Strawberries and Cream Angel Food Cake Roll
One last recipe before Easter, and I felt like a light, fresh, spring-themed dessert was in order. The strawberries here have been gorgeous the last week or so; they’re ruby-red, plump, and amazingly sweet. It seemed a shame to not use them in some way this weekend when thinking up dessert ideas.
When I was a kid, my favorite thing to eat during the summer was angel food cake. Yes, you could feed me chocolate and peanut butter all year round, but once the seasons changed so too did my taste buds. When it was time to spend my days sloshing down a slip n’ slide and my evenings barefoot in the cool grass catching lightning bugs, it was time for angel food cake.
My grandma always had an angel food cake on hand for dessert on Sundays during the summer. I loved getting a huge piece, topped with sliced strawberries, and a massive mound of whipped cream. Nothing could beat it on a warm summer day. This dessert is a riff on the classic angel food cake, strawberries, and whipped cream dessert. While it makes a beautiful presentation, it’s also very easy to make and not very time-consuming. That’s the best kind of dessert there is, right?!
Angel food cakes can sometimes be intimidating due to using a tube pan, precise cooling methods, unmolding, etc. This recipe takes all of the guesswork out of that by baking a thin angel food cake in a jelly roll pan. The bonus is that it only takes about 15 minutes to bake and cools relatively quickly. Believe it or not, this was my first time making a rolled cake. Now that I know how easy it is, I can’t wait to try all sorts of new combinations!
I made the filling by folding a ton of chopped fresh strawberries into sweetened whipped cream. This filling is unbelievably delicious. So light and naturally sweet. I ate spoonful after spoonful before I even got it onto the cake. It would certainly make for a perfect summertime treat to keep on hand anytime, whether you have a cake to fill or not.
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The combination of the light and spongy angel food cake with a strawberries and cream topping rolled right inside is fabulous. It tastes fresh, doesn’t weigh you down, and is everything wonderful about the fruits of spring. I think it would be a fabulous way to top off your Easter menu – it provides nice balance at the end of a sometimes heavy meal.
If you love strawberries and whipped cream, be sure to give my homemade strawberry shortcake a try, too!
What are you planning to make for dessert on Sunday?
One year ago: Salted Caramel Ice Cream
Strawberries and Cream Angel Food Cake Roll
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 9 egg whites
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) cream of tartar
- 1 cup (200 g) + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (93.75 g) cake flour
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
For the Filling:
- 2 cups (476 ml) heavy whipping cream, chilled
- 6 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups (432 g) diced strawberries
- Powdered sugar, for dusting top of cake (optional)
Instructions
- Place the egg whites in a large mixing bowl; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, line a 15×10-inch baking pan with waxed paper; lightly coat paper with cooking spray and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Add vanilla and cream of tartar to egg whites; beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, on high until stiff glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved. Fold in flour, ¼ cup at a time.
- Carefully spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool for 5 minutes.
- Dust a clean kitchen towel with 1 tablespoon powdered sugar. Turn the cake out onto the kitchen towel. Gently peel off waxed paper. Roll up cake in the towel jelly-roll style, starting with a short side. Cool completely on a wire rack.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the cream on medium speed until it begins to thicken. Add powdered sugar and vanilla; increase the speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold in the strawberries. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- Unroll cooled cake; spread filling to within ½-inch of edges (you will have some filling leftover). Roll up again. Place seam side down on a serving plate; sprinkle with additional powdered sugar, if desired. Serve with any leftover strawberries and cream filling. Store leftovers, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
First time ever for a jelly roll cake. I used a box angel food cake, used about 2/3 in the 17×12″ pan and the rest in a loaf pan. I sprayed the jelly roll pan, cut the parchment to the exact size, pressed it down, sprayed some on top of it and spread it with a brush. Baked the cake 16min, cooled 5 min. I had the dish towel with confectioners sugar all ready. I went around the edges with a sharp knife just to be sure it didn’t stick. held the pan in front of the dish towel and let the pan with the cake quickly fall on to the towel. Confectioeners sugar flew everywhere, but perfect turn out of the cake. Parchment came off easily. Rolled up immediately, now cooling. The rest should not be as dawnting.
