I’m not sure why the Swiss Roll is called Swiss Roll in English. It’s pretty certain that this dessert didn’t originate in Switzerland but rather somewhere else in Europe, and furthermore, it exists all over the world. We call it Roulade in Swiss German. Despite not having its origins here, it is a very popular dessert in Switzerland so I consider it a traditional Swiss dish. I usually make it in spring with fresh strawberries and in winter with blood oranges (the oranges with the dark red flesh), both mixed with quark and whipped cream. It’s a light and heavenly dessert, both the strawberries and blood oranges go so well with it. The strawberry season in Switzerland has only just started so you’ll have plenty of time to recreate this dessert. I would highly recommend buying Swiss strawberries for it; the domestic ones can be picked in a much riper state because of the short distance and time to the supermarket, hence they’re sweeter and softer which is what you want for this roll. In many places you can go and pick your strawberries yourself (and eat some too along the way). It’s a great outing for both grown-ups and kids alike, check your local area for picking fields.
Recipe
- 3 eggs
- 90g sugar plus 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1/2 lemon
- 60g plain flour
- 250g strawberries
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar or vanilla paste
- 150g half-fat quark
- 1 dl full-fat cream (for whipping)
Method
Pre-heat oven to 220 C and prepare a rectangular baking tray with a baking parchment.
Put egg yolks, sugar, salt and 1 tbsp of warm water into a bowl and whisk until frothy. Add the grated lemon zest of half a lemon and mix.
Beat the egg whites until firm. Put them onto the sugar egg mixture (don’t stir yet). Sieve the flour into the bowl too. Then, very gently fold the egg white and flour into the mixture – this needs to be done very gently and only as little as needed until everything is mixed together. If you mix it too much, the egg white loses all its air and then the dough won’t turn out fluffy when baked.
Pour mixture onto the baking parchment and make it flat so it’s about 1 cm thick. Bake in the middle of the oven for 8-10 minutes, until the dough looks golden brown.
Take out of the oven and flip it over onto a clean tea towel. Immediately take away the baking parchment (very carefully). Then roll the dough with the tea towel and let it cool down.
Wash and cut the fruit and mix it with a little lemon juice and 1 tbsp of sugar and the vanilla sugar or paste. Let it stand a few minutes. Then add the quark and whip the cream and add it too. Mix the fruit with the quark cream mixture.
Unroll the dough and spread the fruit mixture onto it evenly. Roll it carefully, cut the ends and sprinke with icing sugar.
Let it rest in the fridge for 1-2 hours and then enjoy!
