Summary

Prep: 10 mins
Cooking: 12 mins
Ages: Toddlers to Teens
Difficulty: Intermediate
Makes: 1 roly poly cake

Where do Jam roly poly cakes come from?

The jam roly poly is part of a long tradition of British puddings that are traditionally made with suet, rolled and then steamed. It started in the early nineteenth century when puddings were typically made more savoury than sweet. To this day the roly poly cake holds a special place in the heart of the British.

Our roly poly cake

We’ve updated this classic British dessert by removing the suet and making it simpler and easier to put together.

Our cake is a light, spongy and full of flavour, all wrapped up around our Raspberry chia jam (although you can use any jam that you prefer for the filling).

We’ve also ditched the tradition of steaming the cake and preferred oven baking.

This jam roly poly has all of the fun of jam swirls inside a log of cake, without the stodge!

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 100 grams caster sugar
• 75 grams of self raising flour
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons of butter, melted
• 5 tablespoons homemade raspberry chia jam or any other ready made strawberry or raspberry jam
• Shredded coconut for dusting

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Grease an 8 x 12 inch rectangular tin. Line the tin with baking parchment, and then grease the parchment paper well with butter.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and caster sugar for about 10 minutes on high speed. The mixture should be creamy, almost stiff.
4. Add the melted butter and stir our any lumps.
5. Sift the self raising flour over the mixture. Gently fold in using a spatula.
6. Slowly stir in the vanilla and lemon zest.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 12 minutes, or until the top is golden.
8. Cut a piece of parchment paper larger than the cake tin and lay it on a work surface.
9. Tip the pan upside down and release the sponge cake (face down) onto the parchment paper.
10. Spread the jam evenly over the sponge cake, leaving space near the edges. We used our homemade Raspberry chia jam but you can use whichever you prefer.
11. Using the parchment paper to help you start it off, roll the sponge up staring at a short end until it’s rolled into a log.
12. Dust with shredded coconut if you like and your jam roly poly cake is ready!

Jam roly poly cake – our step by step guide:

Take a Swiss roll pan or a rectangular pan about 8 x 12 inches in dimensions and grease with butter.

Line your pan with some baking paper by cutting a piece of baking paper larger than the pan.

Stick the baking paper in the pan (I cut slits into the corners in order to make it stay down).

Now really butter your parchment paper.

It’s important to grease it well so that your sponge cake doesn’t stick to the paper. We want that perfect swirl!

Whip your eggs and caster sugar with an electric whisk until they are stiff and creamy.

You will need to be whipping for about 10 minutes so keep going. If you like, set the timer so you’re sure you’ve whipped it for long enough.

Whipping the eggs and sugar is important as it’s what will make your roly poly cake soft and fluffy, as opposed to flat and mushy.

Be sure to use caster sugar and not granulated for a light and airy sponge cake!

Add in the melted butter and mix until there are no lumps.

The butter should be very soft or melted but not hot.

Add the self raising flour by sifting it over the bowl.

Sifting is better than just adding the flour into the bowl, as it helps the flour to aerate.

This produces light, delicate cakes.

Fold the flour into the batter using a spatula.

At this stage we don’t want to whisk or even mix the batter, we just want to move it enough to incorporate the flour.

Gently turn the batter over with the spatula until the flour is folded in.

Gently fold in your vanilla and lemon zest in the same way.

These boost the flavour of the cake and the subtle citrusy flavour of the lemon zest complements the sweetness of the raspberry jam filling.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan.

Tilt the pan a little to make sure the batter is evenly spread out along the bottom of the pan.

Pop it in the oven on the bottom shelf for 12 minutes or when the top is golden brown.

While your cake is baking, cut another piece of parchment paper and place it on a flat surface. It should be slightly larger than your cake pan.

Your cake is baked, and now comes the fun part!

Tip the pan upside down onto the parchment paper so that the cake comes out of the pan in one piece.

Peel off the parchment paper from the underside of the cake.

If you buttered the baking paper well it should come off smoothly.

Get out your raspberry chia seed jam (or your preferred jam) and spread it all over the cake, leaving a small border.

Using the bottom sheet of parchment paper to help you to start it off, roll the cake up from the short side.

Now remove the parchment paper.

Put your new creation on a serving platter and cut in to reveal your raspberry jam swirl!

Serve up for tea time or as a delicious dessert!