(First) Signature bake: Snickerdoodle Swiss roll

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Ok let’s be real… I wasn’t too happy with the first swiss roll that I made.  So, I decided that I needed to bake one more in order to really call it my “Signature” bake.  Even though, I did get so many good ideas for swiss roll flavor combos, I decided to stick to my first inclination which was to make #snickerdoodle.  Don’t worry your flavor combos won’t go to waste… I will definitely be using those suggestions in the future. I tried to time this bake - but in the process of doing this, I realized that I will try to keep to time as much as possible but because I am trying to snap pics and video...it’s a little tricky.  But this particular bake clocked in at 1:14:26:02.  The bakers in the tent at 2.5 hours soooo... I must have done something terribly wrong.  

My last blog post, I took you through the journey of my practice bakes: Victoria Sandwich Cake, Lemon Drizzle, and a Cherry Almond Swiss Roll.  I didn’t get to bake a Sticky toffee pudding or a Madeira cake before my first“cake week.” The struggle is real, folks (#bakerproblems).  However, I’m doing the best I can. As I cultivate and evolve this site and blog, I hope to bring you inspiration and some insight of this #bakeoff.  If you can learn from my mistakes and share a bake with someone- MY JOB IS COMPLETE!

Now: for my first Signature bake.  I used the same recipe for the sponge that I used for the cherry sponge (#foodnetwork).  This time I was careful not to overbake and I actually took it out about 3 minutes before my cherry sponge… and it did start to pull away from the tin so I know that was the right choice… HOWEVER- remember how I said my cherry sponge was slightly closed textured...this one, unfortunately, was a little gummy in texture.  How do you say: stodgy.  So that was a bummer. I am not sure if it actually was just slightly underbaked or if it needed a little rising agent. Someone shout it out if you know!

As I learned from my practice swiss roll bake- I made the filling first so I could get that nice and chilled.  I decided to go with a cinnamon whipped cream. Making whipped cream is such an easy treat and it literally takes no time at all doing it in my Breville mixer (#weddinggift that I use ALL. THE. TIME.  But I feel like it might be time to get an extra stand up mixer :)). I put the metal mixing bowl in the freezer for about 10- 15 minutes beforehand to make sure that it was extra cold for that cream. Instead of 2 cups of heavy whipping cream, I used 3 cups so I could make sure that was extra for piping.  Added some sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract as it was whipping ...bing, bang, boom… delicious whipped cream! I stored the bowl in the fridge until I was ready spread onto the sponge.

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Because this is a snickerdoodle swiss roll- I wanted that signature tang that comes from a snickerdoodle cookie, so I added that mysterious cream of tartar to the sponge.  Perhaps, that cream of tartar also caused some of the gumminess.  I will have to research.  2 teaspoons of that. I also added cinnamon. I combined that with the flour, essentially whisking together the dry ingredients. At the very end I folded cinnamon chips- yes, these exist!  I believe my baking friend, Lindy, turned me on to these (#lindybakes). I didn’t feel that I needed to add any extra sugar or eggs to this (is this a mistake??) due to the fact that I felt that sponge would have good flavor- I was careful to beat the eggs and sugar together slightly longer to get a nice pale color and fluffier consistency.  

So this time I turned the sponge out on sugar AND cinnamon to get that extra snickerdoodle-y flavor up in there… I may have turned the sponge a little too early because it was still extremely warm from the oven and the sugar melted onto the sponge....that may have contributed to the gummy texture.  Learning...always learning. I tried to get a tighter roll from the beginning and I slathered on extra whipped cream in the filling to make a more well rounded cake.

via GIPHY

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Next- the decorating.  Aw, crap. I hadn’t given a THOUGHT as to how I was going to decorate this thing.  Well, I guess I THOUGHT that I would pipe whipped cream on it...had no thought of design or anything.  Sigh.  My decorating skills are not up to par and after I spend so much time honing a bake for consistency and flavor… I don’t give much time to the decorating.  This is obviously going to be my achilles heel of this #bakeoff. I’d better get on some youTube tutorials real quick… feeling the pressure!

So what you see below is my sub par decorated swiss roll.  The damn whipped cream is so delicious that I want to shove a bowl of it in my mouth hole.  Can’t dwell on anything too long now because I have a Classic Cherry Cake to think about...that’s Mary Berry’s own recipe.  Yikes.

Happy baking.  Happy Eating.  All with Love.