1870 to 1899 Cake #9

American Jelly Roll

In the late 1800's most people did not have custom baking pans to make cakes in so they had to be resourceful with what they had. To make the jelly roll, the batter was just poured into a roasting pan called a dripping pan. Cakes with layers and jelly filling had been around for awhile already, but in the 1800's cooks began making jelly cake in one large pan. This was popular for feeding large families or workers on a farm. It is believed that one day someone got creative and tried rolling the cake to make it more interesting and voila the Jelly Roll was invented! Fannie Farmer included a Jelly Roll recipe in her 1896 book. This cake became very popular due to its simple ingredients(thrifty) and stylish appearance.

Interesting Fact: Baking powder companies heralded the jelly roll as a miracle cake, and they sponsored cooking schools where the jelly roll was prepared.

My Experience:

While the batter is simple to prepare and put in the oven, it is not that easy to know exactly the right amount of baking time for the cake to be fully cooked, but not cooked too much so that it doesn't crack when you roll it. When it comes out of the oven you have to quickly loosen the edges and flip it over onto a towel with confectioners sugar on it. You then have to trim the edges and spread the jelly quickly and then attempt to roll the cake up without too much of a mess. If those steps take too long and the cake cools too much that will also cause the cake to crack.

I obviously failed at not cracking the cake! I am not sure if it was overcooked or if I took too long getting everything ready to roll it up and it cooled too much, either way it cracked a lot. With all of the cracks, it looks like a log, so I would just rename this one as The Jelly Log:) It still tasted really good. I took this one to the birthday party that I took the Mahogany Cake to and it was also popular with the group. So cracks or no cracks, this cake had easy ingredients and tasted good!