A Quick and Easy Swiss Roll Recipe

I'd never made a Swiss roll before - memories of failed attempts at neatly rolling a chocolate log put me off. At least with chocolate log you can hide a multitude of sins under generous icing.

However, a desire to bake and the lack of any butter led me to take the Swiss Roll plunge. It turned out to be easier than I thought and took less than half an hour from start to finish.

I used a recipe from my trusty old Everyday Cookbook by Marguerite Patten. Here's how I made this great teatime treat:

Swiss Roll

2 eggs
3 oz caster sugar
2 oz self raising flour
1 tbsp hot water
jam to fill
icing sugar for dusting

Whisk the eggs and sugar over a bowl of hot water to make a light and thick mixture. Fold in the flour and hot water, to make a very fluid consistency. Pour into a lined tray 7x11" (I'm naughty and usually skip lining tins when baking, but in this case it makes all the difference).

Cook for 7-9 minutes at 220 C . You can check it's done by pressing the sponge lightly. When it's ready it should bounce back up.

Turn it out onto an icing sugared piece of baking parchment. Cover liberally with jam. I used my homemade blackcurrant and raspberry, which you can find the recipe for here.

And now it's time to roll! Make a shallow cut about 1 cm from one short edge and fold this over to get started. Then just go for it, lifting the parchment underneath and rolling it through that.

Dust with icing sugar, et voila, you have your finished roll! Pop on a vintage plate and leave to cool. Or if you can't wait, cut yourself a nice big spiral slice and enjoy!

I think there's is something strangely satisfying about all rolled sweet treats - jam roly poly, cinnamon whorls, lemon and sugar pancakes...

What do you think - do you share my fondness for all things spiral? (or is it just me!)