Strawberry Roulade

Hey there, sweet tooths!

With the beautiful weather we have coming up this week, I had a particular craving to make a delicious strawberry roulade.

My family and I are huge food lovers and this rolled sponge cake is an absolute killer. This recipe is nothing too complicated and comes together very quickly, perfect for "on-the-go" preparations :-).

Here are the ingredients to make a roulade for about 6-8 people:

Soaking syrup

- 60gr sugar

- 140gr water

Sponge cake

- 3 eggs

- 80gr flour

- 80gr sugar

- 2 tsp vanilla sugar

Mascarpone cream

- 150gr heavy cream

- 150gr mascarpone

- 2 tsp strawberry flavouring

- 2 tbsp icing sugar

- 150gr strawberries cut into small cubes

Decoration

- Snow sugar

- A few strawberries

- Edible flowers

- Gelatin spray

For this tutorial, I of course used a sponge cake mat. Since I discovered this accessory, I never bake any sponge cake any other way. It allows for super even baking and uniform colouring. And don't even get me started on the unmoulding, which will be even easier if you spray your mat with a release spray. :-)

Soaking syrup

We'll start the recipe with the soaking syrup.

In a saucepan, pour 60gr sugar and 140gr water. Bring everything to a boil for about 5 minutes.

Let cool.

Sponge cake

Now let's tackle our sponge cake. Preheat your oven to 180°C, fan-assisted.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, add 3 eggs, 80gr sugar and 2 tsp vanilla sugar.

Whisk the ingredients for 1 minute at medium speed, then 2-3 minutes at maximum speed.

Your batter will start to turn pale and double in volume, this is completely normal, that's exactly what we want. Once mixing is done, sift in 80gr flour.

And gently fold everything together with a spatula.

Once you have a smooth, homogeneous batter, spray your sponge mat with our amazing release spray, which will really make your life easier when it's time to unmould the sponge.

Once the mat is sprayed, place it on a perforated baking tray and pour the sponge batter onto it.

Spread the batter evenly over the mat using an offset spatula.

Bake the sponge in your preheated oven at 180°C, fan-assisted for about 15 minutes.

Feel free to test your sponge with the blade of a knife to check it's done. Once the sponge is baked, remove it from the oven, wait a few minutes then unmould it directly onto a cloth that has been dampened with cold water.

It is very important to roll your sponge in a damp cloth. This will keep it moist and above all it will already give it the shape of the future rolled cake. Once rolled up nicely, put it in the fridge to cool completely.

And that's it, the sponge cake step is already done.

Mascarpone cream

We're now going to prepare our strawberry mascarpone cream. If you're as much of a foodie as I am, you're going to lick your lips as they say! :)

To start, cut 150gr strawberries into small cubes. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, pour 150gr heavy cream, 150gr mascarpone, 2 tbsp icing sugar and 2 tsp strawberry flavouring.

Whip everything together, like a whipped cream.

Once you have a firm texture, add 3/4 of the diced strawberries directly into the cream and gently fold them in. Keep the remaining strawberries to one side.

And there you go, the cream is ready to be used and enjoyed! :o)

Assembly

It's time to assemble!

First of all, unroll your sponge very carefully.

Once the sponge is unrolled, soak it with your previously prepared syrup using a pastry brush. Even though the sponge cake is soft, it remains a little dry in the mouth if it hasn't been soaked. But be careful, no need to flood the sponge either! ;-)

Once you feel you have soaked your sponge well, spread your strawberry mascarpone cream using an offset spatula to get an even thickness throughout.

Sprinkle the diced strawberries you set aside earlier on top.

Now, roll your sponge as neatly as possible. Take your time, try to roll evenly — it's not a big deal if a little cream comes out (it just means you've been generous enough).

What I personally do once my sponge is rolled is always cut off both ends. It will look much better when you present your dessert to your guests, and as a bonus you get to eat the cut-off pieces. How great is that! ;-)

For the decoration, dust with a little snow sugar, place a few beautifully cut strawberries on top of the roulade. And for the final touch, scatter edible flowers over everything.

To make the strawberries nice and shiny, spray them with the gelatin spray.

The roulade keeps for 3 days in the fridge.

To transport and protect it, we recommend placing the roulade in a box with a suitable tray.

There you go, I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday, sweet tooths!

Aurélie

P.S.: All the equipment used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.