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Lemon Cake Roll – You all knew it was coming, right? This should be no surprise?
I have been super addicted to lemon. I love cake rolls. The result? A Lemon Cake Roll!
Table of Contents
VIDEO: How to make Lemon Cake Roll
I love my job. My job is super fun. I get to make cookies and cake rolls for lunch. I get paid to make dessert and ramble onto y’all every day. It’s pretty much a dream come true.
Sometimes I look back on my life BB (Before Blogging) and I think about all the things I used to do:
Clean my house.
Enjoy cooking dinner.
Cut Jordan’s sandwiches into hearts.
Decorate for holidays.
Celebrate holidays on time.
Purchase <insert holiday name> gifts more than 2 days before <insert holiday name>.
Not buy butter in bulk.
Now, my house is a mess, Jordan’s lucky if she gets a sandwich at lunch, and the last time I cared about doing something cute for any holiday was about 3 years ago.
And I’m sorry, people shouldn’t complain if they get Easter treats at Valentine’s Day. It’s just how it is.
I think that list doesn’t look much different than any other mom’s list, actually. Except for the butter in bulk. I buy mine in the form of 4- 4 pound packs at Costco. Monthly.
I don’t have to buy lemons in bulk. Those I get from my mother-in-law. Bless her! And you know what you can make with lemons?
A lemon cake roll.
For a more traditional recipe, try my lemon cake!
Cake roll recipes are about as holiday as I get this year, and you know what? I think that’s okay. They’re pretty much perfect for every single one!
This lemon cake roll is super lemon. It’s got a hidden cape and everything.
It starts with a lemon cake. You bake it in a 10×15 inch jelly roll pan. Make sure you line your pan with foil. I’m giving you a tip: spray the pan with the cooking spray that has flour in it. I ran out and it stuck like crazy to the foil, even with regular cooking spray. I usually use the flour kind, and I was kicking myself I ran out. Learn from my mistake!
The trick to a cake roll is to roll it hot. You turn the just baked cake out onto a kitchen towel that’s been sprinkled with a generous amount of powdered sugar. It will get all over you, your walls, and your kids in the other room. It’s just a fact of life.
You can see my photo & video tutorial for a cake roll here. And read my rules for good cake rolls here.
The filing for this lemon cake roll is a lemon whipped cream. You mix lemon curd with some freshly whipped cream and spread it over the cake before rolling it. (You probably have some lemon curd left over from making these lemon cupcakes.) Mixing it gently with the whipped cream makes the whipped cream so good!
The lemon cake roll is spongey and lemony, the filling is light and lemony. This is the perfect lemon cake roll and it’s perfect for holiday dessert.
Luckily, any holiday.
What? You didn’t want Sopapillas at Easter dinner? Well, too bad. 😉
If you’re in love with lemon like me, try a Lemon Snack Cake, Lemon Muffins, Lemon Cake Balls or a Lemon Layer Cake.
Lemon Cake Roll
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) Lemon Juice about 1 medium or 1/2 large
- Zest of one lemon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup (93g) all purpose flour
- Powdered sugar to aid in rolling
Filling:
- 1 cup (237ml) cold heavy whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons (21g) powdered sugar
- ½ cup lemon curd or pie filling would work too
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a jelly roll (10×15”) pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. (Use the spray with flour or actually grease and flour the foil to avoid sticking.)
- Beat eggs at high speed for 2 minutes, until frothy and dark yellow. Beat in sugar, lemon juice, and zest.
- Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Stir into wet ingredients just until blended.
- Spread in prepared pan. Batter will be in a very thin layer and you will need to use a wooden spoon or spatula to spread it to all the corners of the pan. Bake for 9-11 minutes (mine took 10).
- While the cake is baking, set a clean kitchen towel out on a large work surface. Sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar (about 1/4 cup). As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, turn it over on the kitchen towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Remove foil carefully.
- Working at the short end, fold the edge of the towel over the cake. Roll tightly, rolling up the cake into the towel. Let cool completely while rolled, at least one hour.
- While the cake is chilling, make the filling. Beat the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold in the lemon curd. Chill until ready to use.
- When cake is cool, carefully unroll the towel. Spread the lemon whipped cream over the cake. (You might have some whipped cream left over.) Gently but tightly, re-roll the cake and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill until it firms up a bit, at least one hour or overnight. Slice and serve. Cake will last covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Recipe Nutrition
Click here to see the complete list of Lemon Recipes!
Sweets from friends:
Lemon Drop Cheesecake Popsicles by Tatertots and Jello
Lemon Cake with Creamy Filling and Lemon Curd by Shugary Sweets
Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake by Sally’s Baking Addiction
Lemon Chess Bread Pudding by Something Swanky
Or check out my Epic Lemon Round-Up with over 140 recipes!
This lemon jelly roll cake was divine. Yum just doesn’t even describe. We all loved it!!
The filling to this cake is perfect! I used the lemon curd recipe suggested and when folded into the whipped cream, it was delicious. However, I cannot say the same for the cake. As MANY other bakers said, the cake did not rise and came out flatter than a pancake. Definitely something wrong with the batter, as I followed the directions to a T. I would suggest using the filling on top of a pound cake or in cupcakes, or even another lemon roll cake, but for those of you looking at review to see if the recipe actually comes out correctly, please move on!
You may not have mixed the eggs enough. They need to be mixed a full 3 minutes at least so they cause the cake to be fluffy.
Delish! I have made this four times now. Hubby and friends love it. Pair it with a nice Pinot Grigio!
Very spongy thin layer when baked. I used fresh lemons from my tree and I would add some additional lemon flavoring to the recipe the next time. Very easy to handle and a beautiful color.
For those who had trouble rolling, unrolling: use parchment paper or wax paper in your pan in addition to greasing and flouring the pan; it peels much more easily than tin foil! Then heavily powder (with powdered sugar) a thin cotton towel, or better yet: a pillow case, any towel that is smooth and has NO “grab”. After getting it out of the oven, let it sit a minute or two. Then roll it up, with the wax paper still on it. Let it cool, unroll, fill it with whatever you want, then as you roll it back up, peel away the paper. Make sure your roll it back up the same way you had it rolled while it was cooling. Maybe that will help. Cake rolls are so pretty and fun..and can be conquered with a few little tricks!
Our new favorite!!! Can’t wait to make it for the holidays!
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