Finally, strawberries are back in season again. It felt like winter would never end this year. Not because this winter was particularly harsh (it snowed only two days) but because the dark, grey and rainy days seemed to last longer than usual. Which might be the reason why I am over sensitive for everything spring related lately. The longer days, the sun, the flowers and trees that bloom and blossom and most of all, the food that is back in season. Rhubarb, strawberries, asparagus, just to name a few. Spring is back y´all.

When I went home last weekend I made a strawberry cream roll. Mostly to cure my fear of biscuit and to continue with my traditional cake challenge. The thing is, biscuit cake can be kind of tricky. All the egg whipping and flours sifting can go very wrong if the oven is not at the right temperature or there is not enough air in the batter. And don´t even get me started on the whole rolling technique. This is not to frighten you, just know that according to murphy’s law, sometimes things can go horribly wrong with this cake. But if everything turns out right, it is one of the most delicious things ever.

To motivate you, just know that this is the second time I made this cake and both times it turned out great. Even with our oven, which is really not made for delicate baking. Soufflés generally tend to go wrong, but if I managed to make this cake under difficult conditions, you can do it too.

For the biscuit:

90 g butter

6 eggs

175 g sugar

150 g all-purpose flour

For the filling:

500 ml cream for whipping

30 g Sugar

1 tbsp. vanilla extract or one vanilla bean

Strawberries

1) Heat oven to 180°C. Place a parchment paper on a baking tray and brush with a little bit of melted butter. Melt butter. Separate egg whites and egg yolks and place in different bowls.

2) Add sugar to the egg yolks. Using a bain-marie, whip sugar and egg yolks until white and creamy. Take out of the bain-marie and sift in the flour. Add melted butter and stir carefully.

3) Whip egg whites. Add 1/3 of the beaten egg whites to the batter and stir carefully. Add the remaining egg whites and fold in carefully. Spread the batter on the parchment paper and bake for 10-12 minutes.

4) While the cake is baking, sprinkle sugar on a kitchen towel. Remove the cake from the oven and carefully turn the cake over, with the top facing down on the sugar. Brush the top of the parchment paper with cold water, then carefully peel of the paper. Now immediately form a roll, as the dough is now warm and still elastic. Let the roll cool completely.

5) Whip cream with sugar and vanilla. Wash strawberries and cut into little pieces. “Unroll” the cake and spread half of the whipped cream evenly on top. Add strawberries and carefully roll the cake again. Use the rest of the whipped cream and strawberries to decorate the cake.