Lychee & Blueberry White Roll Cake

This week marked the start of a wonderful season - lychee season. Having completely forgotten, I walked to the local fruit stall and, as I did, I saw an abundance of them. Originally, I was hoping to buy some passion fruits for this recipe to go alongside mango, but that all changed.

This is one of many recipes I will post this season to really highlight this amazing fruit. Its wonderful floral aroma, the incredibly juicy flesh and the unique fresh taste leaving you wanting more. I'm more than happy to sit watching something and snack on them until they've disappeared. I do urge you to get them fresh as when they come from a tin, laced with syrup, they lose their wonderful taste. They are readily available in most supermarkets, I can even remember seeing them in Lidl last year in the UK.

Often you find yourself with excess egg whites. It's commonplace as recipes tend to use egg yolks separated. You can use the excess whites in this white roll cake. It comes out superbly light, like a feather. The filling truly compliments it with fresh flavours working together, a little sharpness from the blueberries and subtle flavour of vanilla creeping through.

If you're not brave enough, or simply dislike lychees, this recipe can work perfectly with almost any fruit combination. Follow the link here, for more lychee recipes this season.

Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake
4 egg whites
40g caster sugar
7g cornflour
40ml whole milk
20g rapeseed/ sunflower oil
25g sugar
45g plain flour

Filling
12 whole fresh lychees
50g fresh blueberries
125g cream
15g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract/ essence

Method:

• For the cake, whisk together the milk, the 25g sugar and the oil until combined and the sugar is dissolved. Sift the two flours and add them. Whisk until smooth and mixed together.
• In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites till their fluffy. Slowly add the sugar whisk whisking until peaks.
• Add 1/3 of the egg whites to the flour mix. Fold through carefully and thoroughly. Add this to the remaining egg whites. 
• Fold everything together gently until fully combined. (Do all of this as carefully as possibly so not to loose excess air).
• Spoon onto a lined tray, 25x25cm preferably. (I used a rectangle, hence not the perfect roll). Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Once the cake is slightly springy it's ready. Leave to cool.
• For the filling, peel the lychees, remove the seed and cut the flesh in quarters. 
• Whip the cream till stiff peaks with the sugar and vanilla. Fold through the lychee pieces and the blueberries. 
• Once the cake is cooled, peel away the baking parchment and place back on the reverse side of the parchment. Spread the filling all over the top of the cake. Roll the cake away from you, applying gentle pressure so not to push the filling out. 
• Once rolled leave in a fridge to firm up before serving. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar and any extra berries you may have for this light and refreshing cake.