Thai Tea Boba Swiss Roll
Delicate sponge cake bursting with Thai tea flavor, rich and tangy salted cream cheese filling, topped with delicious brown sugar boba. Your favorite drink just became your favorite dessert.
A summer or two ago we were in Seattle and we stopped at a little drive-thru coffee shop. On the side of the building was a poster advertising something called “salty cheese foam.” Now maybe it’s just me, but that sounded terrible. So of course I wasn’t gonna order that. But then, this little part of my brain started nagging at me, like “why would they make that? Why would they go to the trouble of advertising something as gross-sounding as salty cheese foam, if it wasn’t actually good?” I just couldn’t rationalize it. By the time we got to the window, my curiosity had me by the throat, so I ordered it. And reader…it was good. It was really good. Creamy and tangy and salty. Just the perfect compliment to a beverage. So I urge you to take a leap of faith, as I did, with the filling in this recipe. Order the salty cheese foam.
Servings: 8 to 10 | Prep Time: 1 h 40 m | Cook Time: 12 to 14 m | Chill Time: 1 h
Heavy-bottomed saucepans
Fine-mesh sieve
12” x 16” jelly roll pan / Large baking sheet
Hand-mixer / Stand-mixer
Offset spatula
Towel
Small piping bag
Large star piping tip
Candy thermometer
Thai Tea Sponge Cake:
½ cup whole milk
2 tbsp Thai Tea mix (I used Pantai)
1 cup flour, sifted
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
4 large eggs, room temp
⅔ cup sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
Salted Cream Cheese Filling:
1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream, cold
⅔ cup sugar, divided
1 (8 oz) block cream cheese, room temp
¾ tsp fine sea salt
Brown Sugar Boba:
½ cup dark brown sugar
¼ tsp corn syrup
¼ cup water
¼ cup black sugar tapioca pearls (I used Wufuyuan)
Thai Tea Sponge Cake (40 minutes + 12 to 14 minutes baking)
In a small saucepan, warm the milk over medium-low heat until it just starts to simmer.
Reduce stove to low and add the Thai Tea blend directly to the milk. Let steep, without boiling, for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and strain the tea with a fine-mesh sieve. Set the infused milk aside to cool completely.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line a 12” x 16” jelly roll pan, or large rimmed baking sheet, with parchment paper and set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, with a hand-mixer or stand-mixer, whisk the eggs on high until foamy and mixture has doubled in size.
While whisking, gradually add the sugar a tablespoon at a time.
Continue whisking until mixture is pale and thick. The mixture should fall slowly, but steadily, off a spoon, so that you can create a figure eight with the batter before it disappears.
In a glass measuring cup, whisk together the infused milk, oil, vinegar, and vanilla and gradually pour into the egg mixture while whisking.
Gently fold in the flour mixture.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly with an offset spatula.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until lightly golden and springy.
Lay a towel a little bigger than the cake onto a flat work surface.
Cover the surface of the cake with sifted powdered sugar and flip it out onto the towel.
Remove the parchment and, working quickly, tightly roll the cake up from the short side, with the towel inside.
Set aside to cool completely.
Salted Cream Cheese Filling (10 minutes)
In a large bowl, with a hand-mixer or stand-mixer, whisk the cream and ⅓ cup sugar together on high speed, until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, remaining ⅓ cup sugar, and sea salt until creamy.
Gently fold the cream cheese mixture, in several batches, into the whipped cream until fully combined.
Transfer about 1 cup of the cream cheese filling to a small piping bag fitted with a large star tip. This will be for decorating the top of the cake. Chill in the fridge until needed.
Set the rest aside.
Assembly (10 minutes + 1 hour chilling)
Unroll the cooled cake and spread the salted cream cheese filling over the surface with an offset spatula, leaving about ½” border on the long sides.
Roll up the cake, carefully peeling off the towel, and transfer to the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour.
Brown Sugar Boba (30 minutes)
Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, and water in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat.
Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and attach a candy thermometer to the pan.
Let the mixture simmer until the temperature reaches 235° F, about 15 minutes. Remember to be very careful whenever working with hot sugar!
Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.
Boil the boba according to instructions and let cool slightly.
Strain out as much water as possible, then add the boba to the room temperature brown sugar syrup. Set aside.
Assembly Cont’d (10 minutes)
Remove the cake from the fridge and cut off the ends of the roll so they’re neat.
Pipe some swirls of the reserved salted cream cheese on top of the cake.
With the back of an offset spatula, create a channel in the cream cheese topping for the boba to sit.
Carefully spoon the brown sugar boba into the channel.
Serve immediately. The boba is best eaten within a few hours and will harden in the fridge, but leftover cake may be stored covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Enjoy!
Be sure to check out my Best Practices page for tips on how to make this recipe yourself. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions and feel free to tag me on Instagram @made.by.shade if you make it!
-Shade