LINGONBERRY JELLY ROLL

      I took this jelly roll recipe from Paul Dean's The Lady and Son's Just Desserts Cook Book, which I borrowed from the library. Aside from a million great desserts that are so easy to make, there are some really great and inspiring personal stories. Apparently Paula Dean was agoraphobic. Can you believe? Paula? But one day she decided to "live her life to the fullest" and thank god she did. What would the world do without the Butter Queen?

     I never made a jelly roll cake before and this seems like a technique that should be learned from Grandma and practiced. Baking the cake was pretty simple. Its a really light and fluffy, butterless cake, meant to let the jam flavor shine. And it only takes 10 minutes to bake. It was the cake rolling that was hard to interpret from the recipe directions. While still warm you have to roll the cake into a lint-free towel sprinkled with powdered sugar, let it cool, unroll, spread the jam, then re-roll. Well it worked out. 

    I used lingonberry jelly in it, which I don't think would be Paula's first choice, but I love lingonberries because they are like exotic cranberries. Lingonberries are tarter than they are sweet, so don't expect a sweet jelly roll cake if you use for lingonberries, but thats the fun, you can use any jelly you want. Mike felt that lingonberry jam was not the best choice because of its tartness, but there is no jelly roll cake left, so I am not too worried about it. It might be fun to do a red velvet roll cake or a black forest roll cake. 

Click here to go to Food Network for Paula Dean's Old South Jelly Roll Cake recipe.

Experiment with fun jams from Beth's Farm Kitchen, who make fig jam, gingered peaches jam, blood orange marmalade and many more.