Lemon Swiss Roll

So today’s Mother’s day and I don’t know about you but my Mum does so much for me she deserves a good treat on a day like today! Whilst cards and flowers are the more traditional prezzie I tend to give people bakes for special occasions – I actually first made this for my friend Lisa’s birthday back in October, but I’ve been saving it to post until now as I think it’s perfect for Mother’s day.

The cake is insanely light as it’s essentially a meringue with a bit of flour folded into it, which makes it really refreshing and delicate when eaten with the chantilly cream and lemon curd filling. It’s shape also makes it perfect for sharing, and as it’s easily transportable it’s the perfect Mother’s day bake/gift!

Recipe

Serves 8

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For the cake

• 3 Large eggs
• 115g Caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
• Zest of 1 Lemon
• 115g Plain flour

For the filling

• 350ml Double cream
• 1 tbsp Vanilla bean paste
• 40g Icing sugar
• 3 tbsp Lemon curd, plus extra to garnish
• Icing sugar for dusting
• Mint to garnish (optional)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
2. Line a 30×25 cm Swiss roll tin with butter and baking paper.
3. Put the eggs, sugar, and zest into a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
4. Whisk the mixture with an electric whisk until the mixture is pale and thick enough to leave a trail when the prongs are lifted out of the mixture.
5. Take the bowl off the heat and keep whisking for another 5 minutes until the mixture is really thick.
6. Sift in the flour and fold it in with a large spatula or metal spoon until it’s fully combined.
7. Pour the mixture into the lined tin and bake in the oven for about 12 minutes, until risen and springy.
8. Put a sheet of baking paper onto the worktop and dust it with caster sugar.
9. Tip the cake out of the tin and onto the paper. Take a knife and score a line about 1cm from the short edge. Roll the Swiss roll up, with the paper inside the roll, until it’s as tight as possible. Leave the cake to cool like this.
10. Meanwhile prepare the filling. Put the cream, vanilla and icing sugar into a bowl and whisk it up to soft peaks – until it just holds its shape.
11. Once the cake is completely cool unroll it and smooth it flat. Spread the lemon curd over the sponge and then spread the cream over the top in a smooth layer (make sure it reaches all corners of the sponge).
12. Re-roll the sponge up, this time without the baking paper inside, to make a tight roll.
13. To make it look neater you could slice the ends off either side of the roll before serving, or you could just leave it as it is. Put a little more curd into a piping bag and drizzle it over the cake. Then sprinkle with icing sugar and garnish with fresh mint!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x