Mojito Roulade or Jelly Roll Cake
Recipe by Sarah Phillips; Food styling and photos by Kelly Hong © 2010 Sarah Phillips CraftyBaking.com
This cake roulade or roll has lots of zesty lime, a splash of rum with a touch of mint.
SARAH SAYS: I love the combination of fresh flavors in a mojito cocktail, made with lime, rum and a touch of fresh mint. I thought it would be fun these flavors into a cake. Why not, I thought - a mojito flavored cake would be lots of fun to serve and very interesting, plus a new flavor combo to introduce to the dessert table!
Looking for interesting nonalcoholic drinks lately, I have been mixing various combinations of mojitos at home, sans the rum. Sometimes I have used club soda as the base with crushed
fresh organic mint leaves, added in my homemade rum flavored soaking syrup for flavor, with a few drops of lime flavored oil, and crushed ice for a delightful treat! Sometimes I use San Pelligrino Aranciata - Lemon or Orange as the background drink, and simply add in crushed organic mint leaves, a few drops of lemon or orange oil and ice.
I thought it would be fun to make this into a Mojito cake roll, so I called Kelly, my partner-in-crime, so to speak, who immediately loved the idea! We both agreed that mint can be an overpowering flavor in a recipe, and somehow we had to tone it down. I had a Vanilla Biscuit Roulade (Jelly Roll) Cake recipe - cake roulades easily take to soaking syrups, and I suggested we infuse mint into a homemade soaking syrup so it would be more subtle. Of course, Kelly living in California, had fresh mint growing in her garden, and could put it to perfect use! She mentioned earlier in the week that she had a big bag of key limes, and thought it would be great to add rum to the syrup, too! We also loved the idea of folding lime curd with stabilized whipped cream - with a tiny splash of rum - for the filling!
And, off Kelly went to her kitchen where she baked and styled this fabulous cake roll for all of us to enjoy!
CAKE RECIPE HELP
KELLY SAYS: "This cake recipe combines the refreshing flavors of an ice cold Mojito...lime, mint and rum...with dreamily fluffy sponge cake, and billowy, whipped cream.
Sarah and I got our heads together and the result is a Mojito Roulade!
The cake is not too boozy...the rum flavor is just that, a flavor. It doesn't knock you over with "rumminess", as some rum cakes do."
INGREDIENTS
The cake can be baked and/or filled on the day of or one day before serving. It needs to chill, as soon as it is filled, for 2 - 4 hours or overnight in the fridge. I won't push it any further than that.
To make this cake, you will need the following:
Can be made in advance:
1 recipe Mojito Soaking Syrup
1 recipe Vanilla Scented Biscuit Roulade Cake, rolled without filling and cooled; can be baked 1 or 2 days before, stored at room temperature, or frozen and thawed
Make the day before, preferably the day of:
1 recipe Stabilized Whipped Cream Rum and Lime Filling; re-fluff (do not beat) with large balloon whisk before using
STEP I: ASSEMBLE THE MOJITO ROULADE OR JELLY ROLL CAKE
1. Brush the Vanilla Scented Biscuit Roulade Cake with Mojito Soaking Syrup:
A. When the rolled VANILLA SCENTED BISCUIT ROULADE OR JELLY ROLL CAKE, has cooled, it is ready to be filled. Gently unroll the cake from the towel.
If you did not use a towel that was smooth, the cake will stick to it and tear like crazy!
B. With a clean pastry brush, brush evenly and lightly with the cooled MOJITO SOAKING SYRUP all over. Do NOT make the cake wet. You will not use all of the syrup.
Do NOT poke holes in the cake so more syrup soaks in.
NOTE: Any left-over syrup will keep at room temperature for a long time. It can be used to make a refreshing Mojito cocktail.
Just add more rum and some crushed ice and shake in a cocktail shaker.
2. Spread the cake with the Mojito Whipped Cream Filling.
A. Using a large offset metal icing spatula, evenly spread 3/4 of the STABILIZED WHIPPED CREAM RUM AND LIME FILLING to the edges of the cake.
Set a 1/4 of the amount of filling aside for a garnish on top.
3. Roll the filled cake and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours, preferably overnight:
A. Turn the cake around so the first side you starting rolling after the cake was first baked, faces you.
B. Carefully reroll the cake, the same way it was rolled originally when it was unfilled.
Roll the cake evenly, using gentle pressure.
Notice the cake is being rolled tightly. But, not so much that the cake cracks and the filling squishes out the sides.
C. Roll the cake all the way to the end and place seam side down.
D. Gently roll the cake onto a sheet of parchment paper, then roll it up in the parchment, tucking ends in, so they won't unravel.
E. Place parchment wrapped roll on a sheet pan and place it in the refrigerator to set.
F. Chill the cake at least 2 - 4 hours, preferably overnight.
STORAGE
Store cake in the refrigerator no more than overnight before serving.
Cake is filled with whipped cream, which is perishable, and must be kept refrigerated. Can stay on the cool side of room temperature no more than 2 hours.
STEP II: SERVE THE CAKE
1. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and unwrap from its parchment paper.
2. Using a sharp thin serrated knife, trim the ends of the cake so they look nice and neat.
(The ends of the cake that you have just cut off are especially delicious! lol!)
3. Place the trimmed roulade on a serving tray and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
KELLY SAYS: I chose to add small rosettes of the reserved 1/4 amount of Mojito Whipped Cream Filling on top of the roulade...
I added a little more lime curd and a tiny bit of green food coloring to it, for contrast.
Place cream in a piping bag, fitted with a Wilton 1M tip and pipe rosettes evenly down the length of the roll.
Lime slices add visual interest and finish the roulade off nicely.