Chiffon Roll Cake (GF)
Cake
45ml oil
50ml milk
55g gluten free cake flour*
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites
2 ml lemon juice
teeny pinch of fine salt
45g sugar
(optional) chopped strawberries
Filling
180g powdered sugar
20g powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 320°F and prepare a 9x13 sheet cake pan with parchment paper and cooking oil. Leave excess parchment over the pan so use can use as handles after the cake has come out of the oven.
In a medium sized bowl, sift in cake flour. In a separate, small bowl, whisk oil and milk until emulsified, and then pour in to medium bowl with cake flour and mix into a paste.
Separate egg yolks and whites. Put whites in bowl of stand mixer and the yolks in the bowl with paste. Mix the egg yolks and paste until smooth. Set aside.
Add lemon juice and salt to egg whites and whisk on high until foamy. Continue to whisk while slowly adding sugar. Beat until soft peaks.
Add one scoop of meringue into egg yolk mixture and stir to completely combine. Add another scoop of meringue and fold in with a spatula. Scrape in remaining meringue and fold until no lumps remain. Pour into sheet pan. Tip pan and allow batter to ease into corners. Tap pan lightly to burst any large air bubbles. Bake for 25-27 minutes.
Remove cake from oven and gently lift the cake out using the extra parchment has handles and place on a cooling rack.
While the cake cools, make the filling. Whisk together heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla on high speed until thick and somewhat firm. Keep chilled in fridge until cake it completely cooled and ready to be rolled. If adding strawberries, clean and chop strawberries into small bits and set aside to dry.
Liberally spray a new sheet of parchment with oil and place on top of cooled cake. Flip cake over and remove old parchment (the sheet that went in the oven). Scoop whipped cream on to cake and smooth evenly over surface. If adding strawberries, sprinkle a line of strawberry bits near the beginning of the roll. Roll tight, being careful not to stretch the sponge. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.
*Gluten Free Cake Flour
Makes 88 grams
58g mochiko
19g potato starch
11g tapioca starch/flour
Scroll down for Rose, Chocolate, Bubblegum, Cotton Candy, and Matcha recipes
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These cake rolls are Japanese inspired. I used to get single serve packages from my local asian market back when I didn’t eat gluten free. They were always impossibly soft with just a hint of sweetness. That’s what I have whipped up here using gluten free flours so you and I can enjoy them again! I got really excited when it all started to work out and I made cakes for two weeks straight, just trying out different flavors so I could share them here.
The most important part of the vanilla cake is the skin. It gets such a nice toasty color on the outside, so I did my very best to keep that intact. The trick is to use A LOT of cooking spray on the sheet of parchment that goes on top after baking. That way the paper won’t pull the skin when you wrap it up. With all of the other flavors, they usually have a brightly colored sponge, so those actually look much better without the skin since it end up looking kind of muddy, so you can just skip the oil with those.
So, let me walk you through the process.
If you haven’t already, mix up a batch of gluten free cake flour. My usual go-to flour (Bob’s 1-1) is too heavy and gritty for this type of cake, so you really need the fine stuff. I was so proud of my husband when he guessed each flour after I told him this recipe used the finest, lightest starches. Potato starch and tapioca starch you should be able to get at your grocery store in either the baking section or the gluten free section, and mochiko you can get from your asian market. If you don’t have an asian market nearby, you’re going to have to go amazon style, but I’d really encourage you to check out your asian market first if you have one! Small business and all that. The woman at mine is super nice and always gives me a candy when I come by. This time of year she’s giving out pumpkin candy which is surprisingly delicious.
I don’t have the ratio for the cake flour pieces to make exactly the correct amount for this cake, so you’ll end up having extra. Sorry. Math. This is the first recipe I’ve used this blend for but I expect it’s going to be great for a lot of other recipes. I see a Victoria Sponge in my future. So, don’t be scared to make a double batch and really stock up! Plus, I’ve provided some variations to this cake roll further down so you can try multiple flavors!
