Picture this – It’s Sunday afternoon. You’re lounging on the patio, enjoying a highly anticipated newly-released book by your favourite author. The smell of the lilies and roses in full bloom waft through the neighborhood. The kids are out in the yard, quietly playing a non-competitive game of croquet together. In your hand you have a icy cold Sangria, and the heat of the sun reminds you of that vacation you’d taken to Mexico years ago.
Ah – perfection.
In reality – You haven’t had a chance to sit down since you got up in the morning. You’re spending the day catching up on the ever-growing pile of laundry, working on the never-ending yard work, and wondering what that smell in the fridge is coming from. The only thing wafting through the neighborhood is the smell of gas fumes from everyone trying to catch up on their yard work. The kids have begun clobbering each other with the croquet mallets, and you’re sure a trip to the ER will be added to the list before the day is done. To top it off, global warming has become a reality, since it feels like you are now living on the sun.
Welcome to Summer!
Even with all the craziness that summer brings our way, it also brings a chance to break out of the normal routine. The kids are out of school, so the time they go to bed can be relaxed a little. The rush to get supper on the table in time so that everyone can get on with their evening fades. The sun hangs just a little longer in the sky. Summer also gives us a chance to enjoy lighter foods. Meat and veggies that is simply cooked on the grill. Salads that are tossed with a light vinaigrette. Desserts become lighter as well, very often featuring fresh, in season flavours. That is where this gluten free Strawberry Cream Roll Cake comes in. The light lemon sponge cake is rolled around a decadent creamy strawberry filling. Although this fare isn’t ‘light’ in the sense of low calories, it is light in taste and flavour, and it is not something that will make you feel like you have over done it after you’ve enjoyed it.
Chocolate. Whipped Cream. Buttercream. Nuts. Lemon Curd. Berries. The list goes on. The possibilities of what you can roll a sponge cake around are nearly endless. Whether you call it a Swiss Roll, Jelly Roll, or a sweet Roulade, the simple dessert is sure to impress a crowd. One of the best things about this extraordinary dessert is that it can be made in advance. Even on those crazy busy summer days, it only takes a short while to prepare this enticing gluten free Strawberry Cream Roll Cake. The cake itself only takes 12 minutes to bake, and while it is cooling you can prepare the filling. Once you have rolled your cake, simply wrap in plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Gluten Free Strawberry Cream Roll Cake
Roll Cakes are simple to put together, low in fat, and can be made in advance, making them the perfect dessert for summertime gatherings.
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 4 large eggs, separated and at room temperature
- 1/4 cup confectioners' (icing) sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of one small lemon
- pinch salt
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup white rice flour
- 1/4 cup sweet rice (glutinous) flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- additional confectioner's (icing) sugar for sprinkling
For the Filling:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 4 ounces (1/2 cup) cream cheese, softened
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped strawberries
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line the bottom of a 10"x15" jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
- Use an electric mixer, whip together the egg yolks and confectioners' sugar until pale yellow, and nearly double in volume. Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest.
- In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites with the salt, until foamy. Increase the speed, and gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar. Beat until the egg whites hold medium peaks (do not over beat).
- In another bowl, whisk together the rice flour, sweet rice flour, cornstarch, and xanthan gum.
- Fold half of the flour mixture into the egg yolks, followed by half of the whipped egg whites. Follow up by folding in the remaining flour, and then the remaining egg whites. Do not over mix, just gently fold until fully incorporated.
- Spread the batter in an even layer in the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes, or until the cake springs back when gently pressed.
- Let cake cool for 2-3 minutes before using a spatula to loosen the sides. Generously sift confectioners' sugars on the top of the cake. Lay a clean tea towel over the cake, and place a larger baking sheet over top. Carefully flip the pans, remove the pan you baked the cake in, and peel the parchment paper off the bottom of your sponge cake. Sift with more confectioners' sugar
- While the cake is still warm, using the towel and starting at the short end, carefully roll the cake up into a roll. Allow the cake to cool completely. Rolling the cake into a roll while it is still warm will help prevent it from cracking when you roll it up with the filling.
- Unroll the cake, spread the filling evenly over the cake, leaving 1 1/2-inches on the 10" side clear.
- Re-roll the cake, without the towel, and sift more confectioners' sugar over the top. Cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving. You may need to sift with more confectioners' sugar before serving.
For the Filling:
- In a deep, chilled bowl, beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
- In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
- Add half of the whipped cream mixture, and beat until evenly mixed. Add the remaining whipping cream, and whip to blend.
- Fold in the strawberries.Spread on cooled sponge cake.
Notes
You can reserve some of the whipped cream/cream cheese mixture before folding in the strawberries, and pipe it onto the top of the roll using a pastry tip.
Cake adapted from Anna Olson.
Margaret says
Don’t forget the chocolate log for Christmas. My French is awful, Buch de Noel? Wish I had spell-check here.
Jeanine Friesen says
Yes!! The Yule Log (I don’t do french either, not without googling it first) is another sponge roll cake. Mmm….
Vivi says
My favorite Buch de Noel recipe is inheritantly GF – one of the recipe that I still use from the pre GF days.
chris says
My husband adores pumpkin rolls and we have them every year in the fall, generally Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love to find new ways to enjoy fresh strawberries. Our Michigan berries will be ready soon and I will for sure be making this!! Thank you so much 🙂
Jeanine Friesen says
I have a recipe for pumpkin roll on the blog, but I may re-work that one come this fall.
