A simple vanilla roll cake with red and green dots and spirals of creamy buttercream is the perfect dessert for Christmas parties.
This spiral cake has always caught my attention. Although it carries different names depending from country to country, I find roll cakes prettier than a layer cake. Plus, not to mention they are so much easier to make. My love for roll cake grew with every roulade (that’s how we call it in Romania) my mom made, mostly around the holidays.
Last year I made a gingerbread roll cake and few weeks ago I made a pumpkin roll cake. I wanted to make a new one for this Christmasbut I wasn’t sure what flavor to pick until I found the red & green batter bits. I knew right then I wanted a simple vanilla cake filled with creamy buttercream with lots and lots of Christmas sprinkles.
If you’ve never made a roll cake, it’s time to change that. You should not be afraid, just follow few simple steps and in no time you’ll have the most beautiful swirl cake.The secret to roll cakes is beating the egg yolks until light yellow and thickened. That should take around 3 minutes on high-speed or around 5 on medium speed.
The secret to the creamy buttercream is to whip the butter first before adding the powder sugar to it and whip on medium speed for 2 minutes once all the sugar is incorporated. Doing so, you’ll have a light buttercream way better than the store-bought ones.
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Christmas vanilla roll cake recipe
Roxana
Yields one roll cake
A simple vanilla roll cake with red and green dots and spirals of creamy buttercream is the perfect dessert for Christmas parties.
15 minPrep Time
7 minCook Time
3 hrTotal Time
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Ingredients
Vanilla Roll Cake
- 2 eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup (30 grams) sifted cake flour
- 3 tablespoons (30 grams) cornstarch
- 1/4 cup red & green Wilton batter bits or edible confetti
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Vanilla Buttercream
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 3 cups (360 grams) powdered sugar
- 3-4 tbsp red & green sprinkles
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-3 teaspoons heavy cream
Decorations
- 4 oz white chocolate
- red & green sprinkles
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 450F.
- Line a 17X12 jelly/sheet pan with parchment paper . Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl add the 2 eggs, 3 egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar. With the paddle attachment on, beat on medium to high speed around 5 minutes until pale in color and thickened. Add the vanilla extract and beat few more seconds.
- Sift the flour and the cornstarch over the egg yolks mixture and with a spatula gently fold it in.
- Fold in the batter bits as well.
- In a separate grease-free bowl, add the 2 egg whites and 1 tablespoon of sugar. With a whisk, whip until firm peaks form.
- With the spatula, fold the whipped egg whites into the egg yolks mixture.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan, spread it evenly and bake for 6-7 minutes until golden brown and, when touched, it springs back.
- As soon as you remove the cake from the oven sprinkle with powder sugar and then invert the cake onto a clean dish towel. Remove the parchment paper, sprinkle with more powder sugar, and roll up the cake with the towel. Place on a wire rack to cool
Vanilla buttercream
- In a clean bowl add the butter. With the whisk attached on to the the mixer whip the butter for 2-3 minutes on medium to high speed.
- Lower the speed and slowly add the sugar, 1/2 cup at a time.
- When all the sugar is incorporated increase the speed and whip for 2 more minutes.
- Add few drops of heavy cream until it reaches the consistency you desire.
- With a spatula fold in the sprinkles.
- Gently unroll the cake and spread the buttercream evenly all over it.
- Roll it again and place in the fridge for a couple of hours.
- To decorate, melt the white chocolate in double boiler or microwave and pour it over the cake. Add Add more sprinkles (optional)
- Let the chocolate settle for few minutes and slice the cake.
Notes
If you can't find the batter bits, you can use Christmas edible confetti instead. They will not bleed while baking the cake.
7.6.8
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Roxana Yawgel http://atreatsaffair.com/ All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.
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Roxana
FAQs
Christmas cake is a type of cake, often fruitcake, served at Christmas time in many countries.
How to use ready to roll icing on a Christmas cake? ›
To cover in ready-to-roll icing start by dusting the work surface and rolling pin again with icing sugar. Take some ready-to-roll icing, which has been kneaded to make it more pliable and dust that with icing sugar too. Repeat the same rolling process used for the marzipan until the icing is about 1/2cm thick.
What is the trick to making a Swiss roll? ›
Use oil instead of butter.
That's because oil is liquid at room temperature so the sponge will stay flexible even when it cools down. Butter is firm at room temperature so when it cools it will harden and make the sponge more susceptible to cracking as you roll it. This cake rolls so easily!
