Your friends and family will fall in love with this showstopping Valentine’s Day Strawberry Cake Roll! Filled with strawberry jam and sweet cream cheese, it delivers bakery-style results with easy-to-follow steps and helpful pro tips.
In this article you'll learn:
- Make a bakery-style strawberry cake roll with a soft, flexible génoise that rolls smoothly around sweet cream cheese filling and jam without cracking.
- The simple mixing method and pro baking tips that create a light texture, clean spiral, and darling presentation with heart designs.
- Easy ingredient choices and make-ahead timing that allow the cake to chill, slice neatly, and serve beautifully for gatherings or gifting.
- Troubleshooting guidance for common cake-roll issues like cracking, sogginess, or dense texture so the final dessert turns out tender and balanced.
- To make a festive dessert developed by a test-kitchen expert, designed to feel impressive while remaining doable at home.
Generated with AI and experts from the Tara Teaspoon team.
I grew up with mom making cake rolls. I thought they were the most fun dessert imaginable! Most often they were simple jelly rolls (cake with a layer of jelly inside) or cake rolled around ice cream, sliced and served with hot fudge.
One of the most popular cake recipes is a fall-themed Pumpkin Cake Roll. With strawberries and cream in mind, I set out to recreate that popular cake for the perfect Valentine's Day dessert!
I started my Valentine's Day Strawberry Cake Roll with an almond flavored Génoise cake with pink and red hearts on the outside! I'll show you the trick to making those below!
Jump to:
- In this article you'll learn:
- What is a génoise cake?
- What makes this cake special
- Ingredients
- How to make this Valentine's Day strawberry cake roll
- Make the heart pattern
- Make the cake
- Baking tips for patterned cake roll
- Make the filling and roll the cake
- Rolling tips for patterned cake roll
- Equipment
- Storage & make ahead
- FAQ
- More Valentine's Day dessert recipes
- 📖 Full Recipe
- 💬 Comments & Reviews
What is a génoise cake?
Génoise originated in Italy and is used in French pastry shops. It is a light and airy, eggy cake that is perfect for layering and for cake rolls. The fluffy texture is created with a combination of whipped eggs and granulated sugar.
Since it's also made with less butter than a regular American cake, génoise has the perfect flexible texture needed for rolling. If you try to roll a traditional cake, it will crack because of the excess butter in the crumb.
The simple flavor of génoise really complements rich fillings. It's traditionally brushed with simple syrup or layered with jam to add moisture and flavor.
What makes this cake special
For a festive twist, I used sweet strawberry jam in this cake roll, paired with a rich, filling made from cream cheese and heavy cream.
I know you are already drooling, but I couldn't make this just a regular strawberry jelly roll cake. Oh no, I had to make it a patterned roll cake with cute polka dots and pretty hearts for Valentine's Day!
This heart roll cake is absolutely delicious on its own, and even better served with fresh strawberries or a drizzle of homemade strawberry sauce.
Keep swooning, there's more to love:
- Simple ingredients: You'll be surprised to find out that such an impressive cake is actually made with simple pantry ingredients, like eggs, sugar, and flour.
- Easy to make: This showstopper is easier to make than it looks because I'm sharing the pro tips that will make your cake a success.
- Impressive: Get ready for the oohs and aahs when your family and friends see this professional bakery-style cake made right in your own kitchen!
- Versatile: You can make the cake recipe as written, or you can omit the extra heart designs to create a classic strawberry roll cake any time of the year.
Don't let Valentine's Day pass you by without making this fresh and easy Raspberry Tart (with Pastry Cream) and these cute Chocolate Marshmallow Valentine's Cookies.
So normally I’m pretty skeptical of recipes on the internet but when I say this recipe literally had me licking the bowl of everything I made, it was SOOOO good!!! When I unrolled the cake it did fall apart a little bit but I’ve always struggled with that no matter what recipe or how fast I roll or unroll the cake. Nonetheless, the little heart designs came out so cute!!! Definitely making this come valentines day, thank you for sharing this recipe!!!
- Silas
Ingredients
Believe it or not, the Valentine cake roll itself requires minimal ingredients. Check out these tips as you gather everything to make the cake. See recipe card for quantities.
For the pattern and cake batter
- Large eggs
- Granulated sugar
- Oil: Use a neutral oil like canola.
- All-purpose flour: Provides structure to the cake. Make sure to measure it properly (I suggest weighing it) and fold it into the batter gently.
- Food coloring: For the best results, use gel food coloring instead of liquid food coloring.
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Almond extract: You could also use vanilla extract.
- Salted butter: The entire cake is made with just ¼ cup of melted butter for a little boost of flavor.