Once you have your cake flour ready, weigh out the correct amount into your medium bowl. Nice. Now measure out your milk and oil (I just used canola - I wonder if olive oil would be good?) and whisk them together so they aren’t creepy and separated anymore. I have a tiny measuring cup that I can put both liquids in at once and I just roll the whisk between my palms to mix it. I’ve only spilled greasy milk all over the kitchen once. Add this liquid to your flour and make a smooth paste! (If you are making a flavored variation, I like to add the oil/extract and color gel/paste/drops to this liquid and mix it up here before adding the liquid to the paste)
At this point, I like to have three bowls in front of me. My kitchenaid mixing bowl, my medium sized bowl where the paste is, and a scraps bowl for egg shells. You want to separate the yolks from the whites carefully (if a yolk breaks and gets in the whites, you’re doomed). Whites should go in the kitchenaid bowl for whipping up later, and yolks can go in the medium paste bowl. Mix up that yolky paste. I really like this part. It’s so smooth and bright.
Now it’s time to whip up some meringue. Lock in your bowl and attach the whisk. Dribble in a little lemon and a little (fine grain) salt. The amounts don’t really need to be exact here. I never measure the lemon, I just pour a little into the cap and that’s probably right. It’s just in there to stabilize the meringue and keep it fluffy.
Whip the eggs whites until they become foamy, then, while the machine is still running, slowly add in the sugar. I weigh out the sugar in a small bowl and hold it at an angle over the bowl so it just kind of slowly spills out. Let the egg whites whip up for a couple minutes until they reach soft peaks. For this cake, the wiggle room on the meringue consistency is somewhat wide, but I’d recommend that if you’re going to go one way or the other, I’d go stiffer than softer (it’s better to have your meringue more stiff than bordering on soupy), so don’t be afraid to really let it go.
Once the meringue is all ready, take a big scoop of meringue and plop it into your bowl with egg yolks. With your whisk, really mix the meringue in there so it’s completely incorporated and the batter is smooth. You can get rid of your whisk now. It’s done. With a spatula, take another big scoop and add it to the bowl. This time, you want to fold the meringue in so you don’t loose the airy nature of the meringue. Once that’s smooth, add the remaining meringue and fold again. Really make sure all of the meringue is mixed completely. Any rogue meringue will just be a glob of wet in your cake after it’s baked. We whipped a lot of air in there, so don’t be too afraid to keep folding if you still have lumps.
Your cake pan should be prepped with parchment. I have these rectangular sheets of parchment that I got just for these cakes so they fit in there really nicely. Since they are the correct size for the pan, I actually use two sheets and overlap them a bit in the middle so there’s extra paper poking out either of the pan. That way, after baking I can remove the cake from the pan easily by just lifting with those “handles”. Since the long edges are exposed with this method, I just spray them with a cooking spray. You can spray the bottom too, but I don’t. TBH I don’t know why. It doesn’t matter if you do or don’t really. It’s probably best not to spray if you’re using this two sheet method, otherwise the paper might slip away when you’re trying to lift it out. There ya go.
Pour the cake batter into the pan, scraping the bowl to make sure you got all the good stuff. You can smooth out the batter with a scraper or offset spatula, but I find the easiest thing to do here is to just gently tip the pan around so the batter slides into place. Then, just shake the pan back and forth to level out the top. Tap the pan on your counter a couple times too so you pop and big bubbles. You just want those little guys.
Bake the cake for 27-30 minutes at 320°F. I like to listen to my cakes to make sure they’re done, and I think it’s especially vital for these. When you think it’s ready to come out, just hold the cake up to your ear and listen for the sound of bubbles popping. If you can hear them, then your cake needs more time to cook. If not, it’s done! You don’t want extra moisture in there or the cake will deflate and be a sad squishy lump.
