Jelly Roll Tea Slices

Recently I bought a batch of vintage recipe booklets for a project I'm working on, and one of them was this "Learn to Bake" booklet published by General Foods in 1947. You just never know what you'll come across in these booklets.

This Angel Food Loaf, for instance, looks perfectly hideous. The instructions ought to say this: "Purchase a tube of caulking compound and tint pink with food coloring. Slice wedge from top of rectangular angel food cake, squirt gun full of pink caulking compound, add slices of the wedge and voila, you're done!" (OK, maybe that's a little harsh, but that's what it looks like to me!)

Much more palatable was this photo of Minikin Jelly Rolls. I was already interested when I saw …

… these instructions for "Jelly Roll Tea Slices."

Can you believe I've never made a jelly roll before? I was always too intimidated, but these directions sounded so simple, and I had success with my first try! If you care to try these small (5-inch) jelly rolls, here's how to make them as I did, substituting lemon curd for red jelly.

Minikin Jelly Rolls

1/2 cup sifted Swans Down Cake Flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Lemon curd

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift flour once and set aside. Combine baking powder, salt and eggs in a mixing bowl. Beat rapidly with wire whisk, slowly adding the sugar until mixture becomes thick and light in color. Gradually add flour, then the vanilla. Pour batter into a 15 x 10-inch pan lined with parchment paper and then sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes. As soon as you remove the cake from the oven, turn it out onto a tea towel dusted with powdered sugar and remove the parchment paper. Cut lengthwise, then crosswise twice, giving you six pieces of cake. Spread each slice with lemon curd and roll into individual jelly rolls before allowing to cool completely on wire rack. Yields 6 small jelly rolls.