This festive Red Velvet Cake Roll is filled with a classic cream cheese frosting. The soft and chocolatey cake combined with the creamy frosting is delicious!

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Cake rolls are such an attractive dessert…and they’re incredibly easy to make! I know cake rolls might look intimidating. You might even think, “There’s no way I can make one of those.” I used to think the same thing. Once you make one, you’ll get the hang of it…and then you’ll be making cake rolls for every holiday!

A cake roll goes by many names, including rolled cake, roulade or the classic Swiss cake roll. Sweetened whipped cream (aka Chantilly cream) is perhaps the most common filling. However, depending on the flavor of the cake, buttercream frosting or cream cheese frosting are both excellent filling options, too.

Red Velvet Cake Roll

Cake rolls are typically made using sponge cakes, a light and airy type of cake that contains very little or no fat at all. When making a sponge cake, the eggs and sugar are whipped together for a full 5 minutes and then the flour mixture is folded in afterwards. Angel food cakes are perhaps the most common example of sponge cakes.

The cake portion of this Red Velvet Cake Roll is not a true sponge cake as it does include a tablespoon of vegetable oil. (I like to include this tiny bit of oil as it helps make the cake more flexible – that way it doesn’t crack when you roll it.)

For this Red Velvet Cake Roll, the batter includes cocoa powder, buttermilk and a bit of vinegar – all of which are traditional ingredients in red velvet cake. In fact, the reaction of the buttermilk and vinegar with the cocoa powder is what gave original red velvet cakes their naturally red color. Nowadays, most red velvet cakes use red food coloring to achieve that bright and festive color.

Once the eggs are whipped and the flour mixture is folded in, the thin cake batter is poured into a jelly roll pan (i.e. a rimmed baking sheet). The cake only bakes for ~10-12 minutes. It’s a thin cake, so it doesn’t take long.

Once the cake has baked, that’s when the cake roll magic begins! The hot cake is flipped out of the pan onto a tea towel or thin cloth that has been dusted with powdered sugar. (The powdered sugar keeps the cake from sticking to the towel.) Then the whole thing (towel and all) gets rolled up. That might sound crazy, but it’s not difficult at all!

Once the cake has cooled, it gets unrolled and filled with the best cream cheese frosting ever. Then the whole thing gets rolled right back up – this time without the towel. Wrap that cake in plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge to chill for an hour or two. That’s it. While the process for making roll cakes is a bit different, it’s nevertheless quite easy. I’ve included links below for some of my other favorite roll cake recipes!

How to Store Leftover Roll Cakes

A roll cake will produce ~8-10 slices of cake. (On a side note, my wife loves roll cakes as she says they have the perfect ratio of cake to frosting…which basically means more frosting per bite.) If you have leftover slices, just wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and store ’em in the fridge for up to 5 days.

If you’re looking for a festive dessert recipe for Christmas (or Valentine’s Day), then this Red Velvet Cake Roll is a great option. I hope you and your family enjoy this cake as much as we do! Happy baking!

Did you make this Red Velvet Cake Roll recipe at home? Leave a comment, or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog) – I’d love to see your version!