This chocolate swiss roll cake filled with a fluffy light cream and topped with a glossy chocolate glaze is so easy to roll thanks to a special trick. This cake roll is also made without eggs or dairy. A vegan chocolate swiss roll that is ready in under an hour.
This chocolate swiss roll cake has a delicious deep chocolate flavor and an easy airy white cream filling. Another plus? It's easy to roll.
Swiss roll cakes have a reputation for being super hard to roll without breaking. My solution to make my chocolate roll cake easy to roll, is simple and can work with my chocolate cake recipe, your own favorite cake recipe or even a box mix.
Like my other cake recipes, including my healthy chocolate cake, my tuxedo cake, and even my chocolate zucchini bread, the recipe I provide for this chocolate swiss roll cake is light and fluffy, made with wholesome ingredients, including applesauce instead of eggs and oil.
Why You'll Love This
A dazzling dessert. A homemade chocolate swiss roll cake is a showstopper dessert. Not only are the swirled slices lovely to serve, but the taste of this cake is also fudgy and delicious - kind of like sophisticated restaurant ganache cake meets Hostess swiss roll snack desserts.
Easy to make. This chocolate cake roll is easy to make using my trick which involves baking a single layer cake, then mixing the cool cake with fudge to create a denser cake that you press into a pan, frost and chill.
Perfect for all diets. This cake is dairy free, vegan, egg free, nut free, paleo, and can be gluten free.
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Ingredients
To make the chocolate cake for this chocolate roll cake, use these ingredients:
oat flour - Oat flour is a wonderful healthy flour with protein and fiber, naturally gluten-free yet flavorful. If you want to use all purpose flour, you can! Just use 1 ½ cups of all purpose instead of 2 ⅓ oat flour.
cocoa powder - Cocoa powder makes a cake stiffer, so I only added ¼ cup here compared to ½ cup in my chocolate cake recipes to ensure the cake is flexible enough to roll.
sugar - I used organic cane sugar but any white sugar works as well.
milk - I used dairy free oat milk. You'll activate this with lemon juice - this creates a 'buttermilk' that reacts well with baking soda to create a lighter crumb.
applesauce - Use unsweetened. Or use the liquid from a can of salt free garbanzo beans or chickpeas.
pumpkin puree - I used canned, not pumpkin pie filling. Sweet potato canned puree also works.
melted chocolate chips and milk are also needed for the trick to make this chocolate roll cake easy to roll.
whipped cream or white frosting. Homemade or store-bought.
How to Make a Fail-Proof Swiss Roll
Here is a quick summary of the steps, but the detailed recipe and video can be found below in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Follow steps to bake the chocolate cake in an 8-inch square pan. Either use my chocolate cake recipe found below or your own.
Step 2: Let the cake cool in the pan until it is cool enough to touch. Next comes the fool-proof trick...
Step 3: Use a spoon or your hands to break up the cake and add it to a bowl. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, add the milked chocolate and milk to the cake chunks in the bowl, and combine with a spoon until you have a sticky dough.
Step 4: Line a quarter cookie sheet with parchment paper, and press this cake dough into it, pressing and flattening the baked cake batter into a rectangle. Now, measure out storebought or homemade whipped cream or any white frosting. Spread the cream in an even layer on top of the pressed batter in the pan.
Step 5: Now lift the cake with the parchment paper starting at the short end and roll the cake all the way until you reach the other short end. Use the parchment paper to press and even out the cylinder shape. It can still break a bit but the dough is pliable enough since it is fudgy that you can press it back into shape.
Pro tip: Don't press too hard as you roll or the cream will squish out too much on the sides.
Serving the Cake Roll
Chill it before slicing. To get really clean slices, chill the log in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before slicing.
Glaze it. Melt chocolate chips in the microwave, and drizzle that on the cake for a glossy ganache.
Store the roll. Refrigerate leftovers or the made-ahead cake in the refrigerator for 2 days. Without ganache, it can be frozen if wrapped carefully for 3 months.
Recipe Tips
When baking the cake, be sure to not overbake or the cake will be too dry and won't form a fudgy texture that allows the cake to be pliable for rolling.
When frosting the cake, make the cream about 1 inch deep in the center, but taper it down to less than ½ inch on the edges so when you roll it cream doesn't squish out.
About the filling. A whipped cream is more traditional as a filling, but I have better luck using my white frosting - it's sturdier and helps me form that even white stripe so important to this cake's presentation.
FAQS
A swiss roll is a light sponge cake swirled around a sweet cream and topped with a chocolate ganache. Its origins are unclear, and despite the "swiss" part of the name, the cake doesn't appear to be a swiss recipe but probably from central Europe.
They are the same thing. A swiss roll or cake roll is a rolled sponge cake filled with jam, whipped cream, or icing. They are also called jelly rolls and cream rolls.
A yule log is a swiss roll cut and angled to resemble burning logs in a hearth.
Other Cake Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Chocolate Swiss Roll (Cake Roll)
Equipment
- quarter baking sheet, 13 Inch x 9 Inch or a jelly roll pan
Ingredients
- 2 ⅓ cups oat flour (or 1 ½ cup all purpose flour)
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup organic cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup milk
- teaspoon lemon juice
- ⅓ cup canned pumpkin puree
- 3 tablespoon applesauce
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch salt
Swiss Roll Trick
- Entire baked cake broken up and in a mixing bowl.
- ½ cup chocolate chips melted in microwave at 60 seconds
- 1 cup dairy free milk
Whipped Cream filling*
- 3 cans full fat coconut milk Use only the solid portion in each can.
