Swiss Roll 1

I've wanted to try making a swiss roll for ages. It seems appropriate, given that I live in Switzerland. But I've always been kind of intimidated by the idea. I finally got around to searching for recipes a while back, and realised that they didn't sound that complicated. And as I have so much time on my hand.

The cake part of the swiss roll is fairly amazing - just egg, sugar and flour, it's ridiculously light. Unfortunately, I made a normal sized amount, then realised that my swiss roll tin is about twice the normal size. This led to a little experimentation, ending with an upside down loaf tin blocking part of the tray. I also didn't spread the mixture properly, so the cake came out slightly lumpy...

So aesthetically it wasn't perfect, but the combination of chocolate sponge and vanilla buttercream went down well with my brothers. I'm planning to try again before going back to college, and maybe experimenting a bit more with flavours. Particularly as I now have a new swiss roll tin...

Strawberry Cake

It's summer, and it's hot, which means picking desserts for Sunday dinner is a question of finding something cool and light. And with strawberries in season, a simple sponge cake, whipped cream and strawberries was all we felt like last weekend, so that's what I went for. No picture yet, but I'll add it as soon as I've uploaded it.

The week before that was the Euro 2008 final, and we had a party at a friend's which required another cake. This was my experiment cake - I actually made a half football! The base of the cake was a plain vanilla sponge with buttercream, and the football was chocolate sponge, covered in marzipan and baked in - believe it or not - a soup bowl! I had fun with this one, and definitely want to try making some more exciting cakes or cupcakes soon!