Ice Cream Cake Roll
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A drool worthy dessert! This Ice Cream Cake Roll is easy to make and loved by everyone!
Ice Cream Cake Roll. Sounds daunting right!? NO. It’s so easy to make!
This is the dessert my family eats EVERY December when we have Christmas dinner. My mother would make this ice cream cake roll, and she always made a big deal about how hard it was. I think the only “hard” part about making this ice cream cake roll, is rolling it up without it cracking.
When I made this cake for the first time I couldn’t believe how easy it was!
How to make Ice Cream Cake Roll
- Once the cake is out of the oven, place a thin kitchen towel on a flat work surface.
- Sift 2/3-3/4 cup of powdered sugar on to the towel. You don’t need to cover the ENTIRE towel. But it needs to cover enough space to fit the cake. Don’t be shy with the powdered sugar. If you think 3/4 cup isn’t enough, add more. The powdered sugar prevents the cake from sticking to the towel. Be generous.
- Turn the cake onto the powdered sugar lined towel. GENTLY roll the cake and towel together. Rolling the cake while warm creates “muscle memory” if you will, for the cake.
- Once the cake has cooled, unroll the cake and add the softened ice cream. My homemade creamy vanilla ice cream tastes amazing in this cake roll! I pull my ice cream out of the freezer 15 minutes or so before I plan on spreading it over the cake. You want the ice cream to be workable.
- Gently spread the ice cream over the cake until you have achieved an even layer covering the cake. Just remember, if you add a lot of ice cream, you won’t get much of a swirl effect. I’ve made this cake multiple times, once with A LOT of ice cream and then with 16 oz of ice cream (which is pictured here). Both tasted great! So do whatever floats your boat.
- Roll the cake and ice cream up. Cover with aluminum foil and immediately place in the freezer for 4-6 hours or until firm.
- Serve with hot fudge, powdered sugar, or crushed candy canes.
To make things fun, I’ll switch out the vanilla ice cream for something more festive, such as peppermint ice cream if we’re eating this around Christmas and New Years.
Or if it’s for my birthday dessert I’ll add cookies ‘n cream ice cream. This dessert is very customizable, so have fun with it!!
If you love this Ice Cream Cake Roll recipe, try these:
Ice Cream Cake Roll
Don't let this ice cream cake scare you, it's surprisingly easy to make and tastes amazing!
Servings: 12 servings
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup hot water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar, for dusting
- 1/2 gallon ice cream (whatever flavor you'd like) - *you'll use only 1/2 of the container!
- hot fudge for serving
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray or grease a jellyroll pan (helps keep the parchment in place), then line the jellyroll pan with parchment paper and grease or spray the parchment as well. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your electric mixer (fitted with the whisk attachment), beat the eggs for 2 minutes on high speed until fluffy and pale in color. Gradually add the granulated sugar. Beat 2 more minutes on medium speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, salt, hot water, and vanilla extract. Mix on low speed for about 1 minute or until just combined. Pour batter into the jellyroll pan and use a spatula to spread the batter into an even layer. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick entered in the center comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake the cake.
- While the cake is baking spread a thin dishtowel onto a flat surface. Generously dust the towel with powdered sugar. Remove cake from oven then turn the cake onto the prepared towel. Peel off the parchment paper.
- Starting with the narrow end, immediately roll the cake and towel together. Let the cake sit until cool.
- Once cool, unroll cake and spread the softened ice cream over the surface of the cake. I use about 1/2 of a half gallon of ice cream. You don't want to add too much ice cream, otherwise it will just seep out when rolling it up.
- Re-roll cake without the towel. (See notes). Cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and place in the freezer. Let it freeze for 4-6 hours, but preferably overnight.
- Remove from freezer, dust the cake roll with powdered sugar. Slice, and serve with hot fudge and any other toppings you'd like!
Notes
Notes:
Don't be alarmed if the cake roll cracks a little, this recipe is prone to it. It's inevitable!
To cover any cracks simply sprinkle a generous amount of powdered sugar overtop to cover it!
