Last month I was watching a video on youtube and on the side bar a little cake got my attention because it was so whimsical. I clicked on it and found out it was the so-called Hurricane Roll. I have no idea who “invented” it, but most are made by Oriental bakers with the patience of Buddha. Patience, I don’t have, but still decided I had to make one. To make a long story short, I confess that I made FIVE. Not because they were nice and easy, but because the first three attempts did not give me the desired hurricane effect. At most, I got a tropical storm.  I learned a lot during the process of trial and error, and will share with you the recipe and method that finally worked well for me.

RED HURRICANE ROLL WITH MORELLO CHERRY FILLING
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

for a 10 inch square cake

for the meringue:
110 g sugar
6 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar

for the cake batter:
110 g milk
80 g butter, melted
85 g cake flour
15g dry milk powder
1/8 tsp vanilla paste
1/8 tsp salt
6 egg yolks
raspberry flavor from Amoretti (optional)
red gel food color
Morello cherry jam for filling (or any other filling you like)

Spray a 10-inch square pan with baking spray and cover it with parchment paper.

I use a handheld mixer to make the batter, so I start with the meringue.  Whisk the egg whites with cream of tartar until it gets foamy. Add the granulated sugar very slowly and whisk to soft peaks. Reserve.

No need to wash the beater, move on to make the egg yolk component. Whisk the milk with the melted butter and vanilla in a bowl. Sieve the dry ingredients on top, whisk gently until fully combined.  Add one egg yolk at a time, whisking well after each addition.  Remove 135g of this batter to another bowl, add 1 tsp raspberry flavor and red food dye to taste. To this  bowl, add 100g of the reserved meringue and fold gently. Place in a piping bag, no need for piping tip. Reserve.

Add what is left of the meringue to the white cake batter, and fold gently. Pour into the prepared pan – add gently the red batter on top  to cover it completely, you can use an offset spatula to help even the surface.

Now do the hurricane effect. I used the handle of a wooden spoon, making stripes all over the pan back and forth horizontally, with the handle all the way into the bottom of the batter. Move it slowly.  Then do the same thing in the other direction, perpendicular to the first. Bang the pan gently to release bubbles and even the surface.

Bake at 325F for 10 min, reduce temperature to 300F and bake for 25 minutes longer, but check the center of the cake so that it does not over-bake and gets dry.  Remove from oven, wait 2 minutes and invert the cake on a towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Trim the edges that tend to get too dry and interfere with rolling. Roll while warm, let it cool. Unroll, spread jam (or any filling you like), and roll back again. Place in the fridge for a couple of hours before slicing.  If all went well, you should see a nice color effect due to the partial mixing of both colors.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: The recipes I tried before failed to mix properly. Still made delicious cakes, but I was left with a simple roll cake like this one, made with lemon flavor and pitaya powder (clearly did not use enough, there was barely any hint of color in the second batter after baking).

Another attempt produced what I called a “Tropical Storm” effect, in which the hurricane was almost there but not fully…  In this case I went with a classic vanilla/cocoa combination, and the filling was Chocolate Russian buttercream.

If you are familiar with Swiss roll cakes, you might find the method I used a bit strange, as the egg yolks are added in the end, without any intense whipping to generate more volume. There is actually a reason for it. If you do a regular batter, it will be denser, and the two colors will not mix properly. The other thing to keep in mind is that you need to be aggressive mixing the batters in that criss-cross pattern. Insert the handle all the way to the bottom (you can use a knife, chopsticks, a very small spatula also works), and work your way slowly as shown in the drawing above.


if you do that you will be rewarded with a nice effect that will become evident the moment you cut the edges. I’ve been playing quite a bit with this technique so expect a few more rolls coming on the blog soon. Apart from the hurricane effect, there is a lot you can do with two colors of cake batter.  I wish I had kids around, it’s the type of bake that they would love to play with.

Disclaimer: no, we did not eat five roll cakes. I often get asked how come we don’t weigh a ton with all the sweets around. Everything I bake is donated to Common Table on Fridays. Most things I try a little bite for quality control, but that is about it.
The last time I made a dessert for the two of us was…
Valentine’s Day!

Common Table of August 08th, 2020
(I bet you are you not surprised that I keep photo records of all my weekly bakes)

ONE YEAR AGO: Pop-Tarts with Strawberry Balsamic Jam

TWO YEARS AGO: Ptichye Moloko, a Russian Dessert

THREE YEARS AGO: Cheesy Low-Carb Zucchini Tarts

FOUR YEARS AGO: Blogging Hiatus

FIVE YEARS AGO: Apricots, Three Ways

SIX YEARS AGO: Up Close and Personal with Kale

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Black Berry Cherry Sorbet

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Asparagus Pesto

NINE YEARS AGO: Chocolate and Chestnut Terrine

TEN YEARS AGO: Under the spell of lemongrass

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Greens + Grapefruit + Shrimp = Great Salad!