Have you ever made a roll cake? As the name suggests, a roll cake is merely a cake cooked on a jelly form pan and then topped with a filling and rolled. Sounds easy enough, right? WRONG!
I have attempted in the past to make several gluten free roll cakes and have not been overly successful.
Gluten is a protein molecule that helps to bind cake and breads. When you remove the gluten and use gluten free, low carb flours, that is when the problem arises. Rolling a cake without gluten is like trying to get puppies from a French Bulldog. I won't go into details as to why, but for those of you who own a "Frenchie" you can completely understand the analogy!
Any who, on to the recipe. I did some digging around and it turns out that psyllium husk powder has a binding-like tendency. Psyllium is easy to come by, cheap to buy and is low in carbs due to its high fiber content.
This was going to be the key for my cake to have the ability to roll and not crack when doing so.
So, in a medium size bowl, I mixed all my dry ingredients. Since almost all "roll cakes" are formed from a sponge cake batter, I decided to stay true to a sponge cake recipe by separating the eggs and whisking the egg whites until stiff peaks formed.
Then, I added some more eggs, heavy cream and sweetener to the egg yolks and whisked the mixture until well combined.
Next, I added the dry ingredients to the egg yolk mixture and beat for an additional 1-2 minutes. Lastly, I folded the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture and poured it onto a parchment lined jelly roll pan. In the oven it went and 12 minutes later, a beautiful sponge cake emerged!
At this point, most people try to roll the cake and let it cool in a rolled fashion. When I have tried this method, the rolling and then unrolling always seemed to stress my sponge cake and create cracks.
This time, I decided to not roll the cake and instead inverted it onto a piece of parchment paper. I placed a dampened kitchen towel over the entire cake and then prepared my filling.
The filling was simply some cream cheese, vanilla, almond milk (or heavy cream if you have any leftover) and sweetener. I used my hand mixer and whipped it all together.
Once the cake had slightly cooled (approximately 30-60 minutes), I removed the parchment paper and slathered on the cream cheese filling. With my fingers crossed, i held my breath and began rolling the cake and.....
IT WORKED!
Finally, I had created a low carb, gluten free roll cake!
I covered the cake with a low carb frosting recipe and set it in the fridge overnight. The next day, I served it to Mr. Grumbles (A.K.A Husband) and he declared it "Award Winning" and a "keeper"as a recipe.
HALLELUJAH!
Stay tuned as I plan to try a many different variations to this roll cake recipe.
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Simple Roll Cake (Keto, GF)
Simple and delicious, this roll cake is a must try!
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 10-12 slices 1x
Ingredients
For the Sponge Cake:
- 6 eggs, separated
- 3 whole eggs
- ⅔ cup sweetener (I used erythritol which typically tastes better then stevia if using cocoa powder)
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup coconut flour
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp psyllium husk powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
For the Filling:
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 tablespoon almond milk or heavy cream (adjust depending on how thick your filling is)
- ½ cup stevia (add more or less to taste)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9 x 11 jelly roll pan with parchment paper and spray parchment.
- Combine the coconut, psyllium, cocoa powder and baking soda in a small mixing bowl.
- Separate 6 eggs and place egg whites in a large mixing bowl. Beat egg whites on high until stiff peaks form.
- Combine the eggs yolks, whole eggs, heavy cream and sweetener in a medium size bowl. Using electric beaters, beat until fully combined and smooth. Gradually add in dry ingredients and continue to mix until fully incorporated.
- Gently fold in egg whites into egg yolk mixture being careful not to over mix.
- Pour mixture onto jelly roll pan and place in the oven for 10-15 minutes making sure not to over bake.
- While the cake is baking, make filling. Combine the cream cheese, vanilla, sweetener and milk/cream and beat for 2-4 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Once cake is cooked, remove from oven and place an additional piece of parchment over the cake. Place a cookie sheet over the parchment paper and flip cake over. Peel off top layer of parchment and then using the same piece of parchment, place it back on the cake and cover with a slightly damp kitchen towel. Allow to cool.
- Once cooled, remove parchment paper, spread filling over cake and starting from the short end, roll cake removing bottom piece of parchment as you roll. Cover cake with parchment and place in fridge for a couple of hours or overnight.
Notes
- If you have any cracking, use icing to cover it up! I added some shredded coconut and swerve confectioner sugar on top.
- Make sure to not over bake cake as it will crack.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Keto, Gluten Free
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 12 slices
- Calories: 162
- Sugar: 1.3 g
- Fat: 12.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 4.8 g
- Fiber: 2.4 g
- Protein: 6.8 g
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