Heat Wave Cake

My sweet Babee turned three yesterday. Somehow, three is a huge milestone in my head. I think of it as the transition from toddler to preschooler, which she will be come September. And we all know how big preschoolers are...

We have a tradition of a poundcake for breakfast in our house, while the birthday person opens their presents. I waited until 10pm the night before, but the temperature outside was still in the 90ies. I made a sourcream poundcake and went to bed hot and exhausted.

Come morning (temps in the 90ies again), I was really in no mood to crank up the oven for a cake for her sweet little birthday gathering that afternoon. Enter: Biskuitrolle. This is the German name for a very low fat, low fuss roll cake. I used to make it so often as a teenager, it's like a baking recipe and craft project rolled into one (hah!). Think Angel Food in sheet form, wrapped around a light and fruity filling. This recipe feeds about 8 people.

The upside: It bakes for only 10 minutes. Perfect for baking during a heat wave.

The downside: There is no downside. 

Ingredients:

5 egg whites, beat until stiff peaks form

5 egg yolks

125g sugar (just a tad over 1/2 cup)

125g flour (1 cup)

splash of vanilla, pinch of lemon zest

Method:

Beat the egg yolks, vanilla, lemon zest and sugar until the sugar dissolves and the mix is custardy and pale yellow.

 Fold in the flour a little.

 Fold in the eggwhites.

Spread the batter onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Try for a neat rectangle.

Bake for 10 minutes at 350F (this is for a convection oven. Your baking time may be a tad longer). It should look golden yellow when done.

Invert onto a clean kitchen towel that has been generously sprinkled with sugar. Peel off parchment paper.

 Starting at one of the long sides, roll up the cake gently, including the towel. Do this while the cake is still hot!

Let the towel-cake-sausage rest and cool down completely.

Meanwhile, make and refrigerate this delicious whipped creamcheese frosting, and go pick some raspberries. Or, if you find yourself in this completely hypothetical situation where you did pick your raspberries only to discover that your husband had proceeded to eat them, you may have to acquire a second batch from a commercial source. Ahem. You'll need about 2 cups, give or take.

When you have the cake has cooled down, you can very very gently unroll it, and get the towel out of the middle of it. Leave it in place under the cake, though! You're going to spread most of the frosting, starting from the middle of the roll, and not going all the way to the outer edge. Then, sprinkle the raspberries onto the frosting and roll the whole thing up very gently.

 Use the towel to help guide the roll onto a pretty platter, with the seam side down.

Cut the ends off cleanly at a slight angle. I then piped the remaining frosting onto the top of the cake and decorated with edible flowers: nasturtium, oregano flowers, lemon balm leaves, borage flowers, rose petals. If you want to go classic, just put a few raspberries on top of the piped frosting.

I discovered you can pluck the whole set of petals off a spray rose, and without letting go, plant the whole thing into the frosting, to form a decorative edible rose. The girls loved that, after learning that rose petals are indeed edible.

 The birthday girl refused to blow out her candles, but luckily she had enthusiastic helpers!