Remove the cake from the oven and let it sit in the pan for a minute before removing (just in case it’s fragile). Lift the cake out with the overlapping parchment and place on a cooling rack. Just leave the parchment on the bottom while it cools. I like to cut off the edges off since it helps later when rolling up the cake, and I think helps the cake cool faster. Who knows if that’s true though. This also means you get free scraps to munch on.
Now it’s time to make the whipped cream filling! I like to use my immersion blender for this part since it comes with an appropriately sized cup and the whisk is SUPER FAST. You can use a bowl and handheld beater, or your kitchenaid, of course. Go ahead and just throw everything in together; heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Then, bzzzzzz whip it up good. I’ve always been really afraid to over whip heavy cream and turn it into butter, but it hasn’t happened yet! And I always end up under whipping it because of that fear. This time though, I really took it to the edge because soupy filling is not going to do it for this cake. You can really get it thick with a lot of texture in there before it goes to butter town, so really go for it! If your cake needs more time to cool down, just set this in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
Once the cake is cool and the filling is ready, you need to flip it. Take a new sheet of parchment and spray the crap out of it with cooking spray. For real, it needs a lot of lubricant or the top of the cake will peel off and it will look so sad. So DO IT. Then, place the parchment, oil side down, on the top of the cake. Flip! The cake it very flexible so don’t stress about this flip too much. It won’t break! Now that the bottom of the cake it on the top, remove this old parchment. Now you have a nice, toasty surface to spread to fill!
Scoop on the whipped cream and spread over the cake surface evenly. I’ve been experimenting a bit with adding a little hump of whipped cream on the end I will start the roll to see if that helps me get a neater spiral in the end. So far the results are inconclusive. Some of the cakes I’ve made roll up with the spiral making a kind of teardrop pattern. I think I just need more practice if I want that perfect swirl.
So, go for it! Roll that cake up. You can just the underside parchment to help lift the cake up, but be gentle so the skin stays intact. As you roll, you also want to peel off the parchment so it doesn’t get tucked up inside. If there’s any whipped cream that has spilled out the end, scoop it up before the roll is complete so it doesn’t get all over the cake in the end and get messy. Woohoo the cake is rolled! You can wrap the cake with the same oiled parchment, or get a new, also extremely well oiled sheet. Move the cake to the fridge for about half and hour before serving! To preserve the cake, you have a couple options. Airtight container, plastic wrap, parchment + plastic wrap. But, whatever you do, make sure that if something is touching the cake (like plastic wrap) it must be oiled so that when it is removed later it will not tear away the skin.
I hope it all goes well for you! This makes for a really great gluten free recipe because there’s not a lot of flour involved. It comes out so light and flexible and actually has some stretch which us gluten free people so rarely get.
If you are interested in trying more flavors of this cake, just scroll down for move options! They are mostly the same recipe, but there are some important changes to bake time and dry ingredients depending on which flavor it is. I’ve highlighted the significant changes in bold so you can easily make those changes. Good luck! I hope you love it!
Rose
45ml oil
50ml milk
1/4 tsp rose water
55g gluten free cake flour*
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites
2 ml lemon juice
teeny pinch of fine salt
45g sugar
Filling
180g powdered sugar
20g powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 320°F and prepare a 9x13 sheet cake pan with parchment paper and cooking oil. Leave excess parchment over the pan so use can use as handles after the cake has come out of the oven.
In a medium sized bowl, sift in cake flour. In a separate, small bowl, whisk oil and milk until emulsified. Add rose water and a small amount of pink coloring and mix. Then pour in to medium bowl with cake flour and mix into a paste.
Separate egg yolks and whites. Put whites in bowl of stand mixer and the yolks in the bowl with paste. Mix the egg yolks and paste until smooth. Set aside.
Add lemon juice and salt to egg whites and whisk on high until foamy. Continue to whisk while slowly adding sugar. Beat until soft peaks.
