happy new year!

Persians celebrate New Year on the first day of Spring, which I think makes a whole lotta sense.  It's when everything in nature is renewed and comes back to life after some winter hibernation.

So to celebrate Norooz (literally, New-Day in Farsi), we made a delicious and fun Persian dessert called Rollette.  It's a basic log cake that's flavoured with rose water.  Rose water is commonly used in Persian baked goods.

The batter is a sponge cake, so you'll need lots of eggs.  Six to be exact.

The most complicated thing about the cake is the rolling of it.  The trick is to pre-roll it when it's warm, and let it cool like that.  Then un-roll the log, spread the cream filling, and finally re-roll it.  Here's a great video on how to roll your log.

cake spa!

Here's the recipe!

Persian Rollette
adapted from Culture Connoisseur

Cake Ingredients: 
6 eggs (whites and yolks seperated)
6 heaping tablespoons of all purpose flour
6 heaping tablespoons powdered sugar
1 and 1/3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon rosewaterButter (to grease pan)

Creme Ingredients: 
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 heaping tablespoons powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon rosewater
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/4 cup pistachios, medium-fine ground (optional)


Directions


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Crack 6 egg whites into a large bowl and place the yolks in a bowl. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Add egg yolks one at a time, keeping the mixer on high speed until all the yolks have been incorporated.

2. Mix in flour one tablespoon at a time until smooth and fluffy. Mix in powdered sugar one spoonful at a time. Add baking powder, rosewater and vanilla and mix well.

3. Spray a 9x13 cookie sheet with a bit of Pam and place parchment paper on top.  It helps to have the parchment slightly sticking out above the tray.  Spray the parchment paper with Pam and pour in batter. Make sure it sits evenly. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Once cooked, place the pan on a rack and let stand for 5-10 mins.  Sift some powdered sugar over the cake and place a clean dish towel over it.  Flip the cake out of the tray and sift powdered sugar over this side of the cake too.  Roll the cake in the dish towel and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

4. Whip cream with a mixer until frothy. Add powdered sugar and continue mixing until stiff. Carefully unroll the cake once cooled. Fill with half the cream, then re-roll the cake as tightly as you can.

5. Once the cake it filled, cover the rolette with the rest of the cream, and fill in the end holes with cream.  Sift cocoa powder (or sprinkle the ground pistachios) on top for garnish.  Refrigerate for at least 30 mins and serve cold.


Enjoy!