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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.
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!
Last Updated on January 19, 2023
Thank you for not sharing my email. I KNOW I WILL LOVE YOUR RECIPES.
Super simple and fun to make!
Dear Dorothy,
The cake roll was my favorite childhood dessert. Taunt Terès (Aunt Teresa) would make an Ancel coconut-filled roll and a condensed milk caramel-filled roll. Though not filled with jelly, we still affectionately called them “jelly rolls.”
Besides reminiscing about childhood, this recipe allowed me to do something I’ve been meaning to do for years–make a homemade lemon curd! For this staple I went to Martha Stewart. I wanted a recipe only using egg yolks for silkiness and vibrant color. The cake part of your roll was very tasty, and though not as tender as my aunt’s, that actually made it easier to handle & eat. No way I’m gonna eat a jelly roll with a plate & fork, not today! I had no whipping cream for the filling so I used a little bit of sour cream and cream cheese. They were simply divine. Thank you!
This is delicious!! Very lemony, just the way I like my lemon desserts! The only think I changed was to line my pan with parchment instead of foil. I sprayed the pan with cooking spray, laid down the parchment and then sprayed the parchment. Works like a charm every single time! Thanks for a great recipe!!
Can you use a cake mix?
No, because a cake roll calls for a very specific type of batter that makes it easy to roll up. This is super simple as written (and delicious!!). Give it a try! 🙂
SO beautiful,SO delicious and SO photogenic as well. I can’t say enough about this WONDERFUL recipe!
Hi I just made the sponge cake & followed all instructions however when I came to unroll the kitchen towel & release the roll, it all cracked & broke to pieces. It had become too hard like cookie. What did I do wrong & how can I fix it??
How long did you bake it? If it was hard like a cookie it was either baked too long or you used too much flour. Can you get the filling to hold it together? If so, you can even try and make layers instead of rolling it, and then frost the outside. Or make it into a trifle with layers of cake and whipped cream!
HI Dorothy. Can you substitute a white cake mix for the Devils food in the link above? I would like to use a white cake mix and put the lemon cream in it. Thanks.
Yes you can! Enjoy!
Some day I will learn how to make a jelli roll with a cake mix and have it turn out. I used your information to make mine but also added in cream cheese to my lemon whipped cream. It tastes awesome. My cake roll though cracked quite awesomely.
You can using this recipe: https://www.crazyforcrust.com/2013/03/chocolate-caramel-turtle-cake-roll/ – the trick is that you can’t use the entire cake mix!
Just made this for my niece’s birthday, it was a hit and easy to make!
If you have time to freeze it beforehand, slice and plate while still frozen, you’ll be glad you did! Recipe is a keeper!
Glad you liked it!
Lemon rolls are a common bakery item here in Germany. I don’t know how your’s stacks up to the ones here but I’m willing to bet it’s really great! If you want to see what the lemon rolls look like, just type zitronenrolle into google. Usually there is lots of lemon cream. I never liked lemon desserts before this cake…
When I move back to the States I’ll need to try out your recipe. 🙂
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