Swiss roll

Pandan custard is the perfect asian twist for a chocolate swiss roll.  The best thing is you can make the filling with packet custard or any ready made custard!  All you need to do is add skim milk powder to thicken it to be a paste.  I used a Thai brand (see picture in products section) which already is pandan flavoured, but if you use normal custard powder, you can easily colour and flavour it using pandan powder from mybluetea

INGREDIENTS

Swiss roll

4 large eggs, separated

1/2C caster sugar, divided

2t espresso powder (I used Moccona Barista Reserve Smooth Expresso premium instant coffee)

1/4C (60g) unsalted butter, melted

1t vanilla bean paste

1/2C plain flour (I used La Molisana Farina 00 Di Grano Tenero Flour)

3T cocoa powder

2T cocoa powder for rolling*

1t baking powder

1/4t salt

Filling/Assembly

1pkt pandan custard

1/2C hot water

1/2C skim milk powder

1T icing sugar for dusting

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 170C (fan forced). Spray a 24cm x 38cm baking pan with oil so the baking paper will stick. Line the pan with a sheet of baking paper so the cake will seamlessly release. Spray the baking paper too. This will ensure an extremely nonstick surface for the swiss roll

Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and 1/4C caster sugar together in a medium bowl on high speed for 5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Set aside

In another bowl, beat the egg yolks, remaining sugar, and vanilla together until pale and creamy (approx 2 minutes)

Sift the flour, 3T cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together into a large bowl bowl. Pour the melted butter, coffee, and egg yolk mixture over the dry ingredients and whisk on medium speed until completely combined

Gently fold in the meringue in 3 batches, until all the meringue is combined. Use the lift and turn method to avoid over-mixing and maintain the structure of the meringue as much as possible

Pour the cake mix into the baking paper lined pan, level with a spatula and tap the pan on the counter to remove any bubbles. Bake for 10 minutes only as a very thin cake

Prepare a fresh piece of baking paper and sift cocoa powder on to it

As soon as the cake is done, immediately invert the warm cake on to the cocoa powder dusted baking paper.  Remove the baking paper from bottom of cake.  Dust with cocoa powder.  Cover with a fresh piece of baking paper and roll the cake up

Let it cool in the rolled up shape so when it’s time to roll it up with the filling, it’s already “familiar” with the rolled up shape and won’t resist or crack

FILLING AND ASSEMBLY

Prepare the custard by whisking the custard powder with the hot water.  Thicken the custard powder by whisking in the skim milk powder

Un-roll the cooled cake.  Apply the milk custard filling to the cake with more on the left (which will be the middle of the cake) and leave a small margin on the right (which will be where your roll finishes)

Roll up the cake and then dust with icing sugar.  Cut off the ends and serve

PRODUCTS

The instant pandan custard powder I used was this Thai brand