A light thin sponge filled with sweet mascarpone cream and lemon curd and finished with delicious smooth cream and lemon zest. A beautiful yet delicious treat for any time of the year.

Lemon and Mascarpone Swiss Roll

I find swiss rolls to be one of those things that looks super hard from the outside, but once you actually learn how they are made you realise they are so easy to make you will make them over and over again. The good thing about them is that is one of those things you can keep making variations of depending on the season or your mood, for example, over Christmas I made this Chocolate Swiss Roll that was an absolute success.

So this time around, I focused on the flavours of summer, delicious lemon and cream over a very light roll, which feels both refreshing and indulging.

Making a Swiss Roll step by step

The first to do is separate the eggs yolks from the egg whites, making sure your egg yolks are in a bigger bowl than the egg whites. Then, beat together the egg yolks and 30 gr of sugar until the mix becomes pale, creamy and the sugar is completely dissolved. Once that is done, set aside and beat the egg whites and the salt until foamy, then add the remaining sugar and vanilla extra until soft peaks.

Then, fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk mix. Then fold in another third and finally the other third. It’s important that you do this slowly and not add all of them together at once. Make sure it’s fully combined before moving to the next step. Once that is done, mix the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Sieve them into the egg mix and fold them in making sure it’s fully combined and there’s not flour left unmixed.

Once everything is mixed, fold in the oil and milk, fold them in doing circular movements from the bottom of the bowl to the top. Liquid tends to go to the bottom, so make sure you reach the bottom of your bowl with your spatula, if you are using a glass bowl, you can always lift it and look underneath to see if there is any liquid. Add the lemon zest and fold it in carfully. Pour the mix into a baking tray lined with baking paper. Mine was 28 x 38 cm. Spread it over evenly.

Bake it in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius for 18-20 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Once ready, take it out of the oven and allow it to rest for 5 minutes, then, take it out of the tray and remove the parchment paper, the best way to do this is to tip it over upside down so you can remove it easily. Allow it to cool down completely and cover one side with cling film and the other side with clean parchment paper so it keeps its moisture, I also then covered mine with the tray I baked it on. Let it rest for a couple of hours, or overnight if you can. 

Once you are ready to to fill it with the mascarpone, mix all the ingredients until you get a stiff peaks and spread it over the cake up to the corners, make sure you add extra cream on the side you will start rolling from. Repeat the process with the lemon curd.

Once it’s rolled, wrap it up in the parchment paper and place it in the fridge for 2 hours. Make sure that the part of the cake that “closes” it is at the bottom so it seals. Before serving, make the topping by mixing all the ingredients and pipe over the roll, I used Saint Honore 686 nozzle.

Lemon and Mascarpone Swiss Roll

Ingredients:

For the roll:

• 6 eggs
• 60 gr of sugar divided in half (30/30)
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tsp of vanilla essence
• 110 gr of plain flour
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 70 ml vegetable oil
• 70 ml of whole milk at room temperature
• The zest of 1 medium lemon

For the mascarpone filling

• 250 gr of Mascarpone cheese
• 200 ml of double (heavy) cream
• 35 gr of icing sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 130 gr of lemon curd 

For the cream top (optional)

• 150 ml of double (heavy) cream
• 1 tbsp of icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• Lemon zest (for decor)

Method:

1. Separate the eggs yolks from the egg whites, making sure your egg yolks are in a bigger bowl than the egg whites. Then, beat together the egg yolks and 30 gr of sugar until the mix becomes pale, creamy and the sugar is completely dissolved. Once that is done, set aside and beat the egg whites and the salt until foamy, then add the remaining sugar and vanilla extra until soft peaks.
2. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk mix. Then fold in another third and finally the other third. It’s important that you do this slowly and not add all of them together at once. Make sure it’s fully combined before moving onto the next step.
3. Mix the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Sieve them into the egg mix and fold them in making sure it’s fully combined and there’s not flour left unmixed.
4. Once everything is mixed, fold in the oil and milk, fold them in doing circular movements from the bottom of the bowl to the top. Liquid tends to go to the bottom, so make sure you reach the bottom of your bowl with your spatula, if you are using a glass bowl, you can always lift it and look underneath to see if there is any liquid. Fold in the lemon zest.
5. Pour the mix into a baking tray lined with baking paper. Mine was 28 x 38 cm. Spread it over evenly.
6. Bake it in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius for 18-20 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Once ready, take it out of the oven and allow it to rest for 5 minutes, then, take it out of the tray and remove the parchment paper, the best way to do this is to tip it over upside down so you can remove it easily. Allow it to cool down completely and cover one side with cling film and the other side with clean parchment paper so it keeps its moisture, I also covered mine with the tray I baked it on. Let it rest for a couple of hours, or overnight if you can. 
7. Once you are ready to to fill it with the mascarpone, mix all the ingredients except for the lemon curd until you get a stiff peaks and spread it over the cake up to the corners, make sure you add extra cream on the side you will start rolling from. Spread the lemon curd over the mascarpone mix repeating the same process as above.
8. Once it’s all spread over, begin tightly rolling the cake up starting from one of the shorter edges of the rectangle helping yourself with the parchment. Do this slowly and gently. You can roll it with just your hands, but some bits of the top of the cake may stick to your hands. Make sure you don’t put too much pressure over the cake, it should not break while you do this.
9. Once it’s rolled, wrap it up in parchment paper and place it in the fridge for 2 hours. Make sure that the part of the cake that “closes” it is at the bottom so it seals.
10. Before serving, prepare the cream by mixing the double cream, vanilla extract and icing sugar until you get stiff peaks. Pipe it on top of your swiss roll, for this I used a Saint Honore 686 nozzle, but you can use a different nozzle, spread the cream it all over the roll, or simply skip this step and cover it with just icing sugar, or nothing at all. Finish your roll by zesting some lemon over it.
11. Keep refrigerated until it’s time to eat.