- Confectioners' sugar: You'll need plenty to roll the cake into the classic jelly roll shape.
For the filling and garnish
- Heavy cream: Adds body and richness to the filling.
- Cream cheese: Use room temperature cream cheese for lump-free filling. Make sure to buy brick-style, full-fat cream cheese. If you use lite or spreadable cream cheese, the filling won't set up properly.
- Confectioners' sugar: Helps to sweeten and thicken the filling.
- Almond extract
- Strawberry jam: If desired, you can use other flavors of jam.
- Garnish: I like to garnish with fresh strawberries. If you use another flavor of jam, select the fresh fruit that matches best.
I’ve made this twice now, one strawberry and one blackberry, and both times they’ve been huge hits! I’m a serious Fail Baker, but this was too easy to mess up! Simple but elegant and amazing!
- Holli
How to make this Valentine's Day strawberry cake roll
Let's get started! Follow these step-by-step instructions to learn how to make this Valentine recipe. See recipe card for comprehensive directions.
Make the heart pattern
You'll make a separate batter to create a pattern on the outside of the cake roll.
- Step 1: Whip egg whites, sugar and then oil together, for a mini batch of batter.
- Step 2: The mixture should form firm peaks.
- Step 3: Whisk flour in by hand, and don't overmix.
- Step 4: Use gel food coloring to tint half pink and half red.
- Step 5: Use zip top bags with the corner snipped, or piping bags for the batter.
- Step 6: Pipe hearts and dots, or desired designs, on the parchment in a jelly roll pan. Freeze the entire pan.
Make the cake
This cake relies on whipping the eggs quite a bit. Using a stand mixer makes this process easier.
- Step 1: Whip the eggs, salt, and baking powder together until mixture is very fluffy. Gradually add the sugar while mixer is running.
- Step 2: After the sugar, add the butter and almond extract. The mixture will be very light and aerated.
- Step 3: Remove from the mixer and stir the flour in by hand, making sure not to deflate the batter.
- Step 4: Pour and smooth the batter over the frozen hearts and immediately bake.
- Step 5: Dust a clean towel with confectioners' sugar.
- Step 6: Run a knife around the edges of the hot cake and flip over onto the prepared towel.
- Step 7: Gently remove parchment from cake and place ANOTHER towel on top of the hearts. Flip the entire cake over so the hearts are on the bottom.
- Step 8: Roll the cake in the towel so the hearts are on the outside of the roll, and let it cool.
Baking tips for patterned cake roll
- Make separate piping batter: Because the cake batter relies heavily on aeration to rise, it needs to be baked immediately after being whipped and is not ideal for making the outside pattern. Instead, I created a separate mini cake batter recipe for the pink and red hearts. It should be piped onto the pan and frozen solid while you make the génoise.
- Don't over whip the egg whites: The eggs should only be whipped to soft peaks (the tip easily falls over on the peak) before mixing in the oil and flour.
- Easier whipped method: Classic génoise recipes call for heating the eggs and sugar, but this is tedious, and I wanted an easier, make-at-home kind of method. I opted to beat the eggs like crazy to aerate them and add the sugar slowly, so it would dissolve without deflating the mixture. The air that gets whipped into the eggs acts as the leavening for the cake, so you'll only need a little baking powder.
- Omit the design: I baked this specifically as a Valentine's Day cake, but you don't have to make the outside heart pattern. Leave it plain for a classic strawberry roll cake or change the pattern for another holiday.
Make the filling and roll the cake
Tip: To save washing an extra bowl, you'll whip the cream first, remove it from the bowl, then mix the cream cheese. Add the whipped cream back to the cream cheese mixture! Make sure the cream cheese is soft so there are not lumps.
- Step 1: Whip cream to firm peaks and remove from the mixing bowl.
- Step 2: In the same mixing bowl combine the sugar and soft cream cheese.
- Step 3: Stir the whipped cream and extract into the cream cheese mixture.
- Step 4: Unroll cooled cake and remove towel. (Tip: roll it back up to easily move the cake around.)
- Step 5: Unroll cake onto a piece of plastic wrap.
- Step 6: Spread cake with jam then prepared filling.
- Step 7: Gently roll cake over filling, lifting as you roll so the filling doesn't all squish out!
- Step 8: Wrap cake in the plastic wrap, plus more as needed, and chill entire cake.
Rolling tips for patterned cake roll
- Prepare cake to be flipped: Right out of the oven, let the cake sit in the pan for about one minute, then loosen it by gently running a knife around the edges.
- Dust towels with confectioners' sugar: Lightly dust a tea towel with powdered sugar, I use two clean kitchen towels to do this.
