Flower Swiss Roll Cake (Lactose Free)

Welcome back to another lactose free recipe. This week I wanted to share with you a recipe that I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into (not literally). There are a lot of steps, but I assure you it is worth it in the end. I have made this cake many times and each of those times I made a mistake and was able to correct it in the next batch. I have a lot of tips to help avoid those mistakes.

As always, I have tested this recipe many times and found it to be successful providing you keep to the recipe. Plus, it works amazing with lactose free products. This recipe is lactose free providing you use the right ingredients. Always make sure your ingredients are safe.

Design

The first step to this cake is to chose a design. I picked a simple five petal vector flower and repeated the design several times. You can easily find a flower design on google, design your own flowers or use the image below. Just make sure you place the design into a word page to make sure it fits onto a a4 piece of paper. Make sure that a third of the paper is keep design free. Be realistic with the size of your design. Large flowers may cause the cake to tear as it rolls and flowers that are too small will be difficult to pipe.

Print out your design onto a a4 piece of paper that easily fits in the tray you are using. Again a third of the page should have no design on it.

Use a large baking tray and spray with cooking oil. Place the a4 piece of paper onto the bottom of the tray making sure that is in place. Spray the design with more cooking oil and line the tray with baking paper. Make sure you press down, so the designs are clearly visible.

Paste

To create any design you need to make a cake paste first.

Ingredients

Two egg whites
Plain flour
Lactose free margarine
Pure icing sugar
Three piping tips (Two Ateco 6 tips and one Ateco 12) & piping bags

Steps

The first step is to measure the exact weight of the egg whites. You need an equal quantity of all of the ingredients, and it is much easier to use the egg whites as the guide.

After you have measured the egg whites continue to measure the flour, margarine and icing sugar to the exact measurement if the whites.

In a small bowl sift the flour and icing sugar. Add the egg whites and margarine.

Mix thoroughly to combine. Make sure there are no lumps.

Place a small amount of the mix in one bowl and a larger amount in the other. You want one bowl with a small amount and two that have a larger amount. Think one tablespoon and two tablespoons.

Place yellow dye in the small bowl. Place blue in the other bowl and pink in the final bowl.

Stir to combine the various colours.

Fit each piping bag with a tip.

Fill the bag with the large 12 tip with the yellow paste.

Grab your flower design. Pipe a small dot into the centre of each flower.

Place the tray into the fridge to chill for 10 minutes.

Fill the other two bags with the pink and blue paste. I often use two clean bobby pins to keep the bag closed close to the tip, that way nothing can spill out the bottom until you are ready to pipe.

After the paste has chilled in the fridge take the tray out and use the two bags to pipe five dots around each of the yellow dots. Alternate the colours. Gently tap the tray on your work surface to remove any air bubbles.

Place the tray back into the fridge for 30 minutes this time. The paste needs to be chilled so the design does not move or bleed when covered with the cake batter.

Cake Batter

Ingredients

3 eggs
¼ cup Caster sugar
2tbsp Caster sugar (keep it separate from the amount above)
1 tbsp Oil (vegetable is preferred but olive is ok)
1 & ½ tbsp Lactose free milk
1 tsp Vanilla essence
½ tsp Salt
2/3 cup Cake flour
Purple gel food colouring
Clean tea towel
Icing sugar

Steps

First thing first is to preheat your oven to 180 °C (350 °F).

Separate the eggs, place the yolks in a large bowl and the whites in a clean, dry bowl.

Working with the yolks first. Place the ¼ cup of sugar with the yolks.

Beat until light and creamy.

Add the oil, milk, salt and vanilla. Beat well.

Sift the cake flour into the yolk mixture. Stir until combined.

Add some purple colouring. Combine well. Set aside.

Grab the egg whites and beat on a high speed until just foamy.

Start to add the 2 tbsp of sugar while continuously beating.

Beat until the meringue forms stiff peaks.

Gran the yolk mixture. Add a third of the egg white mixture to the batter. Fold to combine.

Fold through the rest of the whites.

Grab the tin out of the fridge.

Carefully spoon the cake batter onto each of the flowers. Fill in any gaps but be careful not to drag the mixture.

Keep spooning the mixture around the entire way of the pan. Gently tap the tray on your work surface to remove any air bubbles.

Prepare a chopping board covered with baking paper. Lay the clean tea towel flat on your work surface. Cover the towel with icing sugar. Gently shake off the excess.

Place the tray in the oven and cook for 10 minutes until springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean.

Take the tray out of the oven and immediately place the baking paper and chopping board on top.

Quickly but carefully invert the pan so it is not resting on the board.

Peal off the baking paper.

Place the tea towel on top. Icing sugar down first.

Again, invert the cake so now the tea towel is now on the bottom.

Remove the chopping board but not the baking paper.

Turn the cake around so the short end with no design is facing towards you.Very carefully roll the cake up along with the tea towel and baking paper. Don’t roll it too tight.

Leave the rolled-up cake to sit at room temperature for an hour. Do not touch it.

To prepare the cream simply put it into a bowl and mix until it reaches stiff peaks. You could always fill the roll with fruit or frosting if you prefer.