Fresh Strawberry and Cream Japanese Cake Roll

A fluffy and moist Japanese cake roll filled with fresh strawberries and a not-too-sweet whipped cream that is stabilized with gelatin. The most heavenly dessert.

Jump to:

• Perfect Not-Too-Sweet Japanese Dessert
• Why You'll Love This Recipe
• Ingredients & Substitutions
• How to Prevent a Cake Roll From Sagging?
• Tips For the Fluffiest Chiffon Cake Roll
• Step-By-Step Strawberry Swiss Roll
• Step By Step - Stabilized Whipped Cream
• How To Make Different Flavored Rolls
• How to Use a Different Sized Pan
• How to Make This Cake a Birthday Cake
• Recipe

Perfect Not-Too-Sweet Japanese Dessert

A light and airy Japanese cake roll filled with strawberries is one of the most requested recipes I had in the last few months. After the success many of you had with my Japanese Chocolate Cake Roll recipe, many expressed the desire to bake a similarly soft and fluffy chiffon cake but in a vanilla flavor so it can be filled with whichever fruit your heart desired. It took a little while because I've been happily writing away over at indulgewithbibi (this month's topic: baby sleep training) but I'm happy to finally share this recipe for a delicious strawberry swiss roll that is made in the not-too-sweet Japanese style.

This strawberry cake roll is by far one of the easiest and most delicious desserts you can make in under an hour and a half from start to finish. I highly recommend you give it a try. And if you've made it and enjoyed it, I challenge you to bring the look of your cake roll up a notch by making fancy patterns on the cake roll with this Fancy Pattern Cake Roll recipe.

XOXO,
Mimi

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• Light & Fluffy - this strawberry cake roll uses a chiffon cake as the base so it's super light and airy.
• Flexible Cake Base - doesn't crack easily when rolled.
• Semi-sweet - made in the Asian dessert style, both the fresh cream filling and the cake base are mildly sweet.
• Pipeable Whipped Cream - unlike regular un-stabilized whipped cream, the stabilized whipped cream in this recipe is sturdy enough for use in cake rolls without drooping and for piping designs.

Ingredients & Substitutions

Japanese Chiffon Cake Base

• Cake Flour - cake flour is a low protein flour which will help make this cake lighter and softer than if using all purpose flour. You can also use "cake & pastry flour" which many stores sell, This is a blend of both flours with a lower protein than AP. It's ok to use AP flour if that is all you have.
• Baking soda + cream of tartar - it acts as a leavening agent in case there is any weaknesses in the meringue. It can be substituted as a group with 1 tsp. baking powder.
• Sea salt - use half the amount if using table salt.
• Granulated sugar - this first set of sugar is added into the wet ingredients to help add moisture and separate the grains.
• Neutral oil - canola, grapeseed, avocado are all good choices.
• Vanilla extract - rounds out all the flavors in the cake.
• Egg whites - fresh egg whites, large size. Preferably at room temperature.
• Granulated sugar - use only granulated sugar, powdered sugar does not work for whipping meringue.
• Cream of tartar - is an acid that helps to stabilize the meringue. It can be substituted with double the amount of lemon juice or vinegar.

Stabilized Whipped Cream

• Granulated sugar - the sweetness level is moderate in this recipe, add an extra 1 teaspoon if you prefer a sweeter taste.
• Heavy cream 36% M.F. - has a milk fat content of at least 36%. It can be substituted with whipping cream (with minimum 30% milk fat) but heavy cream will produce an even more sturdy frosting. It needs to be completely chilled before whipping or else it won't whip up.
• Vanilla extract
• Gelatin powder, unflavored - the Knox brand was used in this recipe. It can usually be found in the baking aisle by the yeast.
• Fresh organic strawberries - this can be substituted with other fruits like mangoes or canned peaches.

How to Prevent a Cake Roll From Sagging?

This fresh strawberry cream cake roll is filled with a fresh whipped cream that is stabilized with gelatin. For cake rolls, I prefer taking some extra steps to stabilize the cream filling because whipped cream has a tendency to deflate after a while. It's completely possible to skip the stabilization part by whipping the cream with sugar and omitting the gelatin - which a lot of recipes do - but you might find that the cream gets a bit sloppy and the shape of the cake roll doesn't hold up as well, especially after a few hours.

For use as a cake topping, whipped cream can be conveniently stabilized with powdered sugar as seen in this recipe. However, for use as a filling, it's preferable to stabilize it with gelatin instead. It may sound intimidating but it's actually quite easy and the results are well worth the effort. If you need extra guidance and tips, here is a complete tutorial on How to Stabilize Whipped Cream with Gelatin.

Tips For the Fluffiest Chiffon Cake Roll

Unlike a sponge cake which uses no or little butter, the pillow-y soft chiffon cake base in this roll uses oil instead. The secret to this Asian bakery-style roll cake is its super fluffy cake base. Here are some tips:

• Use cake flour instead of AP flour.
• Always sift cake flour to prevent clumps.
• Gently incorporate the dry-mix and wet ingredients together until no lumps of flour can be seen. Do not over mix as it will result in a tough cake.
• For the meringue, use room temperature egg whites for better volume.
• Whip the egg whites in a clean non-plastic bowl free of oil and water.
• Gently fold the meringue into the cake batter, retaining the air that you've built into the meringue. Do not stir.
• Use parchment paper to line the cake pan and for rolling. It prevents sticking and tearing of the cake.