- Flip and roll: For a regular cake roll, you simply turn the cake out of the pan onto a towel before rolling it. However, since the heart design is on the bottom when baked, you need to do an extra flip. Turn the cake out of the pan onto the first dusted towel and pull off the parchment. Then lay the second towel over the cake and carefully flip it over in the towels.
- Shape and cool: Now the cake is ready to be rolled into a spiral. Remove the towel from the plain side of the cake, then roll the warm cake inside the second towel from one short end to the other. The heart designs should be facing outward. Let cake roll cool until it is no longer warm to the touch.
- Don't overfill: Leaving at least an inch at the end of the cake without filling accounts for the filling squishing towards the end as it gets rolled. This will ensure none of the filling is lost!
Equipment
I used a jelly roll pan to get just the right size for a cake roll. Jelly roll pans are slightly smaller than a typical rimmed baking sheet (often called a half-sheet pan that measure 13-by-17-inches).
A jelly roll pan measures 10-by-15 inches, but even jelly roll pans can differ in size! This jelly roll pan, and this one are both very standard and fit my recipe. This one from Oxo is slightly smaller and you can see my adjusted recipe in the Recipe Notes if you are using this pan.
Trim your parchment paper sheet to fit just inside the bottom of the pan.
Clean, thin dish towels, or flour sack towels are great for rolling the cake. I have even used a clean cloth napkin that is big enough to fit the cake.
Storage & make ahead
Make-ahead: The cake needs to chill for at least 2 hours before it can be sliced and served. However, it can be prepared up to 1 day before serving. Once filled and chilled, wrap well in plastic wrap so the cake doesn't dry out.
Leftovers: You can rewrap leftovers or store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
FAQ
It's normal for a cake roll to crack a little bit, especially if it is your first time making one. If it is cracking a lot, it is probably too dry and you should consider the following:
Oven temperature: It may sound finicky, but oven temperature matters and our ovens can be off by 25 to 50 degrees! Try using an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is not too hot or too cool. If the oven is too hot, the cake will get overcooked and won't roll well.
Too much flour: The next troubleshooting item is the flour. It's important to measure the flour properly with a food scale or the scoop and level method. Adding too much flour will make the cake dry and more likely to crack.
Wrong pan: The cake will be too thin to roll properly if you use a half sheet pan instead of a jelly-roll pan.
The cake batter should be fluffy and pourable, but not thick and stiff. If yours seems too thin, you likely didn't get enough air whipped into the egg and sugar mixture, or you overmixed when adding the flour.
Once the baked génoise cake has been rolled into the initial spiral shape, it needs to cool to room temperature before you attempt to add the fillings. If you add the filling layers while it is still warm, they might melt and make the cake soggy.
It's also best to roll the hot cake in a clean towel to let it cool. The towel will absorb some of the moisture.
More Valentine's Day dessert recipes
If you're looking for a special treat that feels a bit romantic, try these:
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📖 Full Recipe
Valentine’s Day Strawberry Cake Roll
Ingredients
Heart Pattern Batter:
- 1 large egg white
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon canola oil (or avocado)
- 2½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Gel Paste Food Coloring (I used Super Red and Deep Pink)
Almond Génoise Cake:
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup (218g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- ¼ cup butter (melted and cooled)
- 1¼ cups (160g) all-purpose flour
- Confectioners’ sugar (for rolling the cake)
Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling:
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 5 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- ⅔ cup confectioners’ sugar
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- ¾ cup strawberry jam
- Strawberries (for garnish)
Instructions
Make heart pattern:
- Line the bottom of a jelly roll pan (10-by-15 inches) with parchment. Heat oven to 350ºF.
- With an electric mixer, whip egg white and sugar until soft peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. Mix in oil and then gently fold in flour by hand. Do not over-mix.
- Divide batter in half and color half red and half pink with food coloring. Place each color in a small ziptop bag and snip a small hole in one corner.
- Pipe hearts, dots, and designs onto parchment in the pan, and freeze the pan 20 to 30 minutes.
Make and bake cake batter:
- With an electric mixer or in a stand mixer, whip eggs, salt, and baking powder until very light and fluffy, 10 minutes with a hand mixer, 5 to 6 minutes in a stand mixer.
- Gradually add the sugar while mixer is going (this should take about 1 ½ to 2 minutes). Add the almond extract and melted butter, and beat just a few more seconds to combine.
- Use a whisk to carefully stir the flour into the batter until just combined. Immediately remove pan from the freezer and gently spread cake batter over the frozen heart designs.
- Bake until cake is light golden brown and is just firm to the touch, 15 to 18 minutes.
- While cake bakes, prepare a clean dish towel by lightly dusting it with confectioners’ sugar. Have a second clean towel on hand.
