Asian Swiss Roll

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs, separated
• 6 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
• 2 tablespoons melted butter, cooled
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup cold heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Sift together the cake flour, cornstarch, and salt twice.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the 3 egg yolks and 2 tablespoons sugar. Whisk in the vanilla, melted butter, and milk until it’s light yellow and fully emulsified. Thoroughly fold in the sifted dry ingredients until there are no lumps. Set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until you get soft peaks. Add another 4 tablespoons of sugar to the egg whites and whip until you get stiff peaks.
4. Taking 1/3 of the egg white mixture at a time, fold it into the egg yolk mixture create a light and airy batter. Make sure everything is thoroughly combined. 
5. Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. You can cut the four corners of the paper and overlap it to create smooth corners.
6. Pour the mixture in the pan and smooth it out so it’s completely even. It’s crucial that the batter be evenly distributed in the pan. Knock the bottom of the pan on a tabletop a few times (you can cover the table’s surface with a kitchen towel to make sure you don’t break anything) to get rid of any large air bubbles.
7. Bake in the preheated oven on the middle rack for 13-15 minutes, or until a skewed inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
8. Remove from the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes. Flip the pan out onto another piece of parchment paper. Carefully peel off the parchment paper that the cake was baked with. Turn the cake so the pale side is up. Trim off the short ends of the cake.
9. In a mixer, whip the cream along with the powdered sugar until you get stiff peaks. When the cake is still warm enough to be pliable but not warm enough to melt your cream, spread the whipped cream evenly onto the cake, leaving one inch on one of the short ends uncovered.
10. To roll the cake up, taking out a rolling pin and place it underneath the parchment paper your cake is sitting on. Slowly roll the parchment paper onto the rolling pin one side as you roll up the cake on the other. Essentially, you’re using the rolling pin to push the cake forward as you roll. At the same time, you’re using the pin to roll up the loose parchment paper. Once rolled, dust with more powdered sugar if you like. Slice of the ragged ends, then slice the cake into 4-6 pieces, depending how big you want them. Serve.

Variations:

• Strawberry (or other fruit) Swiss Roll: Add 3 lines (evenly spaced) of quartered strawberries or other diced fruit crosswise along the whipped cream. Roll as normal.
• Matcha-Red Bean Swiss Roll: Sift 1 Tbsp. matcha powder along with the dry ingredients Bake cake as normal. Fold in 1/2 cup red bean paste to the whipped cream, then roll as normal.