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Friday, February 5, 2010

Bamboo Charcoal Swiss Roll - 竹炭ロール

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Black is chic, black is classic and black is super elegant. No respectable girl, fashionista or prude, would be caught without a trusted LBD (little black dress) in her closet. Such is the universal appeal of this colour that in recent years, the colour has started creeping into pastries and cakes. Lauderee has a pitch black macaron flavoured with licorice. I am still regretting not trying Bakerzin's midnight black mooncake because I was traveling. The most embraced jet black pastry has to be the Japanese Bamboo Charcoal Swiss Roll.

I have been fixated about baking something black but have not been able to get my hands on Edible Bamboo Charcaol. I have combed high end super markets in Hong Kong , Taiwan and health food stores for bamboo charcaol but have not been able to find any.
It was during my most recent trip to KaoHsiong, Taiwan this week that I chanced upon a baking ingredients wholesaler. My luck was probably running high that day, for I managed to grab the one last bottle of Bamboo Charcoal on the shelf.

Bamboo charcoal, for those who are curious, is actually made by burining bamboo at very high temperature.Burning bamboo at 800C carbonises the bamboo which results in a highly porous structure. The high porosity of bamboo charcoal allows it to filter and absorb impurities effectively. Hence, one of the most prevalent use of bamboo charcoal is in the purfication of drinking water. In addition, various medicinal benefits of bamboo charcaol have also been identified. I am, however, just eager to disperse these precious powder into my next sweet.

The option that is most accessible to me is the swiss roll. I have not made swiss roll for quite a while and I have to confess that I felt a little nervous making this. I usually watch nervously while the cake is baking in the oven - willing it not to rise too much. Then, as it cools down, I would check in every few minutes nervously, afraid that it will collapse to an emaciated mat. Then, as I roll, I worry that the roll will turn out wrong.

This did not turn out as beautiful as I would like it to be but it will have to do for now for I still have tons of report to write....consolation - I still have enough charcoal powder to make truck loads of swiss roll!

Recipe :

Souffle Sponge
Egg Yolk 5
Egg White 4
Sugar 90g
Vanilla Extract 1 tsp

All purpose flour 40g
Bamboo Charcoal 5g
Butter 40g (melted)

Fresh Cream    150ml
Sugar               2tsp

Method
Chiffon Sponge

1. Line a 27cm x 27cm square pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Chiffon Sponge : Whip Egg Yolk with 20g Sugar until a figure 8 can be 'ribboned' out without fading quickly into the mixture. Add Vanilla extract and mix well.

In a separate clean bowl, whip egg white with 70g sugar until soft firm peaks are obtained. The meringue should still droop when the whip is inverted. (whipping the egg white too stiff will result in the sponge to rise excessively)

3. Chiffon Sponge : Pour Egg Yolk mixture into egg white and fold carefully to blend. Sift flour & Bamboo charcoal into the combined egg mixture. Fold carefully to ensure that flour is well combined. Pour in melted butter and fold to combine.

4. Pour batter into the lined square pan. Spread batter evenly. Bake cake in oven at 200C for 10 -12 mins.

5. After baking, remove cake from baking pan and leave to cool completely in parchment paper. Peel off parchment paper. The top face (brown side) will be creamed.

Cream Chantilly

1. Whip fresh cream with sugar until firm.

Spread whipped cream on to top face of sponge. Roll carefully to form swiss roll. Trip edges.

29 comments:

Zurin said...

What does the bamboo charcoal taste like b4 u use it for the cake? the cakes does have a certain aura to it...ive never seen a black cake bfore! gorgeous ~ mysteriously gorgeous!

La Table De Nana said...

How interesting! I like making those rolled cakes.. this puts it on a shelf of it's own with the red carpet and the Oscars for sure in her after 5 attire~

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Zurin, the bamboo charcaol itself is quite tasteless... yes, a black cake actually looks gorgeous but I am afraid my swissroll finish is rather sloppy.

Monique,you are so kind. I wish I can make such clever compliments like you... am usually lost for words...!

Carolyn said...

