Carrot Cake Roll
on Apr 01, 2020, Updated Jun 28, 2024
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Spring is a whole lot brighter with this simple, sweet, and moist carrot cake roll to enjoy with a little tea at breakfast or as a festive dessert!
I love the cream cheese filling and the warming notes from the spice blend. This carrot cake roll is sure to lift everyone’s spirits, and just in time for Easter! Try pairing this as a dessert with Brown Sugar Glazed Ham, and Loaded Mashed Potatoes.
I wanted to make a dessert that felt a little fun, a little fancy, wasn’t too hard to make, and was still a bit nourishing. For this recipe I’ve used whole grains and maple syrup instead of traditional sugar. It tastes great, just like a traditional, moist carrot cake with warm spices, bright carrots, and smooth cream cheese.
I am so happy to partner once again with Bob’s Red Mill, one of my family’s favorites, to bring you this recipe! Bob’s Red Mill has consistently been my go-to for all my baking needs, and I love their assortment of options (especially when baking for those with food allergies or intolerances). Their flours come in stone-ground, whole grain, organic, gluten free, paleo, and vegan options. How cool is that? I know I can always count on Bob’s Red Mill for any holiday baking recipe, and any rendition of the classics (like this carrot cake roll!). Thank you for supporting my family by supporting the brands we choose to partner with and truly do love!
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love this Recipe:
- Can be made with traditional or non traditional ingredients
- A unique take on a traditional carrot cake
- Delicious
- Looks so fancy but is easier to make than you’d think
- A crowd pleaser
Ingredients:
For the Cake:
- Eggs
- Maple Syrup
- Vanilla Extract
- Salt
- Baking Powder
- Ground Cinnamon
- Ground Ginger
- Cloves
- Bob’s Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Flour
- Shredded Carrots
- Flour
- Powdered Sugar– To dust on top
For the Filling:
- Cream Cheese
- Maple Syrup
- Vanilla Extract
- Ground Cinnamon
See recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
Frequently Asked Questions:
Serve your carrot cake roll with powdered sugar dusted on top. Slice with a sharp knife and serve the pieces laid flat on a platter.
Store the carrot cake roll wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Yes! Add your leftover carrot cake roll in a freezer-safe zipper topped bag. It will last for up to 3 months frozen. Thaw to serve when ready.
Here’s what it should look like for the only kind of “tricky parts” to this:
Remove the foil, roll it, up in a dusted towel, let it rest!
Then when it’s cool you unroll it from the towel (a little cracking and breaking is normal), add the cream cheese filling, and then roll it back up again! You’ll want to wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it before serving.
Isn’t that fun!? It has a little bit of a “wow” factor that makes it really fun to eat.
More Easter Recipes to Consider:
Salads
Tortellini Salad Recipe
Salads
Beet Salad
Side Dishes and Salads
Apple Salad
Side Dishes and Salads
Twice Baked Potato Casserole
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Carrot Cake Roll
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 to 2 cups shredded carrots, (about 1 to 3 large carrots)
- 1/4 cup extra flour or powdered sugar
For the Filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., and line a jelly roll pan with a piece of foil long enough to over hang the two short edges just a bit. Spray the foil well with cooking spray, and set the pan aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, add the eggs and the maple syrup. Beat with an electric mixer or with the whisk attachment of your stand mixer for 5 minutes. The mixture will be very light and puffy.
- Add the vanilla to the bowl. Sprinkle the salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and flour over the top of the whipped eggs and then fold the ingredients into the eggs.
- Add the shredded carrots and fold into the batter.
- Spread the batter into an even, thin layer in the pan, being sure to spread it to the edges and corners of the pan.
- Bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes.
- While the cake is baking, spread a large clean kitchen towel out and dust it with 1/4 cup flour or powdered sugar (if you are squeamish about raw flour, you can microwave it first).
- When the cake comes out of the oven, holding it carefully on the foil ends, flip it, top down onto the prepared kitchen towel. Remove the pan.
- Gently remove the foil from the back of the cake.
- Starting at the short end of the cake, roll it up inside the towel (pictures in post to help explain).
- Roll the cake completely inside the towel and let it rest there until it cools, at least 1 hour.
- When you are ready to assemble your carrot cake roll, make the icing by adding the cream cheese, maple syrup, vanilla, and ground cinnamon to a medium mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Beat on high speed with the whisk attachment or with an electric mixer for 5 minutes or until very light and fluffy.
- Carefully unroll the cake inside of the towel.
- Spread the filling evenly over the inside of the cake.
- Starting at the same short edge that you started rolling the cake up in the towel, roll the cake (without the towel) into a roll.
- Transfer your carrot cake roll to a large piece of plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you are ready to serve it. This can be made up to 24 hours in advance.
- When you are ready to serve, unroll your cake and dust with powdered sugar if you have it, or simply slice the roll and lay the pieces on a platter.
Notes
- Note that this dessert is not very sweet. It’s a healthier, less sweet version of the original and you should expect that. If you’d like it sweeter, the additional notes have information on using traditional sugar and powdered sugar.
- I tested this recipe a few different ways to help accommodate what you may or may not have at home right now. If you don’t have powdered sugar, you can use the flour to dust the towel instead, no issue there.
- If you’d like to use all-purpose flour instead of the whole wheat flour, feel free. I did not test this recipe with gluten-free 1:1 baking flour, but I really think it would work. If anyone tries it, will you let the rest of us know in a comment?
- You can replace the maple syrup with granulated sugar if you’d like in the cake batter.
- You can replace the maple syrup with 1 to 1.5 cups of powdered sugar in the filling if you’d like.
- No cream cheese? Try making a buttercream icing for the filling instead. You’ll need about 2 cups.
- I didn’t want any carrot waste so I tried this with a few different amounts, any amount between 1 and 2 cups will work great; just use 2 carrots or whatever you have and use the whole carrots! That being said, try to shred them very finely if you can or chop up your grated carrots a bit with a knife. Because the cooking time is much shorter than traditional carrot cake, larger pieces of carrot didn’t soften well when baked, finely grated work much better.
Nutrition
Disclosure: I was compensated by Bob’s Red Mill for the work I did on this post. Thank you for supporting the brands that I thoughtfully choose to support.
