This bakery swiss roll cake recipe is direct from my family’s three generations of professional bakers. Light and fluffy, this will be the best swiss roll cake you’ll ever taste!
Remember that scene in Despicable Me where Agnes grabs the stuffed animal and screams “IT’S SO FLUFFY”?! Get ready to channel your inner Agnes after you try this bakery swiss roll cake recipe.
This swiss roll cake also happens to be one of my favorite cakes my mom makes for me. This has been my birthday cake for the past 5 years. 😀
Check out the filling recipe I used: Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Try out this homemade cranberry sauce!
Swiss Roll Cake Recipe Tips:
Start with room temperature egg whites as they whip up better and create more volume. The first thing I do before preparing any other ingredients is separate the whites and yolks and leave them at room temperature. By the time I’m done preparing the other ingredients, the whites should be at room temperature.
When creating the meringue, whip the egg whites to a soft peak before adding any sugar. This allows the meringue to keep its volume and not deflate when adding the sugar. I always split the sugar into three equal parts. Never add all the sugar at once when creating a meringue.
For the egg yolk mixture, beat everything over a warm bowl of water. This helps the sugar melt and incorporate with the other ingredients to give you a more airy, fluffy egg yolk batter. Basically, the more fluffy and light your batter, the more fluffy and light your swiss roll cake will turn out.
Your egg yolk batter should be a pale yellow that falls slowly into ribbons and holds its shape for a bit. Below is a picture of the finished stage for the egg yolk batter.
Sift the dry ingredients into the mixture in three equal parts. Gently fold it in each time before adding more.
Cut out your parchment paper so that it neatly fits your pan. You want to make sure your batter is an even, flat layer so that it bakes and browns evenly and your swiss roll cake is easy to roll up. I used a 9 x 13 inch pan. When pouring the batter into the pan, pour it from a height of about 8 inches above the baking pan. This helps pop any large air bubbles in your batter. Be sure to smooth the batter into the corners.
After taking out your cake from the oven, invert it onto a clean, slightly dampened kitchen towel and peel off the parchment paper. Gently roll up your cake and hold it in place so that it doesn’t unravel. A rolling pin is perfect for this. Be sure not to squeeze the cake or roll it up too tightly as this can cause cracks to form.
Unroll the cake once it’s slightly warm and add your favorite jelly or jam. I filled it with some leftover homemade cranberry sauce which turned out to be AH-MAZING. If filling with cream or custard, wait for the cake to completely cool. Roll it back up, top with powdered sugar and berries, and enjoy this bakery swiss roll cake!
I hope you enjoy this recipe! Please share, rate, and comment below. I’d love to hear from you!
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Bakery Swiss Roll Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 ¼ cup cake flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup white sugar for egg yolk mixture
- ⅓ cup white sugar for egg white meringue
Wet Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons corn syrup
- 6 eggs whites and yolks separated
- ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons water
- ⅓ cup avocado oil
Filling:
- ¾ cup homemade cranberry sauce or other filling of your choice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Egg Yolk Mixture:
- In a medium bowl, add together egg yolks, ½ cup of sugar, salt, corn syrup, vanilla, and water. Set this bowl inside a larger bowl filled with warm water and beat on high until pale yellow with ribbons form. Remove from the warm water bath and set aside.
Egg White Meringue:
- In a large bowl, add the egg whites and beat on high until soft peaks form. Start adding the ⅓ cup of sugar in three equal parts, beating each time to incorporate. Beat the egg whites on high until stiff peaks form.
Roll Cake Batter:
- Add ½ of the egg white meringue to the egg yolk mixture and gently fold it in until it's mostly mixed in. The batter should be light and airy. Next, sift the flour and baking powder together and add this into the batter in three equal parts, gently folding after each time.
- In a small bowl, microwave the oil until it's warm to the touch. Take out ¼ cup of the combined batter from the previous step and completely mix this into the warm oil. Fold this back into the combined batter. Next, add the entire batter to the remaining egg white meringue and fold it in gently.
Baking & Filling the Roll Cake:
- Pour the batter into a parchment lined pan. Bang the pan twice to remove large air bubbles and bake for 15 - 20 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean when it's done.
- Take out the cake, invert the pan onto a clean, slightly damp kitchen cloth, and remove the parchment paper from the bottom. Roll up the cake and hold it in place.
- Once the cake is slightly warm to the touch, unroll the cake and spread with your jam or jelly filling. If filling with custard or cream, wait until the cake is completely cooled so the filling doesn't melt. Top with powdered sugar and berries.
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is an estimate, calculated using online tools.
Alex
I made this for a family birthday, and everyone loved it. In fact, they RAVED about it! I can’t wait to make it again soon 🙂
Starling
Hey this recipe looks great, but I just wanna ask if it’s possible to replace the avocado oil with regular cooking oil?