I think it looks very elegant!
Have a good weekend,
Carolyn

Angie's Recipes said...

I wish I could find some bamboo charcoal here as I really adore foam cakes!

Chocolate Shavings said...

What a wonderfully chic cake - this looks beautiful!

Food Gal said...

Very mod and classic looking. Kind of like taking my fave little black dress and making it into cake-form. ;)

Tony said...

That looks really cool. I wish I had charcoal that was edible over here.

WendyinKK said...

I don't know why but I shun from these charcoal baked stuff, no matter buns or cakes, Cos the colour is dificult to accept, mentally.

The problem lies with me.

diva said...

this swiss roll is so cool i just wanna taste it! :D and u're right, black is so chic :) x

Camemberu said...

Hey you have a cool blog too! I love your photos. The black charcoal swiss roll is just so chic. I don't know where to get edible charcoal either so maybe I'll try match first. :P

Ju (The Little Teochew) said...

Shirley, I've seen charcoal bread at my bakery, but this is the first time I'm seeing a charcoal swissroll! It looks so ... goth. :) That's a generous amount of cream in the centre! The contrast in colour is very classy.

Anonymous said...

Hi Shirley
That roll looks stunning - i would be interested to have a taste of this and I'm really curious to learn what it tastes like. You are indeed very lucky to have found that last bottle!

Allie said...

Wow this looks interesting! I've never really heard of Charcoal Bamboo but your swiss roll looks delicious!

Irene's Footprints said...

hmmm..veri interesting black roll. Btw, which brand of fresh cream do you use and do you whip it over iced water?

: )

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Irene, I don't stick to any particular brand. Recently,the Emborg brand whipping cream is on special offer- 3 for the price of 2.I don't whip over iced water. My Braun hand whip is strong enough to whip it up very quickly- just make sure the whipped cream is cold from the fridge.

Anonymous said...

Wow, it's absolutely stunning Shirley! I've never heard of this but the photographs made me wish I could get a hold of some Edible Bamboo Charcoal! :o

chocolatecup said...

this is one cake i have never seen before, at least the color of it. it looks like it is full of dark secrets. bamboo charcoal is certainly something i have never heard of but i would like to get my hand on now.

Irene's Footprints said...

Hi Shirley

Oh ...you used a hand whip...I saw one model of hand whip (Braun) at Tangs...quite tempting to get. Yours is which model?

: )

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Hi Irene, I bought these 5 years ago. It was one of those Braun multi-purpose hand mixer - comes with a whip, chopper, smoothy mixer. I think Braun has them in different power. Mine is a low power at 300W.

Y said...

How interesting! The colour is certainly very eye catching. So it doesn't contribute any taste at all? What other things can you use the powder for?

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Hi Y, no, it doesn't contribute to any taste, at least not at this qty. So far, these fine particle size powder is used only in baking. Mooncake snow skin looks stunning in this, also this has been incorporated into bread. I am thinking if you were to incorporate this into a cookie, it will look like eating a lump of charcoal...ha ha ha... I think there is alot of potential.

Anonymous said...

How stylish, I have never seen anything like it before.

MsMoon said...

the word 'black beauty' pops out in my mind when i see this...lovely!! amazing photography too!

Asian said...

If you use a jelly roll pan and follow the rolling and unrolling technique for making a standard pumpkin roll, you will avoid any mishaps with the roll and be left with a beautifully rolled cake. I think a little orange food coloring added to the filling would make for a nice Halloween treat as well.

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Asian, that is quite clever, using this for Halloween... I have seen a jelly roll pan but I thought they look just like and ordinary baking tray...hmm interesting.

Addy said...

I always thought bamboo charcoal is used as home air purifiers or water purifiers. This is the first time I see bamboo charcoal swiss roll :) Impressive !! Nice for sharing. I feel like want to eat.

Bamboo Cakes. Yum! said...

Bamboo cake! I love the idea, and it looks great too. Perfect for a dinner party.

BTW love the music. Who is it?

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Hello, Bamboo Cakes. Thank you for dropping by. The song playing is 'I shouldn't, I wouldn't' - by Jo Jo Effect East

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