The Japanese are really on to something with these patterned cake rolls. They are as impressive to behold as they are delicious to eat, and are arguably much easier and less time-intensive than fancy frosted layer cakes.
Talk about dressed to impress! If you’re the type that wants to create beautifully decorated cakes that’ll wow your guests, but don’t want to deal with a laborious layer cake, you should definitely give a Japanese-style patterned cake roll a try. This stunning style of cake allows you to create intricate designs that are baked right into the cake itself, no fancy frosting necessary. The technique does require some basic piping skills (the more you practice the better you’ll get), but honestly, even if you just piped a bunch of polka dots all over the thing, the result would be absolutely lovely.
Unlike my pumpkin roll cake which divides the main sponge batter into three separate colors, this method uses a separate paste-like batter that can create a more detailed design. The paste is piped onto a sheet of parchment, freezing briefly to set, then an airy sponge cake batter is poured over the top. After baking, peel back the parchment paper and prepare to be wowed!
I originally went for a more abstract strawberry design, with a pink background, green squiggles and yellow seeds. It came out quite cute, but looked more like an Easter egg than a strawberry. And unfortunately, I failed big time when it came to the filling on that first roll, attempting a strawberry marshmallow filling that, while it tasted amazing, oozed out of the ends of the roll like sweet, sticky magma. Take 2. Since I had to remake the cake anyway to fix the filling, I also reworked the design, opting for dots instead of squiggles (easer to pipe), and simplified red berries so there would be no mistaking the flavor of this cake roll. The cake batter paste gives the pattern an almost embossed feeling, the paste cooking up slightly firmer than the surrounding sponge. It’s a cool effect, although it is a bit tricky to cut since the paste bakes up firmer than the sponge cake itself (tip: use a serrated knife to very gently saw through the bigger shapes). Or, plan a design that allows you to cut in between the piped shapes. The little bubbles that appeared in the berries were a complete accident, but don’t they look like little seeds?
Pro Tip: To keep your cake roll from slumping into an oval, chill it in a large cardboard mailing tube (about 3.25″ in diameter). I used a cardboard tube that a whiskey bottle came in and it couldn’t have been more perfect.
This same technique could be used to create just about any design your heart desires! Whatever design you go with, I recommend creating a template or drawing the design on the back of your parchment before you start piping. I know I personally have trouble controlling the piping tip (my hands just don’t have that kind of strength), so not having to think about the design as you go is immensely helpful. I’ve created a printable template with my design (scroll down below the recipe to get it). Just print the template onto a sheet of letter sized paper, and place it under your parchment paper to help you pipe the precise design. Just don’t forget to remove the paper before baking! Since piping a design like this is somewhat tedious, you can save yourself some effort and only put the design on the outer 2/3 of the cake. The rest will be rolled up inside the final cake roll, after all, so only the part of the cake will actually be visible on the outside of the roll. (If you do this, just be sure that when you roll up your cake, you start with the blank side, otherwise your beautiful design will end up on the inside of the roll where no one can see it.) UPDATE 8/31/30: After testing this recipe numerous times I’ve adjusted the design paste recipe. The original paste was a thick batter, and while it held detail nicely, it was rather tough to pipe, and thinning it out made it harder to get a detailed design. The new and improved design paste uses softened butter rather than vegetable oil, making for a more butter-cream like consistency that’s quite easy to pipe with a piping bag. It’d also work really well with cake stencils! The updated design paste blends better with the cake, so the design won’t be quite as ‘raised’ looking as the photos. It’s also softer, and easier to cut than the old version. For reference, if you’ve made this recipe previously and want to replicate it, the original design paste called for 1 large egg white (30g), 2 tablespoons (16g) powdered sugar, 1/2 cup (50g) cake flour, 1 tablespoon (15g) vegetable oil, and 1-2 teaspoons milk as needed. The updated recipe is shown below.
Printable Template
If you want to replicate my design exactly, download the printable PDF template below. Letter-size paper is a bit smaller than a standard jelly roll pan, so you can either print multiple pages to fill the pan, or move the paper around underneath the parchment as you go along. Cook Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 12 hours Happy baking!
