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This melt-in-your-mouth fluffy and moist Blackberry Lemon Cake Roll (a.k.a. Swiss Roll) is easier than you think! The cake batter has just 4 ingredients and the whipped blackberry frosting is ridiculously simple to make.
Just like our Raspberry Swiss Roll, this cake only looks like it took forever but really it has simple ingredients, comes together quickly and is definitely a show-stopping cake! Take a bite of this Blackberry Lemon Cake Roll and you’ll have no words, only sound effects…. mmm…
Watch the Blackberry Lemon Cake Roll Video:
The combination of blackberries and lemon just makes my mouth water. P.S. You can make this cake roll a day in advance, cover and refrigerate and it will be just as good the next day. Hooray for make-ahead desserts!
That topping looks so lovely but it’s the easiest part of the cake!!
Tools You Will Need (affiliate):
Flour Sifter or fine mesh sieve
18×13 (half sheet) rimmed baking sheet
parchment paper to line baking sheet
clean tea towel or linen towel
flexible spatula
High powered stand mixer*
Piping Bag and Large Open Star Wilton 1M Tip
*If using a good electric hand mixer instead of a stand mixer, add 2 min to eggs/sugar mixing time.
The Ingredients are surprisingly really simple but the results are awesome!
⬇️Print-Friendly Blackberry Lemon Cake Roll Recipe:
Blackberry Lemon Cake Roll (VIDEO)
Ingredients
Sponge Cake Ingredients:
- 5 large eggs, room temp
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
For the Lemon Syrup:
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, from 1 med/large lemon
For the Blackberry Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 8 Tbsp 113 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 6 oz blackberries, chopped (reserving 6 whole berries to garnish)
Optional Garnish:
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
- 1 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 2 lemon slices, cut into triangles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line the bottom of an 18x13 baking sheet with parchment paper (do not grease).
- Add 5 eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment and beat on high speed 1 min, or until foamy. Gradually add sugar and beat on high 7 min. It will be thick, fluffy and tripled in volume**
- Whisk together flour and baking powder and sift into egg batter one third at a time, folding to incorporate between each addition and scraping from the bottom to catch hidden flour pockets. Stop mixing when you no longer see streaks of flour.
- Transfer to lined baking sheet and bake right away at 350˚F for 13-15 min (mine took 15 min) or until top is golden. Remove from oven and right away run a thin edged spatula or knife around edges of your cake to loosen from the pan. While cake is hot***, invert cake face down onto a clean, dry linen towel, remove parchment paper then roll cake into the towel. Let cool to room temp (30 min - 1hr) in a draft free room.
- Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for lemon syrup (water, sugar, lemon juice), stir to dissolve sugar and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine 8 oz softened cream cheese, 8 Tbsp softened butter and 1 cup powdered sugar. Beat together starting on low speed to incorporate sugar, then turn the mixer up to high speed for 2-3 min or until whipped, white and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add coarsely chopped blackberries and stir into cream with mixer on low, just until incorporated.
- Carefully Unroll cake and loosen from the towel. Brush the top evenly with your lemon syrup. Put dollops of blackberry frosting over the surface and spread evenly. Roll the cake tightly in the same direction you rolled it the first time. Slice off the edges if desired and dust generously with powdered sugar.
- For the topping, beat together 3/4 cup heavy cream with 1 Tbsp powdered sugar for 2 min on high speed until fluffy and spreadable. Transfer to a large piping bag with a large open star tip and pipe 6 flowers over the top, placing a fresh blackberry and lemon triangle into the center of each one.
Notes
***To prevent cracks in cake roll, it should be rolled in the linen towel right after it comes out of the oven.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
This sponge cake base in this blackberry lemon cake roll is amazing! It takes on moisture really well and won’t get soggy for several days. Hungry for More? Check out all of my many cake recipes using this easy European sponge cake base.
Ready, Set,… Bake!! Enjoy this my friends! 🙂
Can i use cherries instead of back berries?
We dont have black berries in our country
Shania, I think blackberries or raspberries are best since they break up easily and still look good in the frosting. The third best option would be diced strawberries and you can garnish with strawberry quarters over the on top. I haven’t tried it with cherries however, if you experiment please let me know how you like that. 🙂
I have an 11.5 x 17 jelly pan, will this work?
Hi Janine, yes that should work fine 🙂
Hello Natasha,
I wanted to make this recipe for so long but the result was not what I was hoping for 🙁 Everytime I am doing your super 5 ingredients sponge cake, there are a lot of like little holes in the sponge cake. It is difficult to explain but it gets a bit sticky and most of time stays stuck to the parchment paper. In this cake a lot stayed on the paper, and then when I unrolled it, it broke and when I tried to roll it again it broke everywhere. I managed to do something quite okay and it tastes good but it is really frustrating. What do you think it could be ?
