Matcha Roll.

Another matcha recipe, are you surprised ?! So, I've been hooked on The Great British Baking Show recently and it's been giving me all sorts of recipe inspiration. One of the first episodes they made a "swiss roll" which is essentially a cake rolled around delicious cream! We get these all the time from the Iranian bakery near my house and I've always referred to them as roulette. These have so many styles but the essential idea is the same!

The trickiest part about this roll as I saw on the show and experienced when baking it, is getting it the right size, thickness and texture. On the show they referred to the roll as a "sponge." Well, I felt the pressure of the baking show when I made my first sponge because it was HORRIBLE! It didn't really rise and was not spongy at all.

The second time I changed up my ingredients and added honey. I also used cake flour which I think helped a lot. I spread it a bit too thin but it was still soft and delicious! In my directions I note to spread it but not too thin so you can have a thicker roll :) It's really important to roll up the sponge while it's hot so it will roll easier when it's time to spread on the filling!

If you remember I made almond cupcakes with matcha frosting recently and I LOVED the flavor combo. I decided to recreate that flavor combination in a different way. Not only did I add almond emulsion in the heavy cream but I decided to toast some almonds for the top. This gives the soft sponge some crunch! The almonds can also help cover up a not so great piping job :)

Even though I spread mine thinner than I wanted to, it was wonderfully tender. It also rolled really well!

My advice:

Make sure your batter is well beaten and mixed before adding in the flour. The green color of the batter should get lighter.
Make sure that you check your roll while it's in the oven. It will spring back slightly when it's ready. If you let it go too long it will be dry. This is especially important with a matcha flavored cake because the color isn't light so it's harder to tell when it's done.

I used some lovely culinary matcha from Mizuba Tea Co. for the roll and it was delicious! Keep your eye out for one more recipe with this matcha that I think you will love!

The best part about this combo is that the matcha flavor comes through really well. The cake and the heavy cream together are the perfect amount of sweetness.

Keep your heavy cream cool! It will make everything easier :)

Have you made matcha swiss roll? What is your favorite matcha flavored sweet?!