Here we are at week #4 in the Nailed it or Failed it blog series and this little dessert was nothing short of delicious. I'd definitely give this Berry Brazo Gitano a try. After four weeks, I am still on the supersizing of the pastries. This time not with the plating, but with that yummy berry compote.
What Is Berry Brazo Gitano
I love Brazo de Gitano, or Rolled Cake with Cream Filling. It is one of my favorite Spanish desserts and it's just irresistibly good to eat! The dessert is very popular in Spain and many regions have their own versions. Even with multiple iterations, they all seem to follow the basic assembly steps. A soft sponge cake, filled with some jelly, rolled and dusted with powdered sugar.
Even the Best Laid Plans Can Go Awry
What had happened with this recipe from Bachour, was that I made the cake, got it in the sheet pan, and was ready to put it in the oven, and this was the moment that I finally learned a full sheet pan will not fit in my home oven. Dang. Short by a couple of inches. So now what? I have to scramble to find two half sheet pans and pour the batter into those for baking. It's a very delicate cake batter and I was now worried about it falling due to all the movement. But it ended up working out ok.
So I now have half the cake but the full amount of the berry compote. Which as you can see from the comparison images, is quite a bit. And at first I liked it. Strawberries, raspberries, sugar, what's not to like? But what happened over night was the pectin thickened it up so much that the next day it was just a little too thick for my liking. I would have never thought I had a limit to my berry love. So I have scaled down his recipe to work with the home kitchen and just making a standard half sheet pan size of cake. You can also notice that with the smaller pan, we have less cake to work with so I am short about one full wrap of the cake layer. So given the circumstances of working with a home oven, I'll still declare Nailed It!
Ingredients
- Eggs
- All Purpose Flour
- Sugar
- Pectin
- Salt
- Strawberry Puree
- Raspberry Puree
How to Make Fruit Purees
- 1 lb berries, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Wash, dry and stem the strawberries. Wash and dry the raspberries.
- In food processor, mix strawberries, sugar and lemon juice until liquid with pulp.
- To remove the seeds, press through a fine mesh sieve.
- Do the same for the raspberries.
How to Make the Cake Roll
- Whip egg yolks until double in size (2-4 minutes)
- Whip egg whites with sugar to medium peaks (2-4 minutes)
- Fold yolks into the whites, along with salt and flour until smooth
- Spread into the baking pan, and bake for 6-9 minutes. This is a very thin cake.
- Invert the warm cake onto parchment paper dusted with powdered sugar. No time to wait here, you want the cake to still be warm so it doesn't crack when rolling.
- Spread the berry compote over the cake, leaving a 1" border all around.
- Start with the long end and gently roll the cake.
- Freeze the Brazo Gitano until firm.
Go ahead and give this a try. It's a very easy recipe and we would love to see how you do.
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Berry Brazo Gitano
Ingredients
Cake
- 5 large eggs separated
- 5.65 oz sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2.85 oz all purpose flour
Berry Compote
- 4.25 oz strawberry puree
- 1.75 oz raspberry puree
- 2.25 oz sugar
- 4 gram pectin
Raspberry Gel
- 250 gram raspberry puree
- 2.5 gram agar agar
- ¼ cup sugar
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, separtely whip egg yolks until doubled in size.
- Then separately whip egg whites, along with sugar to medium peaks.
- Fold yolks into the whites, along with salt and flour until smooth.
- Pour evenly into a half size sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 6-9 minutes until golden.
Berry Compote
- Heat purees in a small pot to 105° F.
- Stir to combine sugar and pectin in a small bowl and then add to purees.
- Bring to a boil and then set aside to cool completely.
Raspberry Gel
- Bring puree, agar agar and sugar to a boil in a small pot. Refrigerate until cool before processing in a blender until creamy.
Assembly
- Invert cake onto a sheet of parchment paper dusted with confectioner's sugar.
- Peel off top parchment layer and discard.
- Trim any uneven edges with a sharp knife.
- Spread berry compote evenly over the cake, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides.
- Start with the long end, and gently roll cake from one end to the other.
- Freeze until firm before slicing.
- Dust with confectioner's sugar and dot with the raspberry gel before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Check out a few of our favorite berry flavored recipes:
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