Fresh local strawberries are plentiful in your local grocery and farmers market and what better way to showcase them than my Strawberry Shortcake Roll?
Once you get the hang of making this light and delicious sponge cake, you’ll be creating delicious varieties of this recipe in your kitchen throughout the year.
*Updated from original post June 22, 2012
I have been dreaming about Strawberry Shortcake since I started seeing those plump juicy berries appear at the supermarket and just making a traditional strawberry shortcake didn’t seem to do justice to those beautiful strawberries.
What Ingredients do I need to make a Strawberry Shortcake Roll?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make my Strawberry Shortcake Roll. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed the up cooking process, but it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
How do I make a Strawberry Shortcake Roll?
Start by preheating the oven to 400 (204 C) degrees and lining a 13 x 17 inch pan with parchment paper. Set the pan aside until needed.
Here are the steps to make the sponge cake.
- Combine the milk, butter and vanilla in a small pan and heat just enough to melt the butter, set aside
- In a stand mixer, whip the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar on high speed for 5-7 minutes or until it forms wide bands of ribbons when the beater is lifted out.
- Gently transfer the egg mixture to a bowl large enough to make folding in the other ingredients easy.
- Pour in the butter/milk mixture down the side of the bowl and fold this into the egg mixture using a rubber spatula.
- Sift the flour over the egg mixture, doing this in three batches. After sifting, gently begin to fold the flour into the mixture. (the flour will settle on the bottom, fold more than you think you should, I still wound up with little flour balls in my cake)
- Continue sifting in the flour in the three batches until it has all been folded in. (donโt forget to check the bottom of the bowl for more flour)
- Pour the mixture into the lined sheet pan and using an offset spatula smooth out the mixture evenly. Use your finger to run down the insides of the pan creating a momentary separation of the cake from the pan.
- Place on center rack in the oven and bake for 12 minutes.
- Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a clean piece of parchment that has been dusted with 10x sugar. (do this quickly so it does not tear)
- Gently peel off the parchment from the bottom of the cake (use a metal spatula if it is hard to remove)
*Making the sponge cake isn’t difficult, but how you handle it after finished baking is the only part of the process that can make you crazy.
- Wash and hull the strawberries and slice
- Add sugar to the strawberries and allow to sit until needed
- Add the whipping cream to your mixing bowl and starting on a lower speed begin to whip your cream, add in the sugar and vanilla.
- gradually increase the speed of the mixer, and continue whipping the cream until it is fully set. This process will take 8-10 and will ensure that your whipped cream holds up.
With cake on the new parchment that has been dusted with confectioners sugar, begin your assembly.
- Spread the whipped cream onto the cake, spreading evenly to the ends of the sides, but leaving 1 inch on either end (short sides)
- place the prepared strawberries on top of the whipped cream, distributing them evenly.
- Begin rolling the cake using the parchment to hold it with, rolling it gently but firmly, trying to keep it as tight as possible without having whipped cream come out of the sides.
- Continue rolling until it has completely rolled up.
- Re-dust the parchment the cake is still on and turning the cake facing the long side of the parchment and roll it up as tightly as possible without losing cream out the ends, twisting the ends of the paper like taffy.
*I rolled my cake in an additional piece of parchment, to make sure it was secure
Place the rolled and sealed cake in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to set up, I left mine in overnight and it was fine.
Before serving, if needed trim the ends of the roll so they are even. Then dust the roll with confectioners sugar.
*You could also make additional whipped cream and cover the roll with whipped cream and garnish with more strawberries.
I promise you smiles at your table when you serve this OMG light and delicious strawberry shortcake roll. It’s perfect for a weekend get together or just to make a family night special.
Not being a trained baker, I had shied away from making any type of cake rolls most of my life, but after seeing so many of my friends making these delicious desserts, I thought I’d give it a try.
The roll itself is really not that difficult, it does have its challenges, but nothing to stop you from trying. I think the most difficult part is finding a recipe that is almost foolproof because if the cake isn’t good, you can forget about getting it to roll properly.
More Strawberry Cake Recipes You’ll Love!
- Italian Strawberry Cream Cake
- Strawberries and Cream Cake
- Individual Strawberry Shortcake
- Mascarpone Strawberry Cheesecake
MLE
I am making this recipe for probably the 40th-50th time. Sometimes I mess it up, sometimes I don’t, but its always delicious. I make mine with raspberries instead of strawberries. sooooo good. Thanks for sharing!
Chef Dennis Littley
I hope it comes out more often than not. Making it with raspberries sounds like a delightful idea!
Malia Qury
Very fantastic recipe. I made it at home. I enjoyed it.
Michelle
Fantastic recipe. I have tried many times to make a cake roll, and failed. However this time the sponge roll was superb! I do wish the ingredients were in grams, but I was able to succeed anyway. This recipe does take some skill and effort but it is SO WORTH it! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Chef Dennis Littley
there is a toggle that will change the recipe to metric at the bottom of the recipe card. That will take care of most of the conversions
silvia
Absolutely delicious, who can resist fresh strawberries and cream? Not me. This roll was fairly easy to make. A perfect dessert for a sunny day.
Jamie
What a beautiful dessert to make especially during the summer! I can’t wait until it’s strawberry season here because I know I’ll be making this cake over and over again!
Naiby
It’s like you read my mind. I’ve been seeing strawberry shortcake popping into my head and there you go. I love how you can roll it, how original.
Nicole Washington
This is a perfect recipe for around this time of year as we are approaching strawberry recipe season.
Lori | The Kitchen Whisperer
Need. Want. HAVE TO HAVE!!! This strawberry shortcake roll is amazing! I love how light and fluffy it is! It’s perfect this time of year and it’ll definitely be a staple dessert all summer!
Aditi Bahl
Shortcake recipes have often disappointed me. But tried yours and it gave me a lovely surprise. They were delicious and just perfect flavor. Also easy to make.