Strawberry Roll Cake (Roulade)

Instructions

1. 1

   Heat the oven and line the pan

   Set a rack in the center of the oven and heat it to 375°F (190°C). Grease a 10x15-inch jelly roll pan, line the bottom with parchment cut to fit, and grease the parchment too. Leave a little overhang on the two short ends if you can — it gives you something to lift with later. Have a thin, smooth kitchen towel, larger than the pan, spread out on the counter and ready to go before you start mixing; this batter waits for no one.

2. 2

   Macerate the strawberries

   Toss the sliced strawberries with the tablespoon of granulated sugar and set them aside while you make the cake. They'll soften and release juice. Right before filling, drain them well in a sieve — the juice will make the sponge soggy and loosen the cream if it goes in, so save it for drizzling over the sliced cake or stirring into lemonade.

3. 3

   Whip the eggs to the ribbon

   Beat the eggs and granulated sugar on high speed for 5 to 7 minutes, until the mixture is pale, thick, and tripled in volume. You're looking for the ribbon stage: lift the whisk and the batter should fall in a thick band that sits on the surface for a few seconds before sinking. This foam is the only real leavening here, so don't cut it short. Beat in the vanilla on low.

4. 4

   Fold in the dry ingredients

   Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt together, then sift a third of it over the eggs and fold with a large flexible spatula — cut down the middle, sweep along the bottom, and turn the bowl a quarter. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients in two more additions, stopping the moment the streaks disappear. Overfolding here is what gives you a dense, leathery cake.

5. 5

   Temper and add the butter

   Stir the warm melted butter and milk together in a small bowl, then fold in about a cup of the batter to lighten it. Pour that mixture back into the main bowl and fold just until it's incorporated. Tempering matters: dumping straight melted butter into an egg foam will knock the air out of the bottom of the bowl in seconds.

6. 6

   Spread and bake

   Scrape the batter into the pan and spread it to the corners with an offset spatula, keeping it as level as you can — a sponge this airy won't settle flat by itself. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the top is light golden, springs back when you press it gently, and the edges just begin to pull from the pan. Err on the short side; an overbaked sponge cracks when you roll it.

7. 7

   Roll it warm

   While the cake bakes, dust the waiting towel evenly with the 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar. As soon as the pan comes out, run a knife around the edges and flip the cake onto the towel, then peel off the parchment. Starting from a short end, roll the cake and towel up together into a snug spiral. Set the bundle seam-side down on a wire rack and leave it to cool completely, 45 to 60 minutes. Rolling it hot trains the crumb into the curve so it won't fight you later.

8. 8

   Whip the mascarpone cream

   Beat the mascarpone, powdered sugar, and vanilla on low until smooth, then pour in the cold cream in a slow stream with the mixer on medium. Whip until the cream holds firm peaks and looks thick and glossy. Watch it closely at the end — mascarpone takes it from perfect to grainy fast, and once it splits there's no coming back.

9. 9

   Fill and reroll

   Unroll the cooled cake gently; a slight curl should remain, which is exactly right. Spread the jam over the surface, leaving a half-inch bare along the far short edge, then spread about three-quarters of the cream over the jam and scatter the drained strawberries on top. Reroll from the same end you started with, using the towel to push the cake forward rather than pulling it, and keep it snug without squeezing the filling out the sides.

10. 10

    Chill, finish, and slice

    Wrap the roll in the towel or plastic, seam-side down, and refrigerate at least 1 hour so the cream sets and the slices hold their swirl. Before serving, trim a thin slice off each end to expose a clean spiral, dust with powdered sugar, and spoon or pipe the reserved cream along the top with the halved strawberries. Cut with a serrated knife using long, light sawing strokes, wiping the blade between slices.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Room-temperature eggs whip noticeably higher than cold ones. If yours came straight from the fridge, sit them in a bowl of warm tap water for 10 minutes first.

• 2.

  The cornstarch isn't optional filler — it softens the flour's protein so the baked sponge stays flexible enough to bend without tearing.

• 3.

  Use a thin, flat-weave towel rather than a fluffy terry one. Terry loops press a texture into the warm cake and grab at the surface when you unroll it.

• 4.

  A few surface cracks are normal and not a failure. Roll the cake so the cracked side ends up on the inside, and finish the outside with powdered sugar.

• 5.

  If the cream starts to look grainy, stop whipping immediately and fold in a tablespoon or two of unwhipped cold cream by hand to bring it back.

• 6.

  Assemble the day you plan to serve. Fresh strawberries keep weeping moisture into the sponge, and by day two the spiral goes damp.

Equipment

• 10x15-inch jelly roll pan
• Parchment paper
• Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
• Large flexible spatula
• Offset spatula
• Fine-mesh sieve
• Thin flat-weave kitchen towel
• Wire cooling rack
• Serrated knife

Storage