A visit from my sister....calls for some baking! Basic Swiss roll recipe.

My sister came to visit for a few days.  We had a lovely relaxing time with some cooking and baking and maybe the odd glass of red wine!

Having visitors is a great excuse to dress up the table with fancy plates and tasty cuisine. 

I cooked my favourite dishes for dinner…..turkey fajitas and lasagna.

(Both recipes on my blog.)

On the first evening, my turkey fajitas were accompanied by:

·        an avocado salsa with chopped coriander and red onion, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.

·        Cajun chili potato wedges

·        Olives

·        Rocket & feta salad

On the second evening I made my beef lasagna.  I added in some courgettes and as I forgot to make the béchamel sauce, I used crème fraiche and garlic & herb cream cheese mix instead.  It was a nice variation. With this I served:

• Rocket and feta salad
• Garlic bread

 

Wine choice: we picked up 2 great wines, one white and one red.  The Italian red was a great accompaniment for the lasagna.  It went perfectly with it.  It’s definitely my recommendation.  Check it out, it can be got in LIDL:

“MONTEPULCIANO D’Abruzzo”.

This dry red wine, from the Montepulciano grape, enhances traditional home cooking superbly. 

My sister made a beautiful Swiss roll with cream and raspberry jam filling.  She has assured me I can share this fab recipe with you!                           

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 4 oz caster sugar
• 4 oz self raising flour
• A splash of vanilla extract
• Cream
• Jam

Recipe:

1. Mix the eggs in mixer until pale and fluffy
2. Pour half the sugar into an oven proof dish and warm it in the oven.
3. When warm, add all the sugar together to the eggs and mix.
4. Add the vanilla and continue to mix.
5. Fold in the flour in sections by hand with a metal spoon until all the flour has been added.
6. Line a Swiss roll tin with parchment paper and pour mix in.
7. Bake in 200° oven for exactly 12 minutes.
8. Line a board/tray with parchment paper and sprinkle with caster sugar.
9. After 12 minutes, remove the Swiss roll from the oven.
10. Turn the cake side down on to the sugared prepared paper. 
11. Peel the parchment paper from the cake, carefully so that the cake does not stick and peel off with the paper.
12. It’s important to work quickly here so make sure you have your cream whipped with a little sugar and ready along with your jam.
13. While warm, spread the top of cake with the cream and jam and begin rolling from end to top, wrapping the parchment paper with it, but pulling it away from the cake at the same time.

This cake is a very tasty treat for afternoon tea/coffee. 

The best thing about this is it can be varied. 

You can make a coffee Swiss roll by adding a spoon or 2 of instant espresso coffee (ground) to the batter mix when mixing.  You can leave the jam out of the rolling process.

A chocolate roll can be made by adding a spoon or 2 of cocoa powder. 

I can’t wait to test out a few new flavours with this recipe!