Polka Dot Pattern Painted Cake Roll
A sponge cake roll decorated with pink polka dots — the classic base recipe for patterned roll cakes.
Ingredients
Decoration batter - unsalted butter (room temperature)
25 g
Decoration batter - salad oil
1/2 tsp
Decoration batter - powdered sugar
20 g
Decoration batter - egg white
15 g
Decoration batter - cake flour
25 g
Food coloring liquid (pink) (add in small batches)
a pinch
Sponge cake - cake flour (sifted twice with cornstarch)
30 g
Sponge cake - cornstarch
10 g
Sponge cake - unsalted butter (melted over a bain-marie and set aside)
15 g
Sponge cake - milk (heated over a bain-marie with butter)
10 ml
Sponge cake - whole eggs (M size, about 50g each, brought to room temperature)
3
Sponge cake - glucose syrup
15 g
Sponge cake - fine granulated sugar
45 g
Whipped cream filling - heavy cream (40-45% milk fat, animal-based preferred)
200 ml
Whipped cream filling - fine granulated sugar
18 g
Instructions
1
Preparation
Bring the butter and eggs to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the polka dot pattern template paper on the baking tray. Prepare parchment paper 3 cm larger than the tray on each side, cut three notches at each of the four corners, lay it flat over the template, and secure with clips.
2
Make the decoration batter
Place the unsalted butter and salad oil in a stainless steel bowl and heat over a bain-marie until mayonnaise-like. Add the powdered sugar and mix thoroughly, reheating over the bain-marie as needed to prevent separation. Add the egg white in small amounts, sift in the cake flour, and mix thoroughly. Add the pink food coloring in small batches to tint, then transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a 2 mm round piping tip.
3
Pipe the polka dot pattern
Pipe the pink decoration batter into polka dots following the template, keeping the thickness even at about 2 mm. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes until set.
4
Whip the eggs
Add the whole eggs, glucose syrup, and fine sugar to a stainless steel bowl and stir gently. Heat over low flame on the stove, stirring, until reaching 40-43°C, then remove from heat. Whip with a hand mixer on high speed until sticky and glossy, switch to low speed, and beat until the batter falls in slow trails.
5
Add the dry ingredients
Add the sifted dry ingredients to the batter in 5-6 batches, using a rubber spatula to fold from the bottom while rotating the bowl. Once fully incorporated, gently fold about 20 more times until even.
6
Add the butter
Add about two scoops of batter to the melted butter and mix well, then pour onto the rubber spatula and fold into the batter in small amounts. Gently fold about 40-50 times until even; the batter should fall in slow ribbons.
7
Bake
Remove the polka dot decoration from the refrigerator and slowly pour the sponge cake batter over it. Adjust to level the batter evenly on all sides, then tap the bottom of the tray gently with your palm to release large air bubbles. Place in the preheated 200°C oven, lower the temperature to 180°C, and bake for 13 minutes.
8
Cool after baking
Drop the baked cake from about 20 cm height onto the table to prevent shrinking. Remove from the mold onto a clean cutting board, flip it over and carefully peel off the parchment paper, then let rest for 10-15 minutes so the surface dries and cools.
9
Make the whipped cream filling
Place the heavy cream and fine sugar in a stainless steel bowl set over another bowl filled with ice water. Whip with a hand mixer on high power, then switch to low and beat to 80% stiff peaks, and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1.5 cm round piping tip.
10
Prepare the cake for rolling
Cover the decorated side with parchment paper, flip over, and remove the covering paper. Cut a straight edge at the top and a slanted edge at the bottom. Make shallow cuts at about 1.5 cm intervals across the cake surface.
11
Pipe the filling and roll
Pipe a thin layer of whipped cream at the front end to level it. At 7 cm from the front, pipe 4, 3, then 2 straight lines of whipped cream in sequence. Lift the front parchment paper and slowly roll toward the center, then lift the back parchment paper and roll toward the middle so the two ends meet. Wrap with parchment paper and use a ruler to press inward and tighten the roll.
12
Chill and cut
Spread whipped cream on both ends to fill any gaps, wrap with parchment paper and then plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Warm a knife with hot water and dry it, then trim off both ends of the cake.
