Swiss Roll (2024)

Swiss Roll is cake that reminds me of being a kid. There’s something quite comforting about a little swirly roll of cake, filled with sweet strawberry jam. It’s one I always remember getting from our local Safeway but one I seldom remember Granny baking.

With that being said, I was keen to give it a go. I seemed to have this mental block at Swiss Roll was overly complicated and that was the reason Granny didn’t make it much. Spoiler alert: it’s not. In fact, it’s really quite simple and takes very little time to make – although there is a few must-dos and must-not-dos for success. Which is exactly why I made a video to go hand-in-hand with this recipe!

The sponge itself for this Swiss Roll is one of my most favourite sponge cakes. It is made from just 3 ingredients: sugar, eggs and flour. That’s right, no butter or margarine, in fact no fat at all. This makes it super light and fluffy but also means there’s less room for error in getting it “just right.” In particular you need to get the whisking your eggs and sugar to the perfectly pale, light in texture consistency. Plus you have to be right on top of the baking time – a minute or two over/under and you’ll not have success in your Swiss Roll.

Then comes the rolling! This was the part of Swiss Roll baking that I had been dreading. But with a bit of preparation it’s actually no where near as difficult as you first think. You want to work with your Swiss Roll sponge as soon as it’s baked; letting it cool too much will cause the sponge to crack. And if you use greaseproof paper to your advantage, it will make rolling a million times easier, not too mention much less messy!

I’ve covered each step for success in the recipe below but the video is also a great tool in getting your Swiss Roll method perfect; and it is less than a minute long.

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Free-range Eggs
As this is a fat-free sponge, the eggs play and extra important role. Fresh eggs are preferable but size isn’t the be-all and end-all; just be sure to use free-range eggs.

Caster Sugar
Caster sugar is the sugar of choice for a Swiss Roll and is always better over granulated sugar in this recipe, as it is finer and mixes better into the batter. It is also used to dust over once baked, giving a nice bit of extra sweetness and texture.

Self-raising Flour
Flour is a must in a cake batter and self-raising is used here to allow it to rise. No additional raising agents are required but be sure to sift the flour.

Strawberry Jam
You could of course mix things up with a raspberry or blackcurrant jam but when I think of Swiss Roll, I think of strawberry jam! There is also the option to add a butter cream too but the rolling routine does need to vary slightly, as you don’t want to add the buttercream to a warm Swiss Roll!