Baking with Olivia and Caroline

This one’s not just perfect for the holidays, but for Libby, this one is all about nostalgia.

Ingredients:

Cake
4 egg whites at room temperature
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup sugar
4 egg yolks at room temperature
¼ cup flour
½ cup walnuts

Whipped cream
1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs powdered sugar

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375° degrees.

Beat the egg whites with the salt and vanilla until soft peaks form, then gradually beat in the sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon colored. Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites; carefully fold in the flour and nuts (a wire whisk works great for this).

Line the bottom and sides of a 15 ½ x 10 ½ inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Spread the batter evenly into the pan and bake at 375° for 12 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool for 5 minutes. Loosen the sides of the cake and turn out onto a towel lightly sprinkled with sifted powdered sugar. Gently peel off the paper and cool to lukewarm. Starting at the narrow end, roll the cake and the towel together and cool on a rack. Unroll the cake and spread with sweetened whipped cream; reroll and chill. We usually make a bit more whipped cream to either “frost” the cake or decorate it. It’s not necessary, your choice!

Feeling nostalgic
When I think of walnut cream roll, I think of my late sister, Jean. The holidays were always a lot of fun, and we usually had a decent crowd: 20-25 people seemed to be the norm for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. One Christmas, my sister stated that she would like to bring the dessert and asked if I was planning on making the traditional walnut cream roll. I said I was, but with everything else I was preparing, I was happy to pass the task on to her.

I couldn’t wait for dinner to end for two reasons. One, dessert and the other being it meant it was time to break out the board games. The dessert! Well, the walnut cream roll looked just like it should, but it tasted a little, let’s say, odd! The cake was perfect, the whipped cream not so much. I believe it was my uncle who first brought up the texture of the whipped cream. We all kind of looked around at each other thinking something wasn’t quite right. Jean could sense that something was strange about the taste and the texture. She was sitting right next to me and said, “You make your whipped cream with cornstarch, right?”

As soon as the words came out of her mouth and before I could respond she burst out laughing. “Cornstarch! What the heck was I thinking?” The entire table also broke out into laughter.

From there, the laughter continued as we played Pictionary and Balderdash for hours. It was always the ladies against the men. Wow, did those guys cheat! Which, looking back, they had to because we always kicked their butts in whatever game we challenged them to! I miss those days, and I miss my sister for her quirky and funny ways. Remember, she’s the one that added peanut butter and cherries to her sweet & sour meatballs!

Happy holidays and as always, enjoy!

Olivia and Caroline are enthusiastic foodies and bakers who are constantly in the kitchen, as well as explorers who create their own adventures in our area – and did we mention they are mother and daughter? Follow Olivia on Instagram to see her many creations at @oliviawvalentine.