Love that at my age, I tried it after so many years of being fearful of the whole process.
Something is terribly wrong with the proportions, baking time or pan size. I created something that has the crust of a pavlova and a gooey backside. Sticking it back in the oven. Honestly not an idiot and fairly competent baker but this one has left me scratching my head.
I made this and it was AMAZING!!! It was a huge hit, I wish I would have made two I had enough ingredients. I used carton egg whites, and used regular white flower, just took out 2 table spoons from every cup and replaced them with 1table spoon of cornstarch to make my cake flour. I had left over filling. I loved that it was so light. Thank You, I will be making this again.
This was terrific and we ate all after mom-day dinner. Use Oetker cream stabilizer and the cream will set beautifully, will not separate, etc. Quick in terms of time for a beautiful, delicious dessert.
Wonderful recipe. Devoured in minutes at my place today. DH wants it again with mango filling. Thanks
Great recipe! Since I was taking the cake to an outdoor event, I wanted to stabilize the whipped cream filling. I added a teaspoon of bloomed-gelatin and it worked great!
I didn’t have a 10×15 inch pan so I used an 8×8 inch pan instead. Because of that, I decided to halve the ingredients to bake the angel cake. My cake turned out crispy (something like meringue) and doesn’t look like the one in the pictures :( Can anyone kindly advise this confused baker on what went wrong?
Hi,
Can I use boxed egg whites to make the meringue?
Hi Alvina, I have never used boxed egg whites; if you have used them before with success, then you can go ahead and use them.
Can you bake with waxed paper?? Can you use parchment paper instead?
Thank you for your recipes and detailed instructions!!! :)
I typically always use parchment, but all of the jellyroll-style recipes I found called for wax paper, so I used that. You could use parchment if you’d like.
This angel cake looks so BEAUTIFUL :-) I want to make for a friend’s birthday this weekend. Unfortunately, getting cake flour where I am is very difficult. I am hesitant to use only all-purpose/plain flour. Is there something I can add to make it lighter? Also, using what measurements?
A conversion for all-purpose –> cake flour can be found here: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/substitutions/
This is great. Thanks a lot Michelle. Can’t wait to make this :-)
I made this cake two days ago and I fell in love. I had to make a few substitutions as I could not find cream of tartar, cake flour, and fresh strawberries so I used lemon, all-purpose flour plus cornstarch and canned strawberries. It turn out absolutely delicious. I didn’t mind other subsititutions but I would be much better to use fresh strawberries which will add to the look and I am positive, the taste of the cake. Nevertheless, my friend absolutely LOVED his cake and so did I. I am still having a love affair with it. LOL! And oh! the yolks did not go to waste. I made two keylime pies which were also a big hit :-)….This recipe is phenomenal. Thanks
I made this with the peaches. It was really tasty! Thanks! You can’t go wrong with this recipe, and any fruit.
Love evey thing about this recipe. Was just wondering if diced up peaches could be used instead of berries? Just in the mood for peaches… :-)
Hi Nancy, Peaches would be delicious! Go for it!
Made this for Mother’s Day and it was perfect!! Definitely a keeper!!
i have made this 4 times in 3 weeks….i have cheated each time by using a boxed mix. this is one of the best recipes i have found via all the food blogs i have ever read. it’s so simple, yet so delicious!
I made this cake this weekend for a birthday dessert and my niece absolutely loved it! She told me it was the best cake in all of Utah and that it could win first prize it was so good! Thanks for the recipe! Its amazing! I love all your recipes!
