Dinner with Friends: Strawberry Cream Roll

So.
I needed a make ahead dessert for when we had friends for dinner.  Something summery.  Something that used things in my cupboards.  I started flipping through my What's Cooking summer magazines and came across this recipe.  A couple of small changes, and I was on my way to a fabulous dessert.
I had never made an angel food cake mix before.  Frankly, I've never made my own angel food cake.  I don't think I'll ever get around to making the cake from scratch.  I'd hate wasting all of those yolks, or I'd end up making ice cream that I don't really need.  The mix was just add water, and put in the pan.  It came out beautifully.
I present to you now a tweaked version of Kraft's Heavenly Strawberry Roll:

Ingredients:

1 angel food cake mix

1/4 cup icing sugar

3 cups fresh strawberries, divided

1 pkg. (4-serving size) Instant Vanilla Pudding

1 cup milk

3 cups thawed Cool Whip 

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a 15x10x1-inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

2.  Prepare cake batter as directed on package; pour into prepared pan. Spread batter to evenly cover bottom of pan. Bake 20 to 22 min. or until top is golden brown and cake springs back when touched lightly in centre. Cool in pan 30 min. Meanwhile, sift icing sugar over clean kitchen towel.
3.  Invert cake onto towel and remove pan. Carefully peel off parchment. Starting at one long side, roll up cake and towel together. Cool completely.

4.  Coarsely chop remaining 2 cups strawberries.  Beat pudding and milk in medium bowl. Refrigerate 5 min. Stir in 1 cup Cool Whip and chopped berries. Unroll cake, remove towel. Spread strawberry mixture over cake, leaving 1-inch border around all sides. Reroll cake; wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour.

5.  Unwrap just before serving; place, seam-side down, on platter. Frost with remaining Cool Whip. Top with remaining berries.

From Kraft Canada

Here's my baked cake.  I love my stoneware bar pan so much for things like this.  It's dark and well seasoned, so I don't need to grease it, and things rise beautifully in it.  I didn't take any pictures of my rolling it in a tea towel with a good layer of icing sugar.  J had never seen a dessert put together like it before, and so was a little surprised when I left a cake rolled in a towel on the counter to cool.

 Here's the cake, cooled.  I didn't use Cool Whip for these pictures.  I've made it both ways.  I bought 500 mL of heavy cream.  I whipped 1/2 c with a little sugar for the filling (I figured that the volume would double while whipping).  I had too much filling.  The cake didn't spiral, as much as wrap *around* the filling, and then I placed it seam side down on the platter.  Filling oozed out the ends.   I scraped the excess back into the bowl with the rest, and J and I ate it with spoons.  It was delicious.

It doesn't really look like it mattered.  I covered the whole thing with plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge until the next day.
They used 2 cups of Cool Whip to ice.  I whipped another cup of cream with a little sugar, and iced the cake before decorating with sliced berries and putting in the fridge until it was time for dessert.

The leftovers were every bit as good as the original night.  It was rich, but not heavy.  Easily 12 servings.  I wouldn't make it a lot, but it's easy and impressive.  I'd also like to try making it with raspberries.  I think the filling would be delicious, and might even be more of a roll.  Yum.