One of my favourite things to order with a cup of coffee that's especially rich and creamy is a piece of cake that's slightly austere. Sachertorte is one example of that, funnily enough. Another would be Biskuitroulade, whose dry crumb and unthreateningly sweet filling offset the cream in the coffee. Biskuit, something I've mentioned before on this blog, is the building block of so many Austrian cakes and desserts, though here it is very much the featured component. In order to make Biskuit, egg whites and a pinch of salt are beaten until they form stiff peaks, then set aside. In a separate bowl, the yolks are combined with sugar and water (or, for a richer sponge, oil or melted butter) and beaten until light and frothy. Flour is gradually added to the egg mixture, following by the beaten whites, which are folded in to maintain lightness (for the lift, after all, comes from those whites.) Once baked, the Biskuit is turned out onto a piece of baking parchment or a tea towel, spread with apricot marmalade (or it could be any jam so long as it's seedless or has been pushed through a sieve), and, well, rolled up to form a roulade.
In the United States, Biskuitroulade is known as a jelly roll, and in Britain, Swiss roll. This name, however, is a complete misnomer, for the cake has, insofar as I can tell, nothing to do with Switzerland whatsoever. Indeed, Swiss roll or Biskuitroulade (biscuit roulé in French; piškotová roláda in the Czech Republic -- I could go on...) is Austrian in origin, first appearing in cookbooks published here such as the "Allerneuestes Kochbuch für Fleisch= und Fasttäge" (1825) and the "Kochkunst für herrschaftliche und bürgerliche Tafeln" (1828) at the beginning of the nineteenth century. To this day, the recipe remains largely unchanged, with the ingredients list in that 1825 recipe extending only to sugar, eggs, cake flour, lemon zest, and apricot marmalade. And though there may be modern variations thereon -- from chocolate to Nutella to raspberry mousse to ice cream-filled and on and on -- a Biskuitroulade is only ever a true Biskuitroulade if it adheres to that classic recipe.
