Strawberry and Mascarpone Swiss Roll

This weekend I did something I have not done in a very long time.

I spent the day with my Mum and Dad.

Just the three of us.

Originally we had a day planned for the four of us, but at the last minute Mr B had to go to work. Whilst we were all disappointed that he wouldn't be there, part of me was selfishly pleased to have my Mum and Dad to myself for the day, especially seeing as in a few weeks time chances are that it won't happen again for a very long time.

To start the day off Mum and I had booked in for a bit of pampering. I enjoyed my first pregnancy massage  whilst Mum experienced (and enjoyed!) her first acupuncture session. Meanwhile, Dad waited patiently in the car park......

Luckily my appointment finished early so Dad and I went to suss out a local health food shop and stock up on muesli. I love a good bowl of muesli for breakfast but am fairly fussy on what it has in it so I find the best option is to make my own. Currently my favourite combination is banana chips, raisins, dried cranberries, coconut flakes, almond slivers, wheat flakes and bran straws  - drowned in milk and topped with a big dollop of yoghurt it makes the perfect breakfast (and is also pretty damn good eaten straight from the container....)

By the time Mum was out of her appointment we were all starving and decided to head up to the Mt Nelson Signal Station to enjoy some of their famous lemonade scones, a hot cup of tea, some crispy hash browns and soak up the incredible view. The scones were fresh out of the oven, piping hot and MASSIVE. They were also absolutely amazing with some home made raspberry jam and whipped cream. Now I know you're thinking 'who the hell has scones, tea and hash browns??' but this place also does the crispiest hash browns and we were torn between them and the scones....so we each got our plate of scones with a hash brown on the side and the waitress only looked at us like we were a tiny bit odd.....

With our bellies full we were seriously considering a nap but instead decided to hit the shops. Four hours later we had been to a ridiculous number of shops, I had bath bomb in my hair and up my nose (very long story....), I had shopping bags full of goodies to take home, the three of us attended our first baby shop together and Mum and Dad left with a ridiculously long list of things they just 'had' to buy for bub. We had all achieved things on our to-do lists to the point where we had crossed off things we didn't even know we had to do but the best part was I can't think of a time during the day when we weren't laughing.

By the time Mum and Dad dropped me off at home we were all exhausted and I was super grateful to see Mr B and tell him all about our day, have a hot cup of tea and curl up on the couch for a snooze.

I really could not have asked for a better day with better people.

This recipe is actually from our 4th birthday in July. Each year for our blog birthday cake I try and tackle something new that I haven't done before so when I tried to weasle my way out of making a swiss roll all on my own, Mr B put his foot down and pretty much told me to harden up. Fully understanding that I was not getting out of this easily I decided to bite the bullet. I mean how hard could it be?

I was really worried about the roll cracking when I rolled it up and was very surprised at just how easy it was to do. The finished product was super yummy and visually very specky - no cracks in sight!

Strawberry and Mascarpone Swiss Roll - Serves 6-8

3/4 cup plain flour
1 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
4 eggs separated, at room temperature
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 tspn vanilla essence
250g mascarpone cheese (you can buy or make your own like I did)
2 tbspns icing sugar
1/2 tspn vanilla essence extra
250g strawberries, hulled and cut into quarters
2 tbspns caster sugar
2 tbspns orange juice

Pre-heat oven to 190C and line a 15.5 x 10.5 inch swiss roll pan with baking paper, allowing it to hang over the sides.

Place 2/3 of the strawberries in a blender with 2 tbspns caster sugar and blend well. Transfer to a bowl and add the orange juice and remaining strawberries. Place in the fridge for at least 1/2 an hour, however the flavour definitely gets better the longer you leave them.

In a bowl combine the mascarpone with 2 tbspns icing sugar and 1/2 tspn vanilla essence. Place in the fridge until required.

Sift the plain flour, baking powder and salt into a small bowl and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the 4 egg whites at high speed until soft peaks form - this should take 1-2 minutes. Slowly add in 1/3 cup of the caster sugar and continue to beat at high speed until mixture is glossy and stiff peaks form - this should take about 2-3 minutes but the time will vary depending on the speed of you mixer. Set aside.

Using clean beaters and a clean bowl, beat the egg yolks on high speed until they are thick and lemon yellow in colour - this will take about 5 minutes. Slowly add in 1/2 cup of caster sugar and 1/2 tspn of vanilla essence. Continue beating on high speed until ribbons form on the egg mixture when it drips back into the bowl.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the egg yolks and gently spoon over the beaten egg whites. Gently fold the mixture until combined and evenly coloured.

Spread batter into prepared pan and level. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly pressed.

While the cake is baking, sprinkle a clean kitchen towel with 1/3 cup icing sugar.

Immediately invert the hot cake onto the kitchen towel and gently remove the baking paper. Cut off any crispy edges and carefully roll up the cake and towel from the short end. (I actually rolled ours from the long end, it doesn't really matter which end you roll from!)

Allow the cake to cool completely then carefully unroll and spread with the mascarpone all the way to the edges. Top with 3/4 of the strawberry sauce, reserving the rest for decorating.

Carefully roll the cake back up as tightly as you can without splitting it. Serve drizzled with the remaining sauce and dusted with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Mrs B x