Mandarin Swiss Roll

Carefully peel the mandarin oranges. If they are ripe, most of the peel should come off easily.

You can then use a set of clean tweezers or the tip of a sharp small knife to remove all the pith from the fruit, so that the segments are uniformly orange in color. It may take a few minutes, but it is a worthwhile effort to reveal the beauty of the fruit.

Once they are fully clean, set aside for now.

Beat the ricotta with the sugar and rum until well blended.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold it into the ricotta mixture.

Fold in most of the mandarin orange segments, leaving a few to garnish the top.

Lightly grease a large baking sheet, and line it with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 400 °F.

Separate the eggs carefully into separate bowls.

Beat the egg yolks with the 3/8 cup of sugar until the mixture is frothy in texture.

In a third bowl, sift together the flour, powdered ginger, salt and baking powder.

Mix the dry ingredients with the egg yolks by the spoonful until well blended.

Beat the egg whites with the remaining 1/8 cup of sugar until they stand in stiff peaks, but are not dry.

Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk/flour mixture carefully until just blended.

Spread the cake batter onto the baking sheet with a spatula or the back of a spoon into a rectangle with an even surface.

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, until set.

Slide the cooled sponge cake onto a clean tea towel carefully.

Sprinkle with a little sugar, and then use the tea towel to roll the sponge cake lengthwise.

Let it cool slightly, but no longer than about 5 minutes.

Carefully unroll the sponge cake.

Spread the mandarin cream onto the cake rectangle, inside the roll.

Roll the cake back up with the tea towel carefully, with the open edges on the bottom. You’ll find that the mandarin pieces will typically settle to the bottom as well.

Place on a platter and refrigerate for about 3 hours. Unroll carefully, and garnish with reserved mandarin slices.