a mixer for this, it is not a cake that can be whipped up by hand.  You do need to use the thickened cream that has gelatin in it to ensure the whole thing stays together, and you do need to roll it in cling film and chill it for at least 2 hours.  I made it the day before, which turned out perfectly.

You can decorate the cake with sliced strawberries or chocolate shards to make it even more special.

Strawberries and Cream Roll Cake

Ingredients:

150g castor sugar

2 teas vanilla or a vanilla bean (seeds only)

8 eggs - room temperature.

60 g plain flour  

20g self raising flour

300ml thickened cream  (the one that has gelatin in it)

1 punnet of large strawberries, washed, dried well and green bits taken off.

4 tblsp (or more) icing sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 160C fan forced (or 180C non FF).

Line a tin 40 x 60 cm with baking paper.

In a mixer, beat sugar, vanilla and eggs until it is 3 times its size and very light and fluffy.  This takes several minutes and the mixture will be very pale.

Fold in flour ....slowly....until it is incorporated.

Cook until just golden brown - be careful not to overcook - and a skewer comes out clean from the middle.

Cool in the tin.

When cake is completely cool, turn out onto a tea towel that has been dusted with icing sugar.

Whip cream, (you can add some icing sugar and vanilla if you are in the mood) until stiff peaks.  Be careful to not over-beat the cream.

Spread the cream over the cake, and press the strawberries (whole) down the middle.

Fold the long sides of the cake together to make one impressive roll.  Remember this is not a Swiss roll, just one roll is required.

Now the tricky part -

Take the cake off the towel and roll up the cake in cling wrap quite tightly.  This will ensure the cake stays as a roll.

Chill the cake overnight, or at least 2 hours.

Dust with icing sugar just before serving.