Beetlejuice Swiss Roll Cake for Halloween

Dessert Recipes, Exotic World Recipes, Recipes from food films and TV

BOO! The cute & adorable Japanese deco Swiss Roll Cake recipe was hijacked this month to create a gousligh Beetlejuice movie themed cake for Halloween.

I am always super excited to present my big main Halloween post each year! And this year, with my goolish Halloween recipe, I got to knock down two skeletons with one big candy (ha ha). This post combines both the October 2016 challenges for Food ‘n Flix and the Daring Kitchen. The movie for Food ‘n Flix was Beetlejuice. The Daring Kitchen challenge was a decorated swiss roll cake. Hence, my evil mind gave birth to the scary themed Beetlejuice Swiss Roll Cake! Do you dare to take a bite?

Beetlejuice the movie

Beetlejuice is a 1988 comedy fantasy film directed by the amazing Tim Burton. The plot in a nut shell: a deceased young couple (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) are stuck as ghosts their former home. The home is purchased by a modern and annoying couple and their teenage goth daughter (Winona Ryder). The ghosts desperately want to get rid of the new owners. They fail in doing so while befriending the daughter who can see the ghosts. The dead couple employ the obnoxious ghost named Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) from the Netherworld to help them in their task. Not a good move, he does not work well with others. Will all the residents find a peaceful ground to live happily together and will they get rid of beetlejuice? Whatch the movie to find out.

If you have not seen this movie already you have been living under a rock. I saw it at the avant premier when I was 14. My BFF of the time had won tickets. It was downtown Montreal and it was the first time my parents let me go alone in the city. But I remember my dad picked us up by car after. By today’s standard the film is super kitch but super fun. There are no real horro moments but there are ‘OMG so gross’ moments. I think the most terrifying part of the movie was seeing the horror of the 80s fashion again. So happy I got to see this film again!

Not a whole lot of food in this movie, these are the edibles, or sort of, I noted: orange juice, coffee, Cantonese, Sechuan, wine, herbal tea, beetles, chicken bone in throat, Zagnut bars, artichokes, salads, bread, rutabaga, shrimp cocktail, Coke, rum, and bananas (Harry Belafonte – “Banana Boat Song – Day O).

Decorated swiss roll cake technique

We were introduced to the Japanese decorated “kawaii” swiss roll cake technique, a popularized trend by the food blogger Junko. Kawaii is defined by the quality of cuteness in the context of Japanese culture. The decorated swill roll concept is based on the French pastry technique called joconde sponge. But the difference here is that one takes a small amount of sponge cake batter to pipe the decorative pattern, which ensures that the pattern and the cake are the same texture so that the cake rolls up with no problem.

The 6 egg sponge cake is very elastic and forgiving for the rolling. The simple syrup also helps by keeping the cake moist and pliable. Care must be taken to not overcook the cake at all or the cake may crack when you roll it. So better to undercook just a bit. My design is free-hand but if you plan on making a precise pattern, make a stencil for piping your pattern on. Keep in mind the image will be mirrored so if you are including writing make sure the words on the stencil are backwards.

UPDATE: whether with a decoration or plain, this has become my go to Swiss roll cake, it is so easy. I even used it to make my Boozy Peaches and Cream Trifle.

October 2016: this Daring Kitchen’s challenge comes to us fromKorena from Korena in the Kitchen. And I am combining this challenge with Food ‘n Flix which is hosted by Deb at Kahakai Kitchen . The cake and filling recipes come from Marjorie, the syrup comes from Korena, and the spun sugar from Natasha.

Be sure to check out my past Halloween posts as well, they are goulish fun!