Tiger Skin Swiss Roll

Make one Swiss roll (unrolled size: 35 x 25 cm / 10 x 14 inches)

30g milk

1 tbsp vegetable oil, preferably something is neutral tasting like Alfa One rice bran oil

3 eggs (150g without the shell) - please use the exact weight

70g caster sugar

50g cake flour

10g cocoa powder, preferably Dutch processed - I used the new improved Nestlé Dutch processed cocoa powder.

60g egg yolk (about 4) - please use exact weight

30g icing sugar

15g corn flour

90g egg yolk (about 6) - please use exact weight

45g icing sugar

22g corn flour

extra oil, to grease the baking pan

120ml (½ cup) whipping cream, cold from the fridge

10g icing sugar

If you want your cake to be extra creamy, please feel free to use more than ½ cup of cream to fill and roll your Swiss roll - It is ok to make this modification.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Line one 35 x 25 cm baking tray with baking paper.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Then lower the heat to allow the water to simmer.

Place milk and oil in heatproof bowl and warm mixture either in a microwave with a short pulse of high power for 10 to 20 secs or over a pot of simmering water until the mixture is lukewarm to touch.

Remove the pot of simmering water from heat and do not discard the simmering water. The residue heat from the simmering water is required for the next mixing step.

Place eggs and sugar in a large heat proof mixing bowl (or the bowl of your electric mixer but it has to be heat proof) and place the mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water (without any heat). Use a hand whisk to whisk the mixture continuously by hand until mixture until it reaches 100°F/ 38°C - I used a candy thermometer to measure the temperature.

Remove bowl from simmering water and use an electric mixer to beat the egg mixture in a medium speed (not too high to reduce the amount large bubbles forming) until mixture is pale, thick and voluminous. At this stage, you should be able to draw a number 8 on the mixture without having the drawing disappearing and mixture can be pretty stiff and firm.

Sift flour and cocoa powder into the egg mixture and use a spatula to fold in the flour mixture until well incorporated. Then, fold in the warm milk mixture very gently until all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over-mix! And it is ok if the batter can be a little streaky or spotty with small bits of un-mixed cocoa.

Spread batter evenly into the prepared tray and bake for 15 mins or until the cake is well risen and fully cooked.

When done, remove cake (with its baking paper) from the tray immediately and transfer it onto a wire rack to cool. After 5 to 10 mins of cooling, flip the cake onto a clean baking paper and remove the used baking paper at its bottom. Allow the cake to cool completely.

Preheat oven to 220°C. Grease and line baking tray with baking paper. Important: This cake batter will be sticky and so the baking tray has to be well greased.

Using an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat all tiger skin ingredients with a high speed for about 5 mins or until thick and pale. Reduce mixing speed to low and continue to beat for about 2 mins to stabilize the batter.

Place baking rack in the middle of the oven. Switch the oven to grill mode (with NO bottom heating an top heating only) and bake the cake for 3 to 5 mins or until the cake is nicely cooked. Important: Monitor this baking step very closely! You don't want to under-bake or over-bake it and this cake can brown very quickly within a split of seconds!

When done, remove cake (with its baking paper) from the tray immediately and transfer it onto a wire rack to cool. After 5 to 10 mins of cooling, flip the cake onto a clean baking paper and remove the used baking paper at its bottom. Allow the cake to cool completely.

While the cake is cooling, using an electric mixer or a cream whipper, whip cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form.

Spread a thin layer of cream evenly on the chocolate cake base, reserving about 2 to 3 tbsp of cream to coat the chocolate cake later. Roll the cake from the shorter end along the longer side to form a Swiss roll. Wrap in cling wrap and allow the cake to firm up into its shape for about 30 mins in the fridge.

If you are baking the tiger skin in 25 cm x 35 cm, trim it into a smaller size. Then spread the remaining cream onto tiger skin. Wrap the tiger skin around the chocolate roll. Wrap in cling wrap and allow the cake to firm up into its shape for about 3 to 4 hrs in the fridge.

Slice and serve.

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