We’re back again in my “25 Bakes of Christmas” series with another fun and festive treat! This time we have cake… but in a new shape! My Christmas Cake Roll is bright and cheery and perfect for any of your upcoming holiday gatherings with that colorful swirl.

There’s a little trick to getting it right, so I’ve shared my go-to recipe, my tips and tricks, as well as troubleshooting your cake roll process along the way. My How to make a Christmas roll cake is below with everything you’ll need to successfully make a cake roll.

CAKE WITH A TWIST

I originally posted this recipe and tutorial with my RAINBOW ROLL CAKE, but with this video going viral again on Instagram (the OG was posted by me last year), I thought it deserved it’s own post here on Baking with Blondie.

Instead of stacking cake rounds, crumb coating, and frosting an entire cake, I love how this Christmas Cake Roll still uses the same recipes (sharing the details on that below), but we’re literally twisting up the cake in a gorgeous swirl shape instead.

RECIPE FOR THE CHRISTMAS CAKE ROLL

My recipe is actually the same exact one I’ve already shared with my Vanilla Cake & Vanilla Buttercream recipe HERE. The ingredients are pretty simple, and most of them you’ll already have in your pantry!

  1. Buttermilk – If you don’t have buttermilk, you can actually make your own by adding lemon juice or vinegar to whole milk and let it sit for a half hour to curdle.
  2. Sour cream – I always use the full fat sour cream. You can sub in Greek yogurt if you’d like here, too.
  3. Vanilla – regular or Mexican vanilla will be fine here. I save my more expensive/pure stuff for my buttercream.
  4. Eggs – Four egg whites are needed for this one. I always use large eggs, and save the yolks for a curd, custard, or adding to my boy’s breakfast scrambled eggs.
  5. Vegetable oil – this cake is super light and fluffy, and that’s because it’s an oil based cake! If this were a layered cake, sometimes I get away with subbing in melted butter. But for this particular recipe/roll, I would stick with the oil.
  6. White Cake Mix – I prefer the taste and texture of Duncan Hines, but anything similar will do just fine, too.
  7. Red & Green food gel coloring – I love using Americolor ones for their bright hues. You only need one or two drops per half (half is red, half is green). Here’s a link to the green gel, and here’s a link to the red one.

I use my vanilla buttercream for the center swirl of the cake, and the recipe is here.

HOW TO MAKE A CHRISTMAS CAKE ROLL:

Step 1: Make a batch of my white cake batter (recipe is below). Split the batter into two colors in two different bowls. I used Americolor color gels for this step. Add the colored cake batter to your piping bags. Tip: I didn’t snip off the tip of the piping bags until right before I piped the colors onto the cookie sheet. Cake batter is always a tad runny, so anything to keep the mess to a minimum.

Step 2: Prep your cookie sheet (I prefer these large “jelly roll” light colored pans) with a swipe of shortening and a dust of flour. This step is essential to getting your cake to flip out of your cookie sheet after baking. The neater the cake roll batter is, the neater your stripes will be.

Step 3: Pipe your cake batter stripes into your pan. This was all fun and games until I got to the end – you want to make sure you’ve paced yourself on the stripes so you don’t run out of any colors before you finish covering your entire sheet! Pipe the colors thin, and then you can add more later if you happen to have any leftover. Tap your baking sheet on the counter, then place it into the oven.

Step 4: Bake at 325 convection bake for 17 minutes, or until it’s finished baking through.

STEPS FOR ROLLING THE CAKE ROLL

Here comes the fun part!

Step 5: Let cool on the counter for about 2-4 minutes. It doesn’t need long, but this cake is pretty soft and spongy. It’s ready to roll, but you need to let it build up a little tolerance for moving around before you actually roll it. A lot of bakers have different opinions about what to do next, so find which way works for you and go for it. For me, this way is what worked in my kitchen.

Step 6: Flip cake out onto a floured fabric napkin OR regular parchment paper. The flour keeps it from sticking for the fabric version, and the fabric rolls well with the cake. The parchment paper is easier to roll with, so it’s up to you. Place ANOTHER floured fabric napkin on top of the cake. Carefully roll it up (not with the longer side, but with the shorter side of your rectangle) and let it cool in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

Step 7: Next, unroll it carefully. If there are cracks, it’s not the end of the world. But that usually means we didn’t hit the sweet spot when it comes to rolling it up (it’s hard to control factors in everyone’s kitchens such as temperature, etc, which is important to a cake roll). Just roll with it! After you’ve unrolled it carefully, spread on a layer of buttercream (My recipe is linked below). I’ve noticed using a cookie scoop to scoop on the buttercream and then smearing it on with an offset icing spatula works best, then roll it back up. Wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the freezer for 1 hour, or fridge for a few hours until it’s hard. You want to work with a very chilled cake.

Step 8: Slice with a hot knife and cold cake for neater slices. Each swirl will be similar, but have a different look to them, if that makes sense! It’s all part of the fun – seeing what it looks like when you finally get to slice into it.

HOW TO CUT A CAKE ROLL:

Cutting the cake roll is pretty easy – they key is to make sure the cake roll is cold, that you have a sharp knife, and also making sure to dip the knife in hot water before slicing.

TIP:  If you’re not eating the cake roll slices right away, I love to wrap them up individually in plastic wrap to freeze or share with friends, family, and neighbors.

TROUBLESHOOT CAKE ROLL ISSUES:

I’ll be the first to admit that making a cake roll isn’t always fool proof. Sometimes things happen, and that okay! It’s like making macarons. It’s all about the process and learning each and every time I make them. Here’s some common issues that happen when cake rolls fail:

  1. Cake Roll Cracked – this means you wrapped it up too tightly, wrapped it up when it cooled too much, or let it sit too long before unrolling it.
  2. Cake Roll Isn’t a spiral shape – this means that you didn’t spread the buttercream evenly or curl the cake into a tight enough spiral when rolling it up.
  3. Cake Roll Melted or buttercream is gooping out the sides – Your cake was still too warm when you unwrapped it and spread on the buttercream.
  4. Cake Roll Crumbled – Overmixed the batter, let it bake too long, let it cool too long.
  5. Cake Roll is sticking to the parchment paper or towel – You rolled up the cake too tightly or when it was still too hot. The condensation made the outside stick to the surface of the wrap.
  6. Cake Roll doesn’t have neat slices/crumbles – Make sure to use a hot/sharp knife and cut the cake roll when it’s cold.

Here’s a video of the process:

That’s it! I can’t wait to see more of your Christmas Cake Rolls – if you make a Baking with Blondie inspired bake, I’d love to see it! Make sure to tag me @bakingwithblondie, TikTok, Youtube, or Facebook so I can join in on all the fun.

As always,

Happy Baking!

Xo,

Mandy