Lemon Roll Cake

It’s really just sponge cake, but the spiral shape makes it seem more refined. 10 servings, roughly 2-3 hours (mostly downtime).

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 cup flour
• 0.25 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 0.5 cups (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Powdered sugar for decoration

Filling

• 1.5 cup heavy whipping cream
• 0.5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In one bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and lemon zest. Mix until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy, then add eggs, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Mix until combined.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients gently into a batter; do not overmix.
5. Grease a 10-by-15 inch pan, then add a sheet of parchment paper, and grease the paper. Pour the batter into the pan and bake 15 to 18 minutes or until it is fully baked and toothpicks come out clean.
6. Transfer the cake to a clean sheet of parchment paper. Working quickly, tightly roll the cake up with the parchment paper so that its short axis is now the long side of the roll. The parchment paper layers should separate the windings of the cake. Tie off the ends of the parchment and place seam-down on a flat surface in a refrigerator; let cool for 1 hour.
7. Shortly before retrieving the cake, prepare the filling. Whip cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until the cream has been beaten to stiff peaks.
8. Remove cake from the refrigerator and unroll on a flat surface. Evenly spread the filling on the inside of the roll with a rubber spatula. Roll the cake back up, this time without the parchment paper.
9. Chill the cake again until it is firm.
10. When serving, plate the cake and then dust the top with powdered sugar. Trim off the uneven ends of the cake to produce a neat cylindrical shape. Cut slices with a very sharp knife to preserve the roll’s distinctive shape.

Notes

• I always eyeball the quantities for whipped cream and never bother with measuring it. You can change the filling recipes to taste.
• You may want to add a dusting of powdered sugar to the parchment paper for rolling to improve its separation.