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Lemon Lingonberry Jam Cake Roll is a lovely and delicious dessert consisting of scratch made lemon cake, sweet lemon cream, and tart lingonberry preserves.
And if you love cake rolls, be sure to check out my old fashioned pumpkin roll recipe!
I’ve told you all before about how my entire extended family on my husband’s side (there’s about 25 of us) get a couple of houses in Central Oregon every summer and my mother-in-law makes the naughtiest of treats including our annual recipe for monkey bread. Well, this year she also surprised us with a new treat – Æbleskiver “Pancake Puffs” and she served them with Lingonberry Jam. Now, the jam is from Sweden and I guess those Æbleskivers are dutch, but the combination of those light and fluffy popover-like pancakes with the tart sweetness of the lingonberry jam was pure heaven.
I knew in my heart I wanted to make some kind of light and fluffy cake and use lots of heavy cream with the jam as the perfect compliment, so a lemon cake roll was the answer!
Fair warning – I had never made a cake roll before and I was sort of prepared for it to be an epic failure. Lucky for me (and everyone who devoured this result), everything worked like a charm. Turns out my instincts were right about the recipe. The cake in a cake roll is really more like a crepe than it is your traditional cake because of the amount of egg you add. While you cook it in your sheet pan, it puffs up 4x its size, much like a dutch baby would. As it cools, the cake looses its volume but its still moist and fluffy inside. The trick with a cake roll is to roll it up in a towel (or a parchment lined towel if you’re worried about fuzzies) to allow it to cool in its rolled shape. Then, once it’s fully cooled, you gently unroll it, add the filling, and then roll it back up again.
Have you ever had a lingonberry? The Lingonberry has been picked and enjoyed since Viking times. Because so many Swedes pick their own berries, an unusually high standard is required for jams to succeed in Sweden. I can totally relate to demanding this level of perfection for berries because Oregon grows so many different varieties. Once you taste the perfect berry, you hold everything up to a higher standard.
Still not sure what a lingonberry tastes like? It’s related to the cranberry, if that helps. That also means its a super fruit, loaded with antioxidants. Lingonberry jam can also be enjoyed on waffles, pancakes, cheese, sandwiches, and as a great alternative to cranberries with ham, turkey or game.
If you’ve never made a cake roll, I promise this one is guaranteed to delight. Just imagine the combination of light, sweet, fluffy lemon cake along with a bit of tart lingonberry and decadent cream in every bite. Simply perfection!
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Ingredients
cake:
- 4 eggs separated
- 3/4 cup sugar divided
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 2/3 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
filling:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon lemon curd
- 10 ounces lingonberry jam
Instructions
- Line a 15 inch x 10 inch baking pan with parchment paper and grease the paper; set aside. Preheat oven to 375°F
- Using a stand mixer and the whisk attachment, beat egg yolks until lemon-colored. With the mixer running, gradually beat in 1/4 cup sugar. Scrape sides and stir in oil and lemon extract Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
- Using a stand mixer and the whisk attachment again, beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer running, gradually add the remaining sugar in a slow steady stream. Continue to beat until stiff glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved. Fold into egg yolk mixture.
- In separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; fold into egg mixture.
- Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake at 375°F for 10-12 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. It will puff up a great deal while baking but will fall during cooling process.
- While cake is cooking, lay out a long piece of parchment paper, covered in a clean kitchen town, topped with another piece of parchment. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.
- After you remove cake from oven, allow cake to cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn cake onto the parchment paper that’s dusted with confectioners’ sugar. Gently peel off the parchment paper the cake was cooked on. Roll up cake in parchment paper covered towel, starting with a short side, adding more confectioners’ sugar as you roll. Cool completely on a wire rack. The reason for having the towel embedded is to allow the cake to cool in the rolled shape with room for the filling.
- For filling, use stand mixer with whisk attachment to whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Mix in lemon curd.
- Gently unroll cake. Cover with entire jar of lingonberry jam, then cover with lemon cream. Roll back into shape removing any excess filling that might squeeze out as your roll.
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. To store, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate leftovers.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My family is from Europe so I grew up with desserts that are less sweet than what we often have in the US. This is the perfect combination of sweet and tart, creamy and moist.. Cake rolls can be tricky but the instructions are excellent! Wrapping in plastic wrap after it was done was a great suggestion. The cake stayed super moist in the fridge for a few days. For those poor souls who can’t find Lingonberries, I suspect other jams will do. But do search for them- such a great flavor! Thanks so much.
This was amazing and will be my go to summer dessert. You instructions were great. Cake rolls are best to be made with ample time as the whipping of the eggs and the cream can sometimes go slowly (or sometimes not- one never knows!), but I find the process enjoyable. I just make sure to not try to rush it.
I got so many compliments on this! Thanks for posting and for promoting the mighty Lingonberry.
I like anything with fruit. That includes jam of course. I’ve never tried lingonberries but your cake roll looks delicious.
I have company coming for dinner on Monday. Now all I have to do is find this jam.
This looks yummy! I just used lingonberry jam on some potato dumplings I made! It’s so good! Love how it’s not overly sweet!