Mocha Rollcake with Strawberries-Lemon Whipped Cream Filling

The title is long but the cake is short and sweet.  I've a passion for Japanese baking books, they're my inspirations even though I can't even read or speak the language.  I'm craving those exquisite pictures on those books and the recipes are also intriguing.  The pictures depicted a variety of combination in desserts that looks pretty in the books though I'm not so sure if I can have all the ingredients here in the US.  But, these don't deter me from deciphering some of the recipes.  Rollcakes are something that I want to learn and be better at making it.  I think rollcakes are pretty, what with the different flavor fillings I can make and also different types of cakes to be used for rollcake.  Sponge cake, choux paste, meringue, genoise, and many other types of cake can be made into rollcakes.  The main thing is to master the rolling part so the cake won't crack, but hey, if it happens grab a bowl and make some frosting!  Slather that on top of the cake, et voilà, the cake is ready.

At this time I made a rollcake with sponge cake base.  The method is practically the same as this post and the filling is the same this post.  I've based my rollcake from two books which I, unfortunately, don't know the name of the books or one of the authors--I only know that on one book the author is Kumiko Yanase.  The strawberries aren't local, I embarrassedly admitted but since they look pretty in rollcake I have to include them.  The one thing that maybe hard to find here, if not cheap to buy, is the mocha paste.  As for myself, I have a bottle of mocha paste that I bought in Indonesia.  Here, I found a company that makes mocha paste which is sold at VeryAsia.com and it's a product of Indonesia as well.

I've never thought that lemon-strawberry-mocha flavors could be combined in a harmoniously in this rollcake but I like it and I love to do more rollcakes in the future.  Looking at the pictures, I feel like it's Christmas once again with the color combination! ;)

Mocha Rollcake with Strawberries-Lemon Whipped Cream Filling

Makes 1 large rollcake



For the rollcake:

6 large egg yolks, at room temperature

5 large egg whites, at room temperature

1oo gr confectioners' sugar, sifted and divided in half

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 tablespoon mocha paste

50 gr all-purpose flour, sifted

50 gr unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

Lemon curd-whipped cream filling, you'll only need about 1/2 of the recipe

10 strawberries, each cut into quarters

For the whipped cream frosting:

1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin powder

4 teaspoons cold water

1 cup heavy whipping cream, cold

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

Confectioners' sugar for dusting



Line a 10-x 15-inch jellyroll pan with parchment paper.  Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.

To make the rollcake: In a bowl of stand in mixer with a wire whisk, cream egg yolks and half the sugar until pale and thick.  Add mocha paste and mix in until well blended.  With a clean bowl, whip egg whites and cream of tartar until frothy, add last half of sugar until soft peak, fold a little bit of egg white into the egg yolk and then pour all the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites.  Sift the flour and fold over.  Add melted butter and fold quickly, just until the butter is blended.  Pour batter into the pan.

Bake on center rack for 12 minutes, or until it's light brown and shrink a bit from sides of pan.  Immediately take out from the oven and invert to a parchment paper that's been lightly sprayed with cooking spray and slightly bigger than the cake, on top of a flat surface.  Roll the cake and unroll it , this is to get the cake ready.  Leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes.

Spread the lemon curd-whipped cream filling on the cake, covering evenly.  Arrange cut strawberries on one of the short side of the cake and scatter some strawberries all around the cake.  Roll the cake tightly and try to peel off the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake as well.  Cover the whole cake with another parchment paper and leave it to cool completely.

To make whipped cream frosting: Combine gelatin and cold water in small ramekin.  Let stand until thick.  Fill a small saucepan with a bit of water and place over low heat.  Stir gelatin until becomes liquidy and remove from saucepan.  Let stand and cool slightly.  Whip cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until slightly thickened.  While beating slowly, gradually add gelatin to whipped cream mixture.  Whip at high speed until stiff.  There'll be leftovers of whipped cream from frosting the cake.

Frost the cooled roll cake with whipped cream and if you like, pipe dots on top of cake with whipped cream.  Scatter cut strawberries on top of whipped cream, press down slightly.  Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired just before cutting.  The cake needs to be refrigerated and will keep for about 3 days.