21 Best Cake Roll Recipes

If snacking cakes are casual and layered cakes are celebratory, then cake rolls sit somewhere between whimsical and elegant, making them much more memorable. These hypnotic desserts take a little finesse to pull off, but the pretty roll design is worth every ounce of effort. Ready to try your hand at some cake roll recipes? We’ve rounded up our best ones, from everyday flavors to gourmet ideas and even holiday-themed cake rolls.

Most of these recipes here are your usual cake flavors—red velvet, pumpkin, chocolate—rolled up (pun intended!) into a cake roll. But there are out-of-the-box flavors, too, like raspberry-matcha, cinnamon and walnuts, and orange-ricotta. Cake rolls also make such fun holiday desserts, so there are plenty of on-theme flavors here, such as gingerbread, cranberry and mocha, plus the quintessential Christmas Yule log (with a peppermint Yule log version too!).

Because cake rolls take a little more effort, read through the recipe at least once before starting so you can picture in your head how it’s all supposed to go. This is mostly to prevent the cake from cracking when you roll it, but tricks like rolling it while it’s warm and not overbaking the cake can prevent cracking. If your cake roll still cracks, though, don’t get discouraged. It’s a very common occurrence, even when you feel as if you did everything right. It’s usually salvageable with a little frosting, but if it’s cracked beyond repair, cube the cake for trifle recipes. No waste here!