Years ago, my mother and I made a trip to Germany together to visit my mother’s parents. While we were there my grandmother (Oma) baked this Strawberry Roll Cake and I fell in love with it after my very first bite. It was light, not too sweet, and utterly delectable! The creamy whipped cream and fresh strawberries hooked me. It’s a little bit of heaven with every forkful. Because I loved this cake so much Oma decided that she needed to bake me an entire cake every single day while we were visiting. I’m not kidding, she expected me to polish off an entire cake every single day. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings so I gave it my best effort but I finally had to tell her an entire cake every single day was just too much cake for me!
I would say that this is an intermediate level recipe. It’s little more involved than just mixing together a few ingredients and baking them in the oven. It requires folding ingredients together and rolling the cake into a log. Neither is difficult to do, I promise! It just takes a little extra time. You don’t need to be an expert baker to make this cake and I’ll walk you through the process step-by-step so you get excellent results.
The cake batter is rather unique. It uses very little flour, only 5 tablespoons for the entire cake, so someone with a gluten intolerance might be able tolerate a slice of this delicious cake. The cake gets its fluffy light texture from the addition of baking powder and whipping the egg whites.
Are you ready to give it a try? Let’s get started!
Make the cake:
Preheat oven to 375℉.
Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Grease the parchment paper with butter. Set aside.
Start by separating eggs. Place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment.
Beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 2-3 minutes.
Stir together egg yolks in a separate bowl.
Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the egg yolks into the whipped egg whites.
Fold in the powdered sugar and vanilla.
Fold in the flour and baking powder.
Stir gently keeping as much of the airiness in the batter as possible. It won’t be a completely smooth lump free batter, you want to stir it as little as possible, just enough to incorporate all the ingredients together.
Spread the batter out evenly onto the buttered parchment paper.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
When cake comes out of the oven place a clean dish towel over the top of the cookie sheet right away.
Turn the cookie sheet upside down onto the dish towel and remove the parchment paper.
While the cake is still hot, use the dish towel to gently roll up the cake.
Allow the cake to cool completely.
Make the filling:
Chop fresh strawberries into a small dice
Place heavy cream, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment whip the cream until soft peaks form.
Stir in chopped strawberries.
Assemble the cake:
Unroll the cooled cake dough.
Spread the filling out onto the dough keeping it about an inch or two from the edges.
Using the dish towel to help, roll the cake around the filling, using slight pressure to form the cake into a roll. Transfer the cake onto a serving platter.
Cover the cake loosely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate cake for at least 2 hours, overnight is ideal. It will help firm up the filling.
Dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar to serve. Or a drizzle of chocolate syrup would be delightful too. My Oma dusted the cake with powdered sugar, I think that’s the way this cake is traditionally served in Germany.
With the first bite, this delectable classic German confection takes me right back to my Oma’s kitchen in Germany. She was the most loving, kind woman and she showed you how much she loved you by cooking and baking the most amazing meals and desserts for those she loved most. She obviously loved me best, baking me an entire cake every single day…LOL! This cake is a timeless German classic dessert for a good reason. It’s FANTASTIC! German’s are known for their delectable baked confections and this is one of the best ones. I encourage you to give it a try, it won’t disappoint, I promise.
Classic German Strawberry Roll Cake (Erdbeere Kuchen)
Equipment
- cookie sheet
- Parchment paper
- cotton dish towel
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 5 large eggs, separated
- 5 tbsp powdered sugar
- 5 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the filling:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ cups strawberries, chopped
Instructions
Make the cake:
- Preheat oven to 375℉.
- Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Grease parchment paper with butter. Set aside.
- In the bowl off a stand mixer, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 2-3 minutes.
- Whisk together egg yolks in a separate bowl.
- Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the egg yolks into the whipped egg whites.
- Fold in the powdered sugar and vanilla.
- Fold in the flour and baking powder.
- Spread the batter out evenly onto the buttered parchment paper.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- When cake comes out of the oven place a clean dish towel over the top of the cookie sheet.
- Turn the cookie sheet upside down onto the dish towel.
- Remove parchment paper.
- While the cake is still hot, use the dish towel to roll up the cake.
- Allow the cake to cool completely.
Make the filling:
- Place heavy cream, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment whip the cream until soft peaks form.
- Stir in chopped strawberries.
Assemble the cake:
- Unroll the cooled dough.
- Spread the filling out onto the dough keeping it about an inch or two from the edges.
- Using the dish towel to help, roll the cake around the filling, using slight pressure to form into a roll.
- Transfer cake onto a serving platter and cover cake with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, overnight is ideal.
- Dust with powdered sugar to serve.
Did You Make This?
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John 6:35
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