Add one scoop of meringue into egg yolk mixture and stir to completely combine. Add another scoop of meringue and fold in with a spatula. Scrape in remaining meringue and fold until no lumps remain. Pour into sheet pan. Tip pan and allow batter to ease into corners. Tap pan lightly to burst any large air bubbles. Bake for 27-30 minutes.
Remove cake from oven and gently lift the cake out using the extra parchment has handles and place on a cooling rack.
While the cake cools, make the filling. Whisk together heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla on high speed until thick and somewhat firm. Keep chilled in fridge until cake it completely cooled and ready to be rolled.
Liberally spray a new sheet of parchment with oil and place on top of cooled cake. Flip cake over and remove old parchment (the sheet that went in the oven). Scoop whipped cream on to cake and smooth evenly over surface. Roll tight, being careful not to stretch the sponge. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.
Chocolate
45ml oil
65ml milk
45g gluten free cake flour*
25g cocoa powder
2g instant coffee
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites
2 ml lemon juice
teeny pinch of fine salt
45g sugar
Filling
180g powdered sugar
20g powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 320°F and prepare a 9x13 sheet cake pan with parchment paper and cooking oil. Leave excess parchment over the pan so use can use as handles after the cake has come out of the oven.
In a medium sized bowl, sift in cake flour, cocoa powder, and instant coffee. In a separate, small bowl, whisk oil and milk until emulsified and then pour in to medium bowl with cake flour and mix into a paste.
Separate egg yolks and whites. Put whites in bowl of stand mixer and the yolks in the bowl with paste. Mix the egg yolks and paste until smooth. Set aside.
Add lemon juice and salt to egg whites and whisk on high until foamy. Continue to whisk while slowly adding sugar. Beat until soft peaks.
Add one scoop of meringue into egg yolk mixture and stir to completely combine. Add another scoop of meringue and fold in with a spatula. Scrape in remaining meringue and fold until no lumps remain. Pour into sheet pan. Tip pan and allow batter to ease into corners. Tap pan lightly to burst any large air bubbles. Bake for 27-30 minutes.
Remove cake from oven and gently lift the cake out using the extra parchment has handles and place on a cooling rack.
While the cake cools, make the filling. Whisk together heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla on high speed until thick and somewhat firm. Keep chilled in fridge until cake it completely cooled and ready to be rolled.
Liberally spray a new sheet of parchment with oil and place on top of cooled cake. Flip cake over and remove old parchment (the sheet that went in the oven). Scoop whipped cream on to cake and smooth evenly over surface. Roll tight, being careful not to stretch the sponge. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.
Bubblegum
45ml oil
50ml milk
1/8 tsp bubblegum oil
55g gluten free cake flour*
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites
2 ml lemon juice
teeny pinch of fine salt
45g sugar
Filling
180g powdered sugar
20g powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 320°F and prepare a 9x13 sheet cake pan with parchment paper and cooking oil. Cakes with flavoring oils will stick to the parchment unless you use cooking spray. Leave excess parchment over the pan so use can use as handles after the cake has come out of the oven.
In a medium sized bowl, sift in cake flour. In a separate, small bowl, whisk oil and milk until emulsified. Add bubblegum oil and teal coloring and mix. Then pour in to medium bowl with cake flour and mix into a paste.
Separate egg yolks and whites. Put whites in bowl of stand mixer and the yolks in the bowl with paste. Mix the egg yolks and paste until smooth. Set aside.
Add lemon juice and salt to egg whites and whisk on high until foamy. Continue to whisk while slowly adding sugar. Beat until soft peaks.
Add one scoop of meringue into egg yolk mixture and stir to completely combine. Add another scoop of meringue and fold in with a spatula. Scrape in remaining meringue and fold until no lumps remain. Pour into sheet pan. Tip pan and allow batter to ease into corners. Tap pan lightly to burst any large air bubbles. Bake for 27-30 minutes.
Remove cake from oven and gently lift the cake out using the extra parchment has handles and place on a cooling rack.
