5 from 3 votes

Prep Time : 25

Cook Time : 14

Get this tested recipe for a gluten free strawberry cake roll—vanilla chiffon roll cake filled with strawberries and whipped cream. Perfect!

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A side view of a Strawberry Cake Roll on white surface

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Don't be scared of the deco cake pattern on this gluten free strawberry cake roll! I promise it's really so easy to make. And anyway if you're not into the pattern or just don't have time for it or just don't really like your mother that much (no judgment here!), you can just make this vanilla sponge cake roll filled with whipped cream and strawberries … without the pattern.

Just leave it out! How easy is that? Even easier than making the pattern itself, which is pret-ty easy already. That's how easy.

Overhead view of Strawberry Cake Roll on white surface

We've made cake rolls before (remember the gluten free Bûche de Noël? how about our gluten free pumpkin cake roll??). There's a little flipping and rolling involved, but good news!

If you're worried that your cake roll is going to crack, I'm here to tell you to worry no more. All you have to do is roll your cake right out of the oven well before you fill it and when it's still quite warm. It creates a “memory” in the cake.

Let it cool like that completely. Then, fill it and reroll it and voilá (lots of accent marks today—are you impressed yet?)! Perfect cake roll. No cracks.

Gluten Free Strawberry Cake Roll Step by Step How-To

Some people are visual learners, and some aren't. I honestly have no idea which I am. But I know that I really really enjoy the show-and-tell for cake rolls. It just helps clear out the cobwebs in my brain. Look at that last photo on the right in the step-by-steps just above. That cake knows what to do!

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Gluten Free Strawberry Cake Roll

Get this tested recipe for a gluten free strawberry cake roll—vanilla chiffon roll cake filled with strawberries and whipped cream. Perfect!

Course: Cake

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 25

Cook Time: 14

Yield: 8 servings

Author: Nicole Hunn

Ingredients

For the pattern (optional)

¼ cup (36 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I used Better Batter; please click thru for full info on appropriate blends)
⅛ teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
2 ½ tablespoons (30 g) granulated sugar
1 (25 g) egg white at room temperature
1 ½ tablespoons (21 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
Pink gel food coloring

For the cake

4 (100 g) eggs separated
¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
6 tablespoons (84 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 to 2 tablespoons warm water
⅝ cup all purpose gluten free flour blend (I used Better Batter; please click thru for full info on appropriate blends)
¼ teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
2 tablespoons (18 g) cornstarch (replace with more Cup4Cup if that is your all purpose gluten free flour blend)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Filling

1 tablespoon (7 g) unflavored powdered gelatin
¼ cup (2 fluid ounces) water
2 cups (16 fluid ounces) heavy whipping cream chilled
2 tablespoons (14 g) confectioners’ sugar
1 pound fresh strawberries washed, hulled, dried and roughly chopped

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

To create the optional pattern.

If you are planning to make the pattern, download and print it from Dulce Delight here and place it on the top half of a 13-inch x 18-inch half sheet (jelly roll) pan.
Place a piece of unbleached parchment paper on the baking sheet over the pattern.
You will be able to see the pattern below the parchment.
If you are not making the pattern, simply line a half sheet pan with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside.
Place all of the pattern ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine well.
Transfer the pattern batter to a pastry bag fitted with a #2 or #3 tip.
Following the pattern visible through the parchment, create a corresponding pattern by piping the pink batter on top of each heart. Place the heart pattern, still on the baking sheet, in the freezer to chill while you make the cake batter. This will prevent the pattern from shifting when you cover it with the cake batter.

Make the cake batter.

In a large bowl, place the egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar, butter and 1 tablespoon warm water, and whisk vigorously for about 5 minutes until pale yellow (this can also be done with a hand mixer).
Sift the flour blend, xanthan gum, cornstarch and salt into the egg yolk and butter mixture, and beat until well-combined. Set aside.
In the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a large bowl with a hand mixer, place the egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar, and beat until glossy and stiff (but not dry) peaks form.
With the mixer on medium speed, slowly pour the egg yolk mixture and the vanilla into the egg white mixture, and beat until just combined. The mixture should be smooth and glossy. The batter should be pourable. If necessary to achieve the proper consistency, add the remaining tablespoon water by the teaspoonful and mix again.
Remove the cake pan with the pattern from the freezer, and pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it into an even rectangular layer with a bench scraper silicone spatula. The cake batter will not reach to the very edges of the pan.

Bake the cake.

Place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the top of cake springs back when touched.
While the cake is baking, spread a large piece of unbleached parchment paper out flat on the counter. Once the cake is done, remove the pan from the oven and invert the cake immediately onto the parchment. Carefully peel off the parchment paper.
If you have added the pattern, you will need to re-invert the cake so the pattern is facing down. If not, continue with the recipe instructions above. Working quickly, place a clean sheet of parchment paper on top of the pattern side of the cake, and re-invert the cake. Remove the top piece of parchment.
Fold a short edge of the parchment underneath the cake over the short edge of the cake. Roll the cake and paper together tightly, starting with narrow end and rolling away from your body. Transfer the rolled cake and towel onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the filling.

Bloom the gelatin in the water in a small, heat-safe bowl, and melt it in the microwave (about 20 seconds on 75% power should do it). Set the gelatin aside to cool briefly.
In the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl with a handheld mixer), place the heavy whipping cream and whisk on medium speed until soft peaks form.
Add the confectioners’ sugar, and beat until stiff peaks form. Add the cooled gelatin, and beat until thickened.

Assemble the cake roll.

Once the cake is cool, carefully unroll it. Remove the parchment, and spread about one-third of the whipped cream filling all over the cake, leaving a 1 inch clean border all around.
Scatter the chopped strawberries evenly over the whipped cream, and then top with about half of the remaining whipped cream (or more). Carefully reroll the cake tightly.
Slice off the very end of both sides of the cake to create clean edges. Place in the refrigerator to chill until the filling is set. Slice thickly and serve chilled.