Jasmine Tea Roll Cake

i've never really been much of a tea drinker but i still find myself buying lotsa tea for baking nevertheless coz i think they taste better in cakes and desserts than just drinking them alone. i've been eyeing on this recipe for quite sometime but i wasn't sure how it would turn out coz this is actually a fatless sponge as it doesn't require the use of oil or butter. i was pretty doubtful intially coz i've not made cakes that didn't require butter but ever since i made the butterless biscuit joconde from hidemi sugino's fruits rouges entremet i realize it actually tasted pretty good. the original recipe uses sencha (i think) but i decided to be adventurous and use gryphon's pearl of the orient instead. its actually jasmine tea infused with rose and its really really nice!


the texture is lovely, very soft and cottony and not too sweet. i thought the tea bits would get in the way but they didn't. in fact, it provided the cake a really nice contrast both in terms of appearance and taste. the filling is made with a mixture of whipping cream and condensed milk and i thought it tasted like whipped white choc ganache, so good! you can also use any kind of ground tea leaves for the cake and i think french earl grey or darjeeling would be nice.

recipe source : 我♥和風洋菓子 by 福田淳子 (wa sweet recipe by junko fukuda)

ingredients (makes one 11" roll) :

3 eggs, room temp

65g caster sugar

2 tbsps milk

45g cake flour, sifted

10g ground tea leaves

for the filling :

120ml whipping cream

50ml condensed milk

directions :

1. place eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl over a pan of hot water and whisk until the mixture reaches body temperature (abt 37C).

2. remove the pan of hot water and continue whisking mixture until ribbon stage.

3. fold in milk, flour & tea leaves and mix well to combine.

4. pour mixture into an 11" jelly roll pan/shallow baking tin lined with baking paper and bake in a preheated oven of 190C (374F) for abt 12-15 mins until golden. leave to cool completely then peel off paper carefully.

5. to make the filling, whisk whipping cream and condensed milk together until stiff peaks. spread mixture on cake and roll up, using the paper as a guide as you roll.

6. refrigerate or freeze until firm before slicing.