Do you roll swiss roll hot or cold? ›
Starting at the shorter edge of the cake, roll the cake and greaseproof paper up together, making sure that it is especially tight at the beginning. It's important that the cake is warm so it can set in the right shape. If it's too cold, it won't roll properly. Once rolled, leave it to cool completely.
How long before Christmas should you start making Christmas cake? ›
Some say you should make your Christmas cake 6 weeks before eating, but the advice given on Nigella.com is that 12 weeks before is the optimum time to get baking. Your Christmas cake should be fed every 4 to 6 weeks but in the meantime, after baking, it should be stored away in a secure, air tight container.
What is the oldest Christmas cake? ›
Christmas 1878
A woman named Fidelia Ford made it an annual tradition to bake a fruitcake ahead of the holidays. However, Fidelia preferred to let her fruitcakes age for one year before serving it at family gatherings. Unfortunately, Fidelia passed away at age 65 before she was able to cut into her fruitcake from 1878.
Does Ready to Roll icing harden? ›
Our answer. Unfortunately rolled fondant icing (ready to roll icing) does dry out once it comes into contact with the air and will not store indefinitely once opened but we have a couple of tips to hopefully keep it usable for 3-4 weeks.
What type of icing is ready to roll? ›
Here in the UK Sugar Paste is often called Fontant Icing, Sugarpaste, or Rolled Icing and these are all exactly the same. Sugar Paste is a sweet tasting, soft, malleable icing which is easy to roll out – it has a lovely consistency, which is rather like Play-Doh.
Can you put ready to roll icing straight on a cake? ›
Smooth over the top of the cake with the palm of your hand, then gently around the top edges of the cake. A cake turntable may help in smoothing the icing around the side of the cake. If you have any pleats, gently pull these out and smooth down with the palm of your hand, one at a time.
Why does my Swiss roll taste rubbery? ›
This happens when you are not gentle enough when folding the dry ingredients into the wet. A genoise sponge requires very gentle and slow folding. You need to preserve as much air in the batter as possible, otherwise it can become rubbery.
A Swiss roll, jelly roll (United States), roll cake, cream roll, roulade or Swiss log is a type of rolled sponge cake filled with whipped cream, jam, icing, or any type of filling.
Why did my cake, roll fall apart? ›
The cake was under-baked: The cake will be very moist and difficult to handle. With the whipped cream it may have too much moisture and will fall apart easily. The cake was over-baked: If over-baked the cake will be a lot drier and more prone to cracks. A crack in your roll can cause the swiss roll to fall apart.
What's the difference between a Yule log and a Swiss roll? ›
While both desserts feature a thin layer of cake and fluffy filling rolled into a log, the difference between a yule log and a Swiss roll is how the two are decorated. Swiss rolls are typically kept plain while yule logs are cut, frosted, and adorned to look like, well, logs!
How to roll a Swiss roll without it cracking? ›
Score a line along the bottom of the sponge, approximately 2.5cm away from the edge. Don't cut all the way through. Using the line scored, roll the sponge up tightly and leave to cool completely. When the sponge is cool, unroll it gently.
Can you use parchment paper to roll a cake? ›
Trick for Making Cake Rolls
No flipping the cake out onto a powdered sugar covered towel. It's too tricky and messy that way. With parchment paper you can roll it up right inside which significantly decreases the amount of mess and stress! Plus it peels right off!
What is a German fruitcake called? ›
German Fruitcake
Stollen: Flattened with a chewy crust, Stollen is often baked more like a traditional loaf of sourdough bread. Stollen also forgoes the usual candied cherries and pineapple in exchange for citrus zest, candied citrus peels, raisins, and almonds.
Is the Christmas cake called plum cake? ›
It was around this time that the custom of cooking and eating a special porridge on Christmas Eve started. This porridge is supposed to have consisted of oats, dried fruits, spices, honey, and even meat (not always, though), and would over the centuries be transformed into what we know as the plum cake today.
Is Christmas cake and fruitcake the same thing? ›
Christmas cake and fruitcake often refer to the same thing: a cake with lots of candied dried fruits in them, a spicy-sweet flavor profile, and the presence of an alcohol such as rum.
What is the name of the Italian Christmas cake What is it made of? ›
Panettone
Starting off with Italy's most well known Christmas treat, Panettone is a cross between a cake and sweet bread and is filled with almonds and dried fruit. Originally invented in Milan in the 15th century and served at feasts due to its hard-to-procure ingredients.
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