- ½ cup powdered sugar (You can add up to ¾ cup if you want the cream to taste sweeter and be thicker.)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Chocolate drizzle
- 1 cup chocolate chips melted in microwave at 60 seconds
- ½ cup milk
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Instructions
Prep
- Preheat your oven to 350 F.
- Activate your milk by adding lemon juice to it and stirring so it curdles.
- Line an 8-inch by 8-inch pan with parchment paper, and line a quarter sheet cookie pan with parchment paper.
Bake Chocolate Cake
- To large mixing bowl, add dry ingredients and combine.2 ⅓ cups oat flour, ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 cup organic cane sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Add liquid ingredients to the dry, and again combine. I used a hand mixer.1 cup milk, tsp lemon juice, ⅓ cup canned pumpkin puree, 3 tablespoon applesauce, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract, pinch salt
- Pour the batter evenly into prepared 8x8 pan.
- Bake the cake for 35 minutes or until tester comes out clean.
The Swiss Roll Trick
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool so when you tear it apart with your hands you don't get burned.
- Tear baked cake apart with hands or fork and add to a mixing bowl. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for 1 minute.Entire baked cake broken up and in a mixing bowl.
- Add in the milk and melted chocolate and combine with a fork or your hands.½ cup chocolate chips, 1 cup dairy free milk
- Press this fudgy baked cake dough into the quarter cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Press into corners so you have a flattened rectangle.
- Spread your whipped cream or frosting about 1 inch thick in the center but closer to ½ inch on th edges. (my coconut whipped cream recipe is below)
Roll Swiss Roll
- Lift the parchment paper along the short end of the pan and roll the cake slowly, using the parchment paper to help lift and roll. You still might get a few cracks but the dough is so fudgy you should be able to press cracks away by pressing over the parchment paper.
- Don't press down too hard or the whipped cream will squish out the sides.
- Keep the roll wrapped in the parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes if you want to be able to slice it cleanly.
Whipped Cream Recipe (optional)
- You can use any frosting or whipped cream for the center of this cake but if you want to make mine which makes about 3 cups, here are the steps: First, chill the cans of coconut milk overnight so the solids separate out. Then remove the solids and put them into a chilled mixing bowl, and refrigerate or freeze the coconut milk for a different recipe or smoothie.3 cans full fat coconut milk
- Next, add in the powdered sugar and hand mix for about 3-4 minutes or until you see peaks forming. To make them even stiffer, add 2 tablespoon of tapioca flour or arrowroot powder and mix again. Add vanilla.½ cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Finally, chill the whipped cream in the bowl covered for 2 hours if you want it to be thicker. I used mine unchilled and it was thick enough to spread but here is a trick if yours is not.
Glaze the Chocolate Swiss Roll
- Melt the chocolate chips in a pyrex measuring cup at 60 seconds. Pour in the milk and stir until smooth.1 cup chocolate chips, ½ cup milk
- Unwrap the cake and pour glaze over and wait until the glaze is set before slicing.
Store Swiss Roll
- This cake is best refrigerated, uncovered or covered, and can last about 3 days. If you choose to freeze, I suggest you freeze it before pouring on the chocolate glaze.
Dee Dine
So glad it worked out!
Dee Dine
Great to know!
Dee Dine
Thank you for your tips and kind words!
Hala
What should I add to the broken up cake to make it fudgy if I wanna make a vanilla cake, without the chocolate? 🤔
Dee Dine
You could probably use a creamy milk such as coconut or oat. I have a vanilla version coming soon!
tara
Dee! you've done it again! The perfect holiday recipe. I always wanted to make a swiss roll but never dared. Will certainly make this one.
Dee Dine
Thank you Tara!
TS
WOW! Brilliant recipe and trick. Saving for the holidays.
Dee Dine
Thank you TS!
Elean34
Tricky to make this thing, but crumbling idea is so clever. I didn't use your cake recipe, but I used your idea with my own vanilla cake. I used your cream filling recipe though. Fluffy and delicious.
Dee Dine
Terrific, so glad to hear the concept works well with other cakes! Thank you for sharing.
DonbakesNY
The cake roll came out perfect. I used vanilla frosting as my cream. I don't like coconut. It came out perfectly. Next time I'll add more frosting filling because my ribbon was kind of narrow. Thank you for this recipe, the cake is truly delicious.
Latitia Ginnia
GOODNESS! This trick to roll is amazing! I did it first try and I have made swiss rolls before that were just broken messes so thank you, thank you.
Dee Dine
Glad your swiss roll came out so well Latitia!
Natasha Sharpe
My attempt at this chocolate Swiss roll cake turned out delicious. However, though I followed each step meticulously, the beautiful creamy swirl in the center was nowhere to be found. During the rolling process, all of the whipped coconut cream smooshed out the other end of the roll. The consistency of the cream seemed far too liquid-y to support the weight of the cake. Am I the only one who has experienced this issue? My family loved the taste, but my heart was left yearning for the visual punch of that iconic white swirl.
Dee Dine
Thank you for making the Swiss roll cake, so glad the cake came out delicious! You can use your favorite filling for this cake, a frosting or whipped cream, but to make mine thicker, adding more powdered sugar or some tapioca flour, and chilling the cream before hand will thicken it. Also, the brand of coconut canned milk can matter, I used Whole Foods 365. I have added these tips to the recipe!
Elean34
Coconut whipped cream is hard to fluff sometimes. I used Native Forest brand. Add some cornstarch or more sugar or whip it longer. Chilling helps too.