Jamie
Hi Starling, absolutely. Any cooking oil would do. Hope you enjoy!
Sophia Magdy
I loved the taste of the cake i could eat it without filling ♥️♥️And i wanted to know if i could freeze the batter for few days to use it later or not ?
Jamie
Hi Sophia! So glad you enjoyed the cake. 🙂 I wouldn’t recommend freezing the batter but you can certainly freeze the cake! You can wrap the cake in plastic wrap and then store it in a freezer safe container. Then thaw it at room temperature or in the refrigerator before serving.
Maritze
Can I use self rising flour ??
Jamie
Hi Maritze! Unfortunately I wouldn’t use self rising flour for this recipe and stick to cake flour as it can affect the texture of this cake.
Dipti
Loved this recipe!! I’m Indian so I put Kissan Jam and whipped cream inside and it tasted divine. I’ve made several other roll cakes but none of them turned out this fluffy. The cake didn’t taste too eggy either!! Thank you so so much!! 🙏🙏❤️
Jamie
Hi Dipti! So glad you enjoyed this! I just looked up Kissan Jam and it sounds wonderful with this cake. I’ll have to order some! 🙂
Naomi
This was so soft and just like I get at the Chinese bakery! Love this recipe.
Veena Azmanov
I love the Cranberry Filling making this Swiss Roll delicious. I have to definitely make some this weekend. My kids to love it.
Maayke
This looks amazing! I’m definitely going to try this recipe! Thanks for sharing.
Anjali
Omg this recipe is delicious and amazing! And with the fresh cranberry sauce as a filling, it’s absolutely perfect for my holiday menu!
Gavin
I hadn’t had a Swiss roll in FOREVER – this one didn’t disappoint. There is a reason that classics stay great forever. Yummy!!
Sapana
Wow, this turned out absolutely amazing! Thank you!
Lisa
WOW oh wow. It took longer than l expected to make this recipe but the results were worth it!!! Thanks SO much! Such a high rise & moist cake.
Jamie
Thank you so much Lisa! So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Khristi Le Gendre
I tried this recipe a few days ago for my brother’s birthday and it was amazing! Moist, fluffy and delicious! Everyone loved it, it’s totally worth the few extra steps!
By chance do you have any variations of this recipe for different flavoring? Like swapping out some of the flour with cocoa to make it chocolate?
Jamie
Amazing to hear Khristi! I’m so glad everyone loved it! 😁 Yes I absolutely have other variations of this recipe and they are coming soon on the blog! I’ll make sure to prioritize the chocolate one! 🤗
Delaine
This cake has such a nice sponge! Great idea to add the homemade cranberry sauce instead of something store bought!
Jamie
Thanks Delaine! The sponge is my absolute favorite part of this cake. I could eat it forever and not get sick of it haha.
Sophia
This looks so delicious! Swiss rolls are so tasty but i’ve never tried one myself, i’ll have to give this recipe a try. Thank you!
Jamie
Hi Sophia! Thanks for the comment! Yes this swiss roll is freaking delicious. I hope you give it a try!
STEVANNY ZIJDERLAAN
Hi Jamie,
What can i use to substitute the corn syrup? Can i also substitute avocado oil with canola oil? I really wanna make this amazing cake 😍
Jamie
Hi Stevanny! You can use maple syrup or agave instead of corn syrup but you may want to reduce the sugar just a little bit since they are sweeter than corn syrup. And yes you can use avocado oil instead of canola oil. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Beth
This is a recipe Agnes would be proud of, or at least want to come and snuggle! So light, fluffy & delicious!
Jamie
Hahaha I love your comment Beth! It’s so fluffy! My favorite scene in that movie. xD
Beth Pierce
My mom used to make this cake for me as a kid, too! I will have to carry the tradition on and make it for my children; looks perfect!
Jamie
Yesss childhood cake memories are so wonderful! Thanks so much for the kind words Beth!
Lizet Flores de Bowen
This Swiss roll looks perfect! And I want to try it for Mother’s Day. I don’t have cranberries, but I do have raspberries to give it that contrast color. I’ll come back in a few weeks to report 🙂
Jamie
Yay Lizet!! I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day! You definitely deserve it. 🙂 I hope you liked this recipe!
Doreen
May I know can I use homemade eggwhite whipping cream for Swiss roll filling.yhks for your advice.
Jamie
Hi Doreen! I don’t see why you couldn’t use egg white whipped frosting for the filling. Hope you enjoy!
Jen
This cake seriously is that fluffy!! I had no idea this is how you make a rolled cake. Next time I’m baking is for Memorial Day. I’m going to use this and add blueberries to go with the theme!
Jamie
That’s such a wonderful idea to add blueberries with this! Thanks for the kind words Jen! I hope you enjoy this recipe!