- When cake is done, let sit in pan about one minute and then gently run a knife around the edges to loosen. Turn cake onto prepared towel. Remove parchment and lay second towel over the top of the heart designs. Carefully flip cake over in the towels.
- Remove the towel from the plain side of the cake, then roll the warm cake inside the second towel from one short end to the other. The heart designs should be facing outward. Let cake roll cool for about 20 minutes.
Make filling and finish cake:
- In an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip heavy cream until firm peaks form. Remove whipped cream to a separate bowl.
- Add cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar to the mixer and whip until very smooth. Then add the heavy whipped cream back to the bowl, along with the almond extract, and whip until mixture is just combined.
- Unroll cake and place on a long piece of plastic wrap, then spread the plain, inside surface with the strawberry jam. Gently spread cream cheese filling over the jam (leaving about 1 inch at one end of the cake). Roll cake back up over filling.
- Wrap cake roll in the plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. Trim ends and serve on a platter with strawberry slices as garnish, if desired.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
My recipe appeared on KSL.com.
Tara Teaspoon
I’ve been in food publishing for over 25 years, creating recipes & food-styling for magazines, books, television, food brands, & advertising. With two cookbooks under my belt and thousands of my recipes at your fingertips, I hope you'll be inspired to spend more time in the kitchen!
Silas says
So normally I’m pretty skeptical of recipes on the internet but when I say this recipe literally had me licking the bowl of everything I made, it was SOOOO good!!! When I unrolled the cake it did fall apart a little bit but I’ve always struggled with that no matter what recipe or how fast I roll or unroll the cake. Nonetheless, the little heart designs came out so cute!!! Definitely making this come valentines day, thank you for sharing this recipe!!! <3
Tara Teaspoon says
Well, this is fantastic to hear! Thanks for your great comment and I'm so very happy you were thrilled. I promise the more you make this the easier it will be and you'll get to the point where your cake doesn't crack! Happy baking!
Brittany says
Wanting to make this soon!! Only it says under the cake recipe Confectioners’ sugar but not how much to use. What is the amount needed for the cake mix?
Tara Teaspoon says
Hi Brittany, the powdered sugar is for dusting the towel so the cake doesn't stick when you are rolling, so there isn't a set amount. I hope you enjoy making this favorite of mine. Tara
Lila Hardwick says
Stunning yet easy to make! Just in time for baking with my 4 year old for Valentine's day. Looking forward to trying more recipes!
Tara Teaspoon says
Thrilled to hear you enjoyed making this recipe, just in time for Valentine's Day. Tara
Marg says
Did a trial run today - turned out so cute!! Am planning to make it for a ladies’ Valentine’s Day event I’ll be hosting! 💕
Tara Teaspoon says
Thank you for sharing Marge! So great to hear everything went well with your trial run. Enjoy your event!!
Laura says
This came out perfectly! The whole family loved it.
Debbie says
The taste of the cake is great! However, my roll was flat and cracked while rolling. Not sure what I did wrong. Can you give me some thoughts. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Tara T. says
Debbie thanks for letting me know. There are several factors that can play into this type of cake (Genoise) not turning out perfectly.
It may sound finicky, but oven temp matters and our ovens can be off by 25 to 50 degrees! If you don't have one, try using an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is not too hot or too cool.
The next trouble shooting item is the egg whites. If they are over beaten and form stiff peaks this can result in a cracked or dry cake. They should just form soft peaks (the tip easily falls over on the peak) before mixing in the oil and flour.
I'm assuming you used a jelly-roll pan instead of a half sheet pan, but that is just one factor I find folks skip over.
And lastly would just be to check that it wasn't overbaked. This of course means utilizing that oven thermometer too!
I hope you try this again and it is a huge success!
Tara
Debbie says
Not familiar with some of the measurements of the recipe, for instance, 2/7 egg white, 3/5 of a Tablespoon, 1/5 egg, 7/8 cup, 2/7 teaspoon, 3/7 of a cup, 3/5 tablespoon,1/5 of an oz.
How would I convert this to American standard measurements?
Tara Teaspoon says
Hi Debbie. I just checked and the recipe is pulling up just fine for me, with normal measurements. It sounds like perhaps it's showing up in the wrong format for you? Try opening it in a different browser (Google vs. Safari, etc) or a different device (if you are on a phone use a computer or vice versa). All the measurements are in simple American standard.
Tim Clowers says
This has to be one of the greatest recipes on the internet. Can't wait to make this and I am sure without any doubt this recipe is amazing.
Tara Teaspoon Admin says
Thanks Tim! Can't wait to hear what you think of it once you get to taste it!