Martha Stewart's Unconventional Tip For Lighter-Than-Air Swiss Rolls

If you're looking for baking and entertaining tips that will help you elevate everything you attempt with a little more finesse, look no further than doyenne of all things culinary, Martha Stewart. Whether it's tips on how to bake the fluffiest baked potato or how to make the lightest scrambled eggs, Stewart has a technique that will get you there. Keeping it light is somewhat of a perennial trick for Stewart, who offers a baking hack for achieving airy Swiss rolls by substituting half of the dry flour component with cornstarch.

While most people simply use cake flour for sponge cakes (Swiss rolls have a sponge cake base), Stewart suggests using half all purpose flour and half cornstarch. In a video on her YouTube channel, Stewart shared that her mother used cake flour, but she finds the combination of all purpose flour and cornstarch produces the lightest resulting sponge. Cornstarch is actually quite a workhorse in the kitchen. Beyond lightening batters, it crisps waffle batter and roasted vegetables, and even stabilizes whipped cream and prevents cookies from spreading. Stewart also advocates gently transferring the batter to the pan and smoothing lightly with a spatula for an even sponge that retains all of that hard-earned air from the whipping of the egg yolks and egg whites.

If you are a fan of "The Great British Baking Show," you'll know that a cracked Swiss roll is an almost heart-stopping tent faux pas (perhaps only exceeded by the dreaded soggy pie bottom). Starting with Martha Stewart's one-to-one flour cornstarch mix will get you off to a roaring start for a star baker-approved Swiss roll, but in order to avoid the cruel fate of a cracked dessert, there are a few other welcome nuggets that she doles out.

Stewart is a fan of the double sift to keep her Swiss Roll ethereal. This means sifting the all purpose flour and cornstarch together and then doing an additional sift as you incorporate the dry ingredients into the well-whipped egg white and egg yolk mixture. To make your life easier (and seemingly effortless in true Martha style) make sure to employ her timeless baking tips, like spraying measuring cups with nonstick spray and always lining your pan with parchment paper.

In fact, Stewart takes the pan prep to new heights with her Swiss rolls by buttering the sheet pan, then layering with parchment, buttering again, and finally sprinkling with flour (and being careful to tap out any excess). Make sure not to overbake your sponge. Then comes the critical moment: sprinkling with sugar and flipping out onto a clean tea towel sprinkled with flour before the all-important roll. Martha coaxes us to roll the cake gently so as not to create any cracks, and then to leave it to rest and cool (seam side down) before carefully unrolling and adding those luscious fillings.