Polka Dotted Japanese Mocha Roll

Next to macarons, sponge cake is my worst enemy as everytime I bake it, it always shrink, with lots of air bubbles and bits of flour in it. I mentioned in my previous post that I finally found the perfect sponge cake recipe. Again thanks to YouTube's Cooking With Dog. This was the 3rd time I used the recipe and it was 3rd time the charm.

If you google Japanese roll cake you will see all these colorful, cute decorated sponge roll cakes. The French invented joconde imprimé, the Japanese took the existing creation and made it more playful and colorful decorated sponge roll cakes. They are very easy to make. You can make your own designs, use stencils or trace a photo of cute cartoon characters like these ones. You can either freeze or bake the design pattern. The idea is to let the design set before spreading the sponge batter. Go on and try it! It is really fun to make. It will brings out the artistic side of you.
Japanese Roll Cake

batter to make the pattern on the cake (omit cocoa powder and use few drop of food coloring if you want colorful design)
2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 egg white, room temperature
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cocoa powder, sifted

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Line 8 square pan with wax or parchment paper
• Beat butter and confectioner’s sugar on medium-high speed until very fluffy.
• Beat in egg white until well combined, Add flour beat until combined.
• Divide batter into two. Leave 1st mixture as plain and then add the cocoa powder on the 2nd mixture.
• Transfer into parchment piping cone. Pipe the batter onto prepared pan with parchment paper in alternating color and then bake at 180C for 1-2 minutes.

sponge cake adapted from Cooking with Dog
150g eggs
100g sugar
90g cake flour
15g unsalted butter
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp instant coffee

• In a metal bowl beat eggs with hand mixer, add sugar at once and beat for 30 seconds. Placed it over the pan of hot water and beat on high speed for 1-2 minutes. If it's warm enough remove from hot water and continue beating.
• In a small glass bowl combine milk, butter and instant coffee. Then dip into warm water. Continue beating the eggs on high speed until the mixture is thick and pale and beaters leave a thin ribbon. Switch to ballon whisk and whisk the eggs evenly to set the texture.
• Sift in flour and fold together with spatula about 30 times. Pour the pre-heated milk, butter and coffee to the batter, fold gently about 50 times.
• When the batter become glossy and smooth, pour the batter and spread evenly over the baked design, then drop the pan lightly on the counter to break big bubbles in the batter.
• Bake at 180C for 11-12 minutes till lightly brown.
• When it's done, drop the pan lightly to prevent shrinking. Remove the sponge cake from the pan and let cool completely before filling.

simple chocolate cream filling
200ml fresh cream
2 tbsp. powdered sugar (add more if you prefer sweet)
3 tbsp cocoa powder

• Combine fresh cream, cacao powder and powdered sugar in a dry, clean bowl. Float the bottom of the bowl in ice water, whisk the cream until it forms a soft peak.
• Coat the surface of the sponge cake evenly with the chocolate cream. Leave an inch at both ends.
• Wrap the cake in the parchment paper and put in the fridge to set.
• Slice and serve!