Matcha & Adzuki, Again

After making a few exchanges on making a Swiss roll with one of my blog visitors, You Fei, she got me interested to make a roll cake myself. Thanks You Fei!

With some left over adzuki red bean paste from my last bake, I decided to make a matcha and red bean roll.


It was many months ago when a blog visitor requested that I provide step-by-step photos to illustrate how to go about making a Swiss Roll. As much as I love to take photos along the way while I am making the cake, sometimes it is really not feasibly. First of all, I do not have a tripod to fix my camera, so I could only rely on my two extra pairs of of hands...which are somewhat not very reliable when it comes to taking clear photos! Since my boys were at home, I took the opportunity to get them to take video clips instead of photos while I go about making the sponge layer.

The following short video clip was taken by three different persons at different stages. The first part on whisking the egg mixture was done by me! Yes, I was holding the electric mixer on my right hand and taking the video with the camera on my right. Luckily, this movie maker software allows me to clip away unwanted frames! When I was folding the flour and butter, I got my younger boy to take the video. I can't use most of the video footage as half the time he was pointing the camera to the side of the mixing bowl! Fortunately, I did sense that he could be too short to get the full view of what was going on inside the mixing bowl, I tilted the bowl several times towards the camera lens. The last part on rolling up the sponge layer was taken by my elder boy. Although he took a pretty good video, I had to turned it into several photo frames instead. The reason was, my pair of hands look super super Ugly from the video!!! It was a horrendous sight! They looked worst than a pair of hands of an old granny...they were all wrinkled, rough, thick & fat, and overly tanned :'(

It took me great pain and hours just to crop away all the unwanted 'scenes' and frames...and I'm glad I am finally able to put together quite a decent looking video clip ;)

The other good thing about the software is that it allows me to 'Mute' the audio sound, otherwise you will be hearing lots of giggling, some nonsensical exchange of languages among the boys, and the constant "Is it done, is it done yet? When can I stop (taking the video)?!" and things like "Yummy! yummy!...mummy, mummy, I know what you are making! You are making muffins, right?! I can smell muffins!" ????!!!


I guess the greatest fear of making a Swiss roll is having it cracked all over when you are at the very last stage...that is, the rolling of the filled sponge layer. So far, I have attempted to make a roll cake for 5 to 6 times. I really have to count myself very lucky that most of the time, I managed to roll it up nicely, except for once or twice when there were some slight cracks here and there. I do not have any secrets to it, but I think it helps if one were to follow the recipe very closely. In fact I find that this applies to all kinds of cakes and breads. Since baking is a Science, it is thus very important to follow the instructions carefully and pay great attention to the little details. I do hope the attached video is able to give some 'insights' for those of you who are interested to make a roll cake. Happy baking and rolling!



Matcha & Adzuki Red Bean Roll

Ingredients:
3 eggs, bring to room temperature
65g sugar
80g cake flour
2 teaspoons matcha powder
20g unsalted butter, melted

Method:

1. Sift cake flour, set aside. Line a 9" x 12" (23 x 30cm) Swiss roll tray with parchment paper, set aside. Pre-heat oven to 180 degC.
2. With an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar on HIGH speed for about 5 to 7 mins, until the batter double in volume and is ribbon-like (the batter should leave a ribbon-like texture when the beater is lifted up). Turn to LOW speed and whisk for another 1 to 2 mins. Whisking at low speed helps to stabilise the air bubbles in the batter.
3. Add sifted cake flour and matcha powder into the batter in 3 separate addition. With each addition, use a spatula, gently fold in the flour until well blended. Take care not to deflate the batter.
4. Add the melted butter and fold with spatula until well blended.
5. Pour the batter into the tray. Spread and smooth out the batter evenly. Bake for 10~15 mins*, until the surface turns golden browned or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Remove tray from oven. Remove sponge layer from tray (with parchment paper still in tack), place it in a plastic bag**. Tie the plastic bag and leave it to cool. (Instead of using a plastic bag, I cover the sponge layer with another Swiss roll tray.)
7. Upon cooling, remove the parchment paper, and turn the sponge layer with the 'skin' side down on a sheet of clean parchment paper. Spread with adzuki red bean paste(or any filling as desired) and roll up the sponge layer by lifting it up with the parchment paper. Place the rolled cake seam side down.

NOTE: *Do not over bake the sponge layer, otherwise it will turn dry and may crack upon rolling. ** The reason for doing so is to keep the sponge layer moist for easy rolling.

Recipe source: 点心达人, 轻松学 / 小川智美著