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12 Comments on “Ice Cream Cake Roll”
Excellent instructions. Very clear and easy to follow. This dessert turned out wonderfully! I did not have any problems with cracking and I packed a lot of ice cream into the cake and had no trouble rolling it. Thank you for sharing your recipe. I’d like to make a lemon version of the cake. Would you happen to have a recipe for that? I might try omitting the cocoa powder and increasing the flour and adding lemon zest.
Hi again, so I wanted to give you an update on the cake. I’m re rating it because the flavor was excellent.(I actually added about 1 tbsp instant espresso.) So I have two questions:
1. Can you us how to avoid the cracks? 2. Also even though I used parchment and greased it well, so much of the cake batter stuck to the parchment. 3. Also do you think it’s necessary to roll it warm and then re roll it? Thanks again, and wish you the best.
Thanks for the questions pat. I made the cake just yesterday so I have a few pointers (and I’ve since updated the recipe card with some of these tips).
1- avoiding the cracks… honestly, it’s a bit inevitable with this recipe. This recipe is actually my late grandmothers. I asked my mom about the cracking issue too and she said she always gets minor cracking. It’s just the recipe! Honestly, the cake probably needs a touch of oil for added moisture. I’m thinking of posting a chocolate Swiss roll recipe in February (you could freeze it or enjoy it at room temperature). Would you like that?
2- the cake shouldn’t stick to the parchment at all. I’ve never had this issue. Next time you make a cake roll I suggest you spray or grease the jelly roll pan (will keep the parchment in place), then place the parchment in the pan. THEN grease or spray the parchment as well. When I use cooking spray I always use Bakers Joy (it has flour in the spray) and I’ve never had issues with sticking. That spray is amazing!!!!
3-Yes, roll the cake while warm! In fact, that’s one thing I changed in the recipe card after making it yesterday. I removed the cake from the oven and immediately rolled it in the towel.
Does that help?? Let me know if you have any more questions. Happy to help in any way that I can!
I’m giving this one star for two reasons. I think the eggs should be separated. Directions are not specific. I am an experienced baker and this was a disaster. I decided to watch a youtube video to save it. My cake cracked badly….I had to re do it. so I decided to watch a youtube video and it turned out. Sorry for the poor review but I’m being honest. Two other questions, this site is full of spyware and why do people give 5 stars without trying it?
Hi Pat. I’m so grateful you made this recipe! Thank you for doing so. You never mentioned how the cake tasted, I hope you enjoyed it!
This ice cream cake roll is a bit dense, almost brownie like, for the cake. Separating the eggs is definitely something you can do to make this a fluffier cake. Because the cake is more dense (one feature I LOVE about this recipe), you’re right, there will be a few minor cracks in the cake. I plan on making the ice cream cake roll tomorrow so that I can give updated feedback.
To answer your questions:
1- this site has no spyware. I even had my technical support guy look into it and he reassured me all is well. Might you be referring to the ads you see on Salt & Baker? If that’s what you meant, then yes! There are ads, and I’m SO grateful for them! In fact, those ads provide for my family.
2- I can’t control what people do. If they want to leave a 5 star rating without trying the recipe, that’s fine! Maybe they think they can’t comment without leaving a rating? Your guess is as good as mine.
Keep your chin up Pat, happy holidays and happy baking!
Looks so yummy. I would love to try this ice cream cake roll as I have never tasted it before. It looks very delicious in the image and hope it will be more delicious in real.
Thanks! Yes you need to try it! It tastes amazing with some chocolate topping and even nuts overtop. When you get around to making it let me know how it goes!
Looks like a yummy recipe to try. Question though, I noticed there wasn’t any…oil or butter in the cake part of the recipe. Is that missing or is this…a cake without that?
I know, it’s weird to see a cake recipe without oil! There’s none in this recipe. It makes for a tad thicker and denser cake.
It looks really delicious. Can’t wait to try it out. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks Jessica!! Hope you like it!
YUM! This cake looks delicious ♥