This carrot cake roll with cream cheese frosting is delicious and so easy to make! It's the perfect shortcut when you don't have enough time to make a classic carrot cake. Super soft spiced cake, loaded with carrots and swirled with sweet cream cheese frosting in the center.
This post was originally published on April 2, 2020.
Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is my absolute favorite cake of all cakes. Making a roll cake, or a log cake, is so foolproof you can't mess it up.
Well I shouldn't say you can't because you probably could but they are so much easier if you are a novice baker.
It takes about half the time of a traditional cake. And far less skill set needed.
If you've never made a roll cake, the concept of a round cake with frosting in the middle may be a bit puzzling! It's quite genius in fact. And this carrot cake roll cake is superb!
You bake a thin cake on a sheet pan and while it's still warm you roll it up, like a jelly roll, in a tea towel.
Then it cools and when its time to unroll your carrot cake it holds it shape so you can easily add the cream cheese frosting and roll it back up.
You turn just about any type of cake into a roll cake, although the amount of ingredients are a bit different. I love this pumpkin roll cake for the fall time.
Ingredients For A Carrot Cake Roll
You'll find that a lot of the same ingredients for a traditional carrot cake are also in this carrot cake roll.
- eggs - this gives the cake lift, unlike a regular cake you whip these on high for 3 minutes giving them tons of air and texture, watch while the texture completely transforms
- sugar - for sweetness
- vanilla extract
- shredded carrots - the main ingredient
- flour - holds everything together
- kosher salt - for boosting flavors
- baking powder - extra lift
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
- ginger powder
This carrot cake is made without pineapple or nuts. For the cream cheese frosting you'll need cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, salt and vanilla.
How To Roll Carrot Cake?
Isn't this the funniest technique? You would think rolling up a flat piece of cake would just break everywhere, right? But it doesn't! It's purely magic. And here's how you do it.
How To Roll Carrot Cake
- Bake
The carrot cake gets baked on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, this makes it easy to roll up without cracking.
- Cool
You'll want your cake to only cool for a short while, it's best to roll it while it is still warm.
- Transferring the Cake
Grab a clean tea towel or kitchen towel and sprinkle a layer of powdered sugar on it (using a mesh collander works best to distribute the powdered sugar). Turn your cake onto the towel so the side with the parchment paper is face up and the cake is now face down.
- Roll
Gently peel off the parchment paper, sprinkle more powdered sugar onto the cake and with roll the cake up width wise.
- Continue Cooling
Let the roll cool until it has come to room temperature.
How To Make Carrot Cake Frosting - Cream Cheese Frosting
For silky smooth cream cheese frosting you'll want to use room temperature cream cheese. If the cream cheese is too cold, as you mix, there will be lots of little lumps.
Blend this together with powdered sugar, softened butter, vanilla extract and a little pinch of salt.
For a super fluffy, whipped, cream cheese frosting beat the frosting for an additional 5 minutes.
As it cools in the fridge it will chill and become firmer.
FAQ
Because the carrot cake roll is a thinner piece of cake, use your small grate for a smaller grated carrot.
No! Carrots put out a lot of moisture, in general carrot cake is a very soft squishy cake. Chilling this cake is an important step to help it firm up. In my experience a soft cake is never a bad thing!
I haven't attempted that but I do have a recipe for a traditional carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It's amazing!
Easy Carrot Cake Roll
This carrot cake roll with cream cheese frosting is delicious and so easy to make! It's the perfect shortcut when you don't have enough time to make a classic carrot cake. Super soft spiced cake, loaded with carrots and swirled with sweet cream cheese frosting in the center.
Ingredients
- 3 eggs, beaten
- ¾ c sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 c packed finely shredded carrots
- ¾ c flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ginger powder
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg
cream cheese frosting
- 1 stick cream cheese, softened
- ¼ c butter, softened
- 2 c powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- splash of vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375
- Combine the eggs and sugar in a bowl, beat on high for 3 minutes until it has at least doubled in size and is pale and foamy
- Add the vanilla and shredded carrots
- Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger powder and nutmeg
- Add the dry to the wet ingredients, stir
- Spray a rimmed cooking sheet with nonstick spray, cover with a layer of parchment paper
- Spread the batter evenly over the parchment paper, to all sides (if your pan is bigger than 10×15 only spread it out to those measurements)
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
- Lay a clean kitchen towel down on your counter, dust with a good amount of powdered sugar (it could get sticky when you unroll otherwise)
- Remove the cake from the oven, cool a few minutes and flip on to the towel, face down (so the parchment paper side is face up)
- Gently remove the parchment paper and sprinkle with more powdered sugar
- Roll the cake up rather snug and let it sit for at least 1 hour, until room temperature
- Whip together the cream cheese frosting filling; cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, pinch of salt and vanilla until smooth and silky
- Unroll and spread with the cream cheese frosting
- Roll back up
- For the best taste, refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving
Notes
- If you can spare an extra hour for the cake to cool that will be even better, I usually let it sit on the counter until it is totally cool to the touch
- Let it chill overnight after rolling with the frosting, eat the next day for the best flavor!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 266Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 254mgCarbohydrates: 47gFiber: 1gSugar: 39gProtein: 3g
This information comes from online calculators. Although moderncrumb.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
April
I LOVE the 4 layer carrot cake on moderncrum.com. I attempted the rolled carrot cake for a quick dessert. I wouldn't recommend it. It certainly didn't bake in the amount of time suggested. I pulled it out of the oven at 10 minutes, then added 2 more minutes. I discovered it was still undercooked when attempting to lay it out on the tea towel. It's a little difficult to check for doneness with a cake this short. I'm wondering if I didn't mix the batter well enough. The recipe could be amended to either say just mix the dry with the wet ingredients, or thoroughly mix. I wasn't sure. That aside, the cake had an inferior flavor to the four layer carrot cake on this site. I found it overly sweet. When I have more time to prepare a special dessert - the four layered carrot cake will be my go-to.