I just tried this today and I had to comment and say thank you for the recipe! Apart from being very healthy and easily adapted for a diabetic, it turned out really lovely, so soft and moist! It’s simply amazing!! Thank you!
I have to thank you, I made this last night and it was AMAZING. So easy to do and so good!!! Thank you!
This looks wonderful! I was wondering if it could be made ahead of time and frozen until we were ready to use it? I know some things don’t freeze well, but I’m hoping your roll does!
Hi Crystal, I think you could make the cake and freeze it, then thaw it and fill/roll it. I don’t think the combination of the cream and fresh strawberries would freeze and thaw all that well.
I’m also interested in making-ahead. Would you freeze the un-filled cake in a flat or rolled up position?
What is cake flour? Is it.. basically just all purpose flour?
Hi Kelly, Cake four is different than all-purpose flour; it has a lower protein content, which creates lighter more tender-crumbed baked goods.
I’ve just tried it as a yule log for Christmas : I’ve replaced strawberries (impossible to find some) with raspberries. I think my whipped cream is a little flat and it was hard to understand the recipe since I’m French and I had to convert every measure… But still, it looks delightful and I can wait to taste it !
Thank you :)
Hi Beb and other-wonderful-bakers,
Just wondering if someone could ‘dumb’ down the instructions for baking the cake (in what kind of pan) and how to roll it. I am currently on full time medical treatment for a terminal blood disease but I take much joy in baking these days and love the look of this angel cake – but never done one like this before. any tips would be wonderful and appreciated.
SJ
In fifty-seven years I’d not made angel food cake from scratch, just made my 3rd since discovering this recipe! This one has mini choc. Chips added and will be filled with ice cream for my daughter’s birthday! Love your recipes!
I’ve had one of these before. Consider this bookmarked.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. My husband and I had strawberry shortcake filling for our wedding cake. So, now every year for our anniversary we have some form of strawberry shortcake. I decided to try this recipe this year. I usually have great luck when it comes to baking, but for some reason the cake did not turn out right! It was tough and chewy like it didn’t rise. Do you have any ideas for what I did wrong? I was wondering if maybe it had something to do with the type of flour that I used…any tips would be appreciated!!
Hi Hannah, What type of flour did you use? If it was tough, it’s very possible that you could have overmixed the batter when folding in your egg whites, and it got too heavy.
When making angel food cake it is imperative not to get ANY fat in the egg whites – (ie no yoke). Use a glass or metal bowl – no plastic- and beaters should be very clean (no fat). The fat molecules will keep the egg whites from getting stiff and holding in the air that makes the cake so light. Also, you don’t want any grease on the side of the pan (so, no ‘well- seasoned’ pans).
How could I make this into cupcakes? Anybody have any ideas?
This looks fabulous for a summer dessert. I think I would love it with blackberries as well. Any thoughts on this?
Having only tasted angel food cakes from the grocery store, I was never a fan. I assumed all angel food tasted like dry, airy nothingness. That was not smart of me.
My husband, however, LOVES angel food. Loved it since he was a little boy. So, for a special night, I made him this cake. I figured it was a sacrifice I could live with, making him something I normally wouldn’t like.
But oh, man, was I wrong. I ate 3/4 of that cake. Poor husband barely got any of it.
I am now obsessed. Thank you, BEB, for all the great recipes that I keep using!
I love angel food cake, but getting it out of the pan is always such a nuisance. I was delighted to see this option—and even more delighted when we tried the recipe out last night. So delicious! So easy!
wait, can someone explain step 5 with the towel? i dont quite get it…
You have to roll it while slightly warm so that it cools in that shape. Otherwise it will crack when rolling out. The towel is so that it doesn’t stick together.
I found your recipe via Pinterest. So delicious! I blogged about my adventure making it today. Hopefully it isn’t too depressing, because I am a lazy baker! Thanks for sharing such a tasty and simple recipe!
http://lifemadejoyful.blogspot.com/2012/05/pinterest-success-strawberries-and.html