I’m waiting for our local berries to be ready, our spring seems delayed this year. It’ll happen yet! 🙂
Jools says
The Swiss roll was on my GF Baking Bucketlist but you just saved me a lot of internet research. This is a blast from the past for me. My Mum used to serve these on birthday bashes, ofcourse shopbought. Me and my sisters thought it was culinary heaven! But after a decade or three my palate prefers homemade from scratch by now, but I cherish such fond memories of it. I’ll definitely bake one this weekend! And thanks for Margaret for pointing out de Bûche de Noël-option. That is quite a tradition in these regions of Europe for Christmas, glad that I can bring it back again!
Jeanine Friesen says
It’s been on my bucket list too, Jools! I just had to get the right size pan so that I could make it happen. 🙂 The raspberry roll at the grocery store stares at me every time I go there – now I can just go home and make my own. 😉
Kate says
me too, but I’ve never had good luck with GLUTEN sponge, rolled types of cakes, always cracks on me, and I panic. I love that sort of ‘stacked’ strawberry loaf cake I keep seeing at Stop and Shop, so this makes me want to try that!
I could cut the pieces and stack them, right?
Kate
Jeanine Friesen says
Hi Kate! I don’t see why you couldn’t cut it and stack them. Just let it cool, cut, and layer. 🙂 (I hate when things at the grocery store keep calling my name when I go there. lol)
JUDI says
I am new to gluten free cooking and baking. I am slowly getting my flours together but I don’t know the difference between white rice and sweet rice flour. I have only seen the white rice flour so far. Is there another name for it perhaps? I would really like to try this with all the fresh strawberries we have available now.
Vivi says
Hi Judi, go to the local Chinese grocery for sweet rice flour (sticky rice flour). I don’t think Bulk Barn or regular supermarkets carry it. It’s about $1 a pound.
Jools says
Hi Judi,
Bit of a late response but I always use a Thai brand and on the package it says ‘BÔT NÊP thuöng hang’. Maybe that’s a help. I must add it is not a certified GF brand, it’s very difficult to get certified GF exotic flours over her without having to increase my mortgage 😉
Good luck with it!
Jeanine Friesen says
Hi Judi! White rice flour is made from white rice. Sweet rice flour (or glutinous rice flour) is made from sticky rice, so it is more starch like than flour like. You can get it at oriental markets, or like someone else mentioned, Bob’s Red Mill.
Betty says
Ha Jeanine, you almost had me at that first paragraph..I thought how nice and then reality hit:) LOL The strawberry roll looks delightful..perfect for a summer treat!
Jeanine Friesen says
Haha, thanks, Betty! 🙂
Shirley says
Hi Judi, certified gluten-free sweet rice flour is available from El Peto (Canada) or Bob’s Red Mill (U.S.).
Jeanine Friesen says
Thanks, Shirley!
Tammy L. says
Yumm. Sounds great. I have revamped my pumpkin roll recipe already, pretty easy. If anyone has not tried making meringues and piling on fruit and whip cream, its a great way go GF and impress the guests with little fuss. They also work well with puddings, chocolate, etc. etc. ok. quit it! I’m salivating……….
Jeanine Friesen says
Mmm… Meringues with whipped cream and fruit – the perfect little dessert! 🙂
Tammy L. says
Question on the sweet rice flour-having a hard time finding it, but saw it in an Asian market. Not reading any oriental language, was wondering if anyone has used some from such a source without cross contamination issues.
Jeanine Friesen says
Hi Tammy,
I’ve used the sweet rice flour from the markets without a problem, but I know some people would discourage against it. I’ve never had a problem, but you will have to use your own discretion. 🙂
Sheree says
Hi. We use a brand I buy at my local grocery store called Mochiko. When I called the company last they said there was no cross contamination & we have never had any effects from cross contamination either (and I recently bought a case of it from Amazon for a very reasonable price–it was 12 16ounce boxes for $16 w/super saver shipping option)
Jeanine Friesen says
That’s a great price, Sheree! Thanks for sharing!
Jessie says
Here, Safeway carries Mochiko. Its hard to find because it is not in the baking section. They keep it in the Chinese food section with plum sauce and soy sauce. It is in a small white box with Mochiko in big blue letters and a red star. About 3 cups. I love it.
MsGF says
Hi Jeanine, after reading all the comments I have to wonder if I’m the only one to try this recipe because not one person mentioned the little error in the recipe. I didn’t notice either while gathering my ingredients, it wasn’t until I got started that it came to light.
In the ingredient list it calls for 2 Tbsp sugar, but in step 3 it says to add 3 Tbsp sugar to the egg whites. Not a big deal really, I just added the 3, can’t have too much sugar, LOL
And yes I know it’s the middle of winter but we really needed a reason to keep holding on here in Ontario. So I decided to made this little bit of summer hope to help us. We just keep getting slammed with huge dumps of snow and we are now in for more tonight, hooray, can’t wait, ya right. Haven’t seen a winter like this in years. If it’s not brutally cold it is snowing like crazy. We don’t even know where to put the snow anymore. LOL
I’m using fresh raspberries in mine. I’ll let you know how it works out.
Jeanine Friesen says
Hi MsGF! 1 tablespoon difference in the cake won’t make or break it, I know others have made it, just no one caught the typo. Thanks for pointing it out, it’s fixed now!
I hear you on the winter, it’s very similar in Manitoba this year. Brutally cold! Gotta bring in some summer wherever we can!
MsGF says
My roll turned out awesome. It was simple, pretty and awesome.
Jeanine Friesen says
That’s great, MsGF! Raspberries are a great substitution this time of year!