Step-By-Step Strawberry Swiss Roll

In a large mixing bowl, sift in cake flour, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Stir to combine. I like this type of strainer for sifting dry ingredients because it's quicker and provides better control. Create a well in the center. Inside it, add yolks, oil, vanilla extract and milk.

With a spatula, stir to combine until fully incorporated, do not over mix. Set this milk-flour mixture aside.

Next, Make the meringue in a clean and dry, non-plastic mixing bowl (ex. stainless steel mixing bowl or glass mixing bowl). This is crucial as meringues do not whip well in the presence of oil and water. Whip egg whites on slow speed until frothy, add cream of tartar. Whip until stiff peaks as shown in the photo above on the right. When the whisk is pulled out, the meringue does not droop on itself.

Gently fold the meringue into the cake flour batter until fully incorporated.

Dab a little bit of the batter onto the parchment paper and stick it to the pan to prevent the paper from tipping over into the cake batter. I used a darker colored pan here giving my cake a more golden finish. It turns out this 8 x 12 pan size in this color is a little hard to find, my pan was inherited but I was able to find this one on Amazon for you.

Pour batter into lined cake pan from one spot, spread out the batter evenly with an angled spatula. Rap the cake pan on the counter a few times to rid excess bubbles. Bake for 14-16 min. at 325 F. Let cool 5 min. in the pan before removing. Place cooling rack over cake pan.

Flip cake over onto the rack, remove pan. Gently remove paper. The side facing up will eventually become the top of the cake roll. Let it sit on cooling rack for 5 min.

Place a piece of new parchment paper on top of the cake. Flip the cake over and start rolling. Let it cool in this wrapped condition while making the fresh cream.

Step By Step - Stabilized Whipped Cream

Refrigerate mixing bowl and beaters in the fridge for a minimum of 15 minutes. This will help cream whip better. Clean and pat dry strawberries. Remove the husk and cut into 1 cm sized pieces. Place water in heatproof cup and sprinkle gelatin on top to bloom. Wait 5 minutes. Place cup in a small sauce pan filled with simmering water. Once gelatin becomes liquid, take it out of the water. Let cool on the counter.

Immediately start beating the cream and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the chilled bowl. Whip on low speed and then increase to medium. Check on the gelatin. It should no longer be warm but still runny.

Once the beaters leave tracks in the cream, pour the gelatin into the bowl slowly and steadily. Aim for the area in between the whisk and the bowl. Stop beating once the cream turns stiff. Do not over whip. Use cream to assemble the cooled cake immediately.

Clean and pat dry strawberries, then cut into 1 cm sized pieces. Apply an even layer of cream to unrolled cake roll, spread strawberries evenly apart, then roll up. Wrap cake roll in plastic wrap and place in fridge to set before cutting. Cut off the sides before serving for a cleaner finish.

How To Make Different Flavored Rolls

To make the cake roll in different flavors, powders, extracts and infusion-method can be utilized in either the cake base or the filling. Dry powders (like cocoa, matcha etc.) can be added into the cake base with the dry mix like in these recipes: matcha cake roll and gingerbread cake roll.

On the other hand, liquid extracts can be added into the wet mix like in this cotton candy cake roll or vanilla flavored strawberry cake roll). For added flavor and natural coloring, fruit/vegetable purees can be added like in this pumpkin spice cake roll or carrot spice cake roll. Adding ingredients with more liquid composition will take more experimentation. If you want an easier method try the next method below.

Another way to add flavor is to simply add extracts into the cream filling during the whipping process. The flavors can also be infused into the cream by letting the flavored ingredients (like leave leaves) soak/steep inside the cream before using it for whipping (see Earl Grey Tea cake roll, instead of steeping the whipping cream, the leaves are steeped in the milk for the cake batter). Just make sure not to use ingredients with high acidity as it will cause the cream to curdle.

You can even try mixing and matching different flavored cake bases with different cream fillings using these recipes to guide you: chocolate cake roll, matcha cake roll, coffee cake roll, mango cake roll and carrot cake roll.

Lastly, you can make beautiful pattern cake rolls using these recipes: fancy pattern cake roll, bear pattern cake roll, Christmas silent night cake roll and gingerbread man pattern cake roll.

How to Use a Different Sized Pan

You can bake this cake in a different sized pan but note that the quantity of ingredients are at an optimal amount for use with the current pan size resulting in a perfect thickness for rolling without cracking. This Sloppy Peach Cake in a cup recipe will teach you how to bake this cake in different sized pans. It has the same great taste but allows more room for error if you're not confident about rolling the cake base.

How to Make This Cake a Birthday Cake

I'm often asked if this cake can be made into a "birthday cake". I completely understand what this question means but a part of me also wants to say, "cake rolls can be birthday cakes too!" Kidding aside, this cake base is super soft and fluffy which makes it perfect for cake rolls but not as sturdy for a round birthday cake that requires stacking and extra cream. I've since worked on adapting this recipe for use as a "birthday cake". The adapted recipe is called: Asian Bakery Strawberry Chiffon Cake.

Note to reader: The format of this recipe was updated on May 17, 2023 to make it more concise. The method, and all ingredients and its quantities, remain the same as before.