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Carrot Cake Roll

This Carrot Cake Roll recipe is the perfect spring dessert - a moist and tender carrot sponge cake with cinnamon and spice, filled with a soft and fluffy cream cheese frosting.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, French
Keyword Carrot Cake Roll
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Cooling Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Total Time 2 hours
Servings 12
Calories 359kcal
Author Chrissie Baker

Ingredients

For the frosting:

For serving

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius) and prepare a jelly roll pan by greasing it well and lining the bottom with a piece of parchment paper. It's also a good idea to grease the top of the parchment paper.
  • Cream the room-temperature butter in a mixing bowl with the sugars and vanilla using a hand mixer until the mixture is soft and creamy.
  • Add the eggs one at a time and incorporate them well after each addition.
  • Add the shredded carrots and mix with a spatula.
  • Add the flour, spices, salt and baking powder and mix just until everything is incorporated.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared jelly roll pan and spread it out to the edges being careful to spread the batter as evenly as possible. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius) for about 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
  • As the cake bakes, dust powdered sugar generously over a clean kitchen towel creating a rectangle shape, slightly larger than your jelly roll pan.
  • Immediately after taking the cake out of the oven, line a cooling rack with parchment paper and place it upside down on top of the hot cake before inverting. Invert it again so the cake is face down on top the kitchen towel over the powder sugar. Peel off the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake.
  • Roll the cake with the towel inside the roll as well, from the narrow end while it's hot from the oven. Don't roll it too tightly or aggressively, but the cake should be firmly rolled with no space on the inside of the roll.
  • Let the carrot cake cool, rolled, turning it several times throughout the cooling process so that it keeps a round shape and doesn't flatten on one side only.

For the frosting:

  • Add the room temperature cream cheese to the bowl of your
    stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Whip the cream cheese on medium high speed until it's creamy and smooth.
  • Add the softened butter and the vanilla extract to the cream cheese and continue to whip on medium speed until they're well combined (you might need to scrape down the sides of the bowl at this point).
  • Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing on medium-low speed until it's completely blended and thick. If at this point the frosting is too thick to spread, beat in a tablespoon or two of heavy cream to loosen it up a little bit (add the heavy cream a couple teaspoons at a time just to be sure you don't add too much!).

Assembly:

  • Once the frosting has reached the right consistency and the cake has cooled completely, gently unroll the cake (you don't need to flatten it completely - one end will have a small curl) and frost it with an offset spatula, making sure there's an even layer of frosting and leaving the last 1/2 inch of the cake on the narrow end (the flat end) free of frosting. Add a little bit of extra frosting under the curled up end.
  • Gently roll your cake back up without the towel. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours or pop it in the freezer for 20 minutes to set.

Serving:

  • After the cream cheese frosting has firmed up in the fridge or freezer, remove the plastic wrap, cut 1/4-inch slices from each end of the carrot cake roll and dust the top with powdered sugar.
  • Slice and serve.

Video

Notes

How to store the Carrot Cake Roll?

You can keep it in the fridge in an airtight container for 3-5 days.

How to freeze the Carrot Cake Roll?

You can freeze this cake roll for up to 3 months wrapped well in plastic wrap and placed in a freezer bag, making sure you thaw it in the fridge before serving. After it's thawed, remove any excess moisture with paper towel (if there's any) and dust it with powder sugar. Slice and enjoy!
 

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 359kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 80mg | Sodium: 243mg | Potassium: 150mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 45g | Vitamin A: 4094IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 1mg