While the cake cools, make the filling. Whisk together heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla on high speed until thick and somewhat firm. Keep chilled in fridge until cake it completely cooled and ready to be rolled.
Liberally spray a new sheet of parchment with oil and place on top of cooled cake. Flip cake over and remove old parchment (the sheet that went in the oven). Scoop whipped cream on to cake and smooth evenly over surface. Roll tight, being careful not to stretch the sponge. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.
Cotton Candy
45ml oil
50ml milk
1/8 tsp cotton candy oil
55g gluten free cake flour*
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites
2 ml lemon juice
teeny pinch of fine salt
45g sugar
Filling
180g powdered sugar
20g powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 320°F and prepare a 9x13 sheet cake pan with parchment paper and cooking oil. Leave excess parchment over the pan so use can use as handles after the cake has come out of the oven.
In a medium sized bowl, sift in cake flour. In a separate, small bowl, whisk oil and milk until emulsified. Add cotton candy oil and dark pink coloring and mix. Then pour in to medium bowl with cake flour and mix into a paste.
Separate egg yolks and whites. Put whites in bowl of stand mixer and the yolks in the bowl with paste. Mix the egg yolks and paste until smooth. Set aside.
Add lemon juice and salt to egg whites and whisk on high until foamy. Continue to whisk while slowly adding sugar. Beat until soft peaks.
Add one scoop of meringue into egg yolk mixture and stir to completely combine. Add another scoop of meringue and fold in with a spatula. Scrape in remaining meringue and fold until no lumps remain. Pour into sheet pan. Tip pan and allow batter to ease into corners. Tap pan lightly to burst any large air bubbles. Bake for 27-30 minutes.
Remove cake from oven and gently lift the cake out using the extra parchment has handles and place on a cooling rack.
While the cake cools, make the filling. Whisk together heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla on high speed until thick and somewhat firm. Keep chilled in fridge until cake it completely cooled and ready to be rolled.
Liberally spray a new sheet of parchment with oil and place on top of cooled cake. Flip cake over and remove old parchment (the sheet that went in the oven). Scoop whipped cream on to cake and smooth evenly over surface. Roll tight, being careful not to stretch the sponge. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.
Matcha
45ml oil
65ml milk
48g gluten free cake flour*
7g matcha powder
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites
2 ml lemon juice
teeny pinch of fine salt
45g sugar
Filling
180g powdered sugar
20g powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 320°F and prepare a 9x13 sheet cake pan with parchment paper and cooking oil. Leave excess parchment over the pan so use can use as handles after the cake has come out of the oven.
In a medium sized bowl, sift in cake flour and matcha powder. In a separate, small bowl, whisk oil and milk until emulsified. Add green food coloring and mix. Then pour in to medium bowl with cake flour and mix into a paste.
Separate egg yolks and whites. Put whites in bowl of stand mixer and the yolks in the bowl with paste. Mix the egg yolks and paste until smooth. Set aside.
Add lemon juice and salt to egg whites and whisk on high until foamy. Continue to whisk while slowly adding sugar. Beat until soft peaks.
Add one scoop of meringue into egg yolk mixture and stir to completely combine. Add another scoop of meringue and fold in with a spatula. Scrape in remaining meringue and fold until no lumps remain. Pour into sheet pan. Tip pan and allow batter to ease into corners. Tap pan lightly to burst any large air bubbles. Bake for 27-30 minutes.
Remove cake from oven and gently lift the cake out using the extra parchment has handles and place on a cooling rack.
While the cake cools, make the filling. Whisk together heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla on high speed until thick and somewhat firm. Keep chilled in fridge until cake it completely cooled and ready to be rolled.
Liberally spray a new sheet of parchment with oil and place on top of cooled cake. Flip cake over and remove old parchment (the sheet that went in the oven). Scoop whipped cream on to cake and smooth evenly over surface. Roll tight, being careful not to stretch the sponge. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.
