A jelly roll is a good way to use up egg yolks from recipes like Angel Food Cake or the Christmas Tree Meringues we made today!
The recipe I’m sharing with you today is an old recipe. My gramma made jelly rolls and they were always delicious. A few years ago, my dad said this “jelly roll recipe tastes like mom’s,” — that’s the best compliment I could get!
A jelly roll is a sponge cake that is filled traditionally with jam or jelly, and perhaps cream, then rolled into a log. They were a popular dessert in the late 1800s because it travelled well.
We enjoy jelly rolls because it’s a moist, tender cake filled with delicious preserves — it’s not overly sweet and has a great vanilla cake flavor. Sometimes the cake can be tough, especially if the eggs are over beaten or the flour gets overworked in the batter. It can be a bit of a finicky cake, but it always tastes great!
Let’s get started!
Beat the eggs until frothy. Add half the sugar and lemon juice. Whisk. Add remaining sugar and whisk until thick and creamy. Add milk while whisking so the warm milk doesn’t scramble the eggs.
Mix flour, baking powder and salt together. Gently fold in the flour. It’s ok if it’s a bit lumpy.
Pour into a prepared (parchment lined) jelly roll pan. Bake at 350F until lightly golden and springs back when touched. Remove from hot pan and let cool slightly.
I had a piece break off where my two pieces of parchment met, so I left that for my oldest to create a mini jelly roll while my youngest made the large jelly roll.
Once cool enough to handle, roll in parchment and let cool completely.
Once cold, unroll and carefully remove parchment. Don’t unroll completely flat or it will crack.
Fill with your favorite filling like jam, jelly, cooked fruit, cream cheese and so on. Roll back up. Place seam side down.
We are using clotted cream and cherry pie filling in the mini roll.
In this jelly roll, we used crabapple jelly and cooked apples.
“Frost” with frosting or whipped cream, or leave as is.
I could eat the whole jelly roll! It’s so good!
We had a piece of each kind – the cherry cream jelly roll was divine and the apple jelly roll was equally scrumptious! My gramma always used strawberry jam as a filling and dusted it with some icing sugar (powdered sugar). It’s always a classic!
Jelly Roll
4 eggs — I used the 4 egg yolks from the Christmas Tree Meringues plus 3 whole eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup warm milk
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Beat the eggs until frothy. Add half the sugar and lemon juice. Whisk. Add remaining sugar and whisk until thick. Add milk while whisking. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together. Gently fold in the flour. It’s ok if it’s a bit lumpy. Pour into a prepared (parchment lined) jelly roll pan. Bake at 350F until lightly golden and springs back when touched. Remove from hot pan and let cool slightly. Once cool enough to handle, roll in parchment and let cool completely. Once cold, unroll and carefully remove parchment. Don’t unroll completely flat or it will crack. Fill with your favorite filling like jam, jelly, cooked fruit, cream cheese and so on. Roll back up. Place seam side down. “Frost” with frosting or whipped cream, or leave as is.
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours