Weekend Cooking: Honey Sponge Roll

A couple of weekends ago I was at the boyfriend's house and I was feeling the need to make something. Because I am still in trying to impress mode I asked him what he would like. Should I make chocolate cake or brownies or lemon syrup cakes or white chocolate cheesecake, After a short deliberation, he looks at me and says that he wants a Bee Sting cake. Now, given that wasn't one of the options given I was a little surprised, but I went off to the internet to see if I could find a recipe.

Now it turns out that a Beesting cake is a kind of German honey flavoured yeasted cake with a kind of toffee topping, that needs to be beaten for quite lengthy period of times, and in some recipes left overnight before finishing, so in the end I went back and said no. There were a couple of reasons. The first was that I hadn't bought my stand mixer with me, and the second was that it sounded way too hard.

On Sunday morning though, I had a brain wave. The signature dish of one of my former colleagues is a honey log roll. It would have the honey and cream component that he was looking for, but without the hard work. Never mind the fact that we didn't have the mixer to be able to whip the egg whites. In the end he did that using the whisk attachment to a stick blender. Never mind that I have never attempted to make a sponge before and that I had never attempted a roll type cake at all. Thank goodness you can search the internet and find most things. A few minute and we had a recipe!! A quick trip to the shops to buy a baking tray and it was time to bake.

In the end I was super happy with how it turned out. It was so delicious, and I will definitely be making this again!

Honey Sponge Roll

4 eggs, separated
½ cup (110g) caster sugar, plus extra, for dusting
½ cup (75g) cornflour
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon honey, at room temperature
Honey cream filling
90g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 180°C or 160°C fan. Lightly grease and line base and sides of a 26cm x 32cm swiss roll pan.

Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating constantly until mixture is thick and glossy. Beat in egg yolks until just mixed.

Meanwhile, finely sift cornflour, flour, spices and baking powder. Lightly fold into egg mixture with honey, mixing gently until evenly distributed. Fill prepared pan shaking gently to spread mixture evenly.

Bake for 20 minutes, until risen and firm when lightly pressed with a fingertip. Turn out onto a tea towel lightly dusted with extra caster sugar. Quickly peel off paper and trim edges. Roll up immediately in tea towel starting from short edge. Leave to cool completely.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter until pale and creamy. Add honey and beat until well mixed. Add 2 tablespoons water and continue beating until mixture is smooth and creamy. Unroll cake and spread over filling. Roll up again and serve cut across into slices.

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