Thank youuuuuu
Hi Laura, with the holes in the cake, some are normal but it may be due to under-beating the eggs and sugar if you aren’t seeing the volume that I have shown in the photos. With the sticking, make sure you are using parchment paper and that you are peeling the paper back right away. With sponge cakes, if they are not removed after they come out of the oven, it will be difficult to pry off later and also the cake forms a roll, without breaking, the best if it is rolled right away while still hot. I hope that helps!
I was so excited to make this cake but sadly it didn’t work out the two times I made it becuase the cake gets stuck to the towel. I followed the instructions to a T, made a beautiful sponge cake, rolled it in a linen towel right away and when it was time to unroll, it got stuck and ripped apart both times. Bummer! I usually put my roll cakes in the fridge after rolling them so that they firm up a bit and aren’t so delicate when I try to roll it off the towel…I wonder if that prevent this cake from sticking as a well? Great taste but totally not presentable or rollable when it sticks to the top towel. Hope to figure out what went wrong! Thank you for the beautiful recipe anyways.
Hi Angelina, you might try placing the sheet of parchment backing over the cake before rolling it in the towel. Another reader reported good results heavily dusting the towel with powdered sugar before rolling. You could also try refrigerate before unrolling. I hope that helps!
exact thing happened to me. the tea towel got most of the cake. Also wayyyyy too much filling.
Hi Kimberly, I wonder if your cake possibly didn’t rise properly which would cause it to stick and seem like too much filling. My best tip for that is to make sure you beat the eggs and sugar adequately since the cake relies on the volume of those two ingredients to rise.
This tasted nice but it was my first roll cake and it didn’t look too pretty. My filling seemed too runny, perhaps I whipped it too much or it should be refrigerated before adding to the cake. It squished out quite a bit which caused me to try and roll less tightly which of course led to a flat roll. The sponge turned out nice and light but I could hardly taste the lemon. Next time I would decrease the water for the syrup and add more lemon. The flavors in general were light, perhaps it could also use a little blackberry jelly layer in the filling.
I also had to roll the roll less tightly as the filling was spilling over. This caused for a rather flat roll.
Hi Natasha,
LOVE your recipes!! Can you please help with these questions:
1. Can I use the mango filling (like what you have on your mango cake) instead?
2. If I do not put the filling/frosting right away into the cake, can the cake stay outside the refrig overnight?
3. Can the cake stay rolled with the towel until I put the filling the next day?
Thank you so very much!!
Hi Sarah, I think the mango filling might work inside the cake sponge but it may be more likely to squeeze out on the sides since it isn’t an overly thick mixture, so make sure you don’t add too thick of a layer of mango puree. If you do not add the frosting, cover and leave it at room temperature overnight. Once it is frosted, you will want to refrigerate until ready to serve. It can stay rolled until the next day. I’ve kept it rolled at room temp overnight, in the fridge up to a week and frozen up to 3 months then thaw and unroll as usual.
About the cake sticking to the towel. I have made many rolled cakes and ALWAYS dust the towel with powdered sugar. Have made chocolate with w. cream and strawberries, white with w. cream and chopped fresh peaches and lemon. I have never tried a Lemon Blackberry Cake but I am sure going to wow the Bunko Ladies next week!
Thanks for sharing your helpful tip with other readers Nancy!
This is an awesome cake. Also, in here you use 5 eggs. In the original European sponge cake video tutorial, you use 6 eggs. Does it matter? Also in here you use 3/4 cup sugar and in the original you use 1 cup. If I wanted to try putting the batter for this cake in a 9 inch cake pan, would it be different in amount?
Hi Olga, I am using less eggs here because it fits better into the rimmed baking sheet and bakes up more evenly for the pan size. For a 2-layer 9″ cake, I would use the 6 eggs and 1 cup sugar.
Hello- Are there any adjustments for high altitude cooking with this recipe?
Hi D, I honestly don’t have any experience with high altitude baking and have no way to test it. Sorry I can’t be more help!
Hi,
This looks lovely. I was just wondering though, the video uses 4 eggs but the recipe states 5. Which is correct? Looking forward to trying this! Thank you for the great recipes.
Hi Shaz, I just watched the video and there are 5 eggs in the video and 5 eggs in the written recipe above. I also checked the ingredients listed in Youtube under the video and it says 5 eggs. Maybe you were confusing this with a different recipe. 5 eggs is correct 🙂
Hai natasha.
Is it okey if i make this cake with 8 inch round pan? I would like to make a standard round cake instead of making swiss roll
Hi Shakila, I think it would fit if it is a springform pan with 3″ walls, otherwise, it would overwhelm a single regular 8″ cake pan. You will probably need a longer baking time also since it will be a taller cake in an 8″ springform.
Hi Natasha!
I’m in the process of making this cake and have a question. Is the cake supposed to be sticky to the touch on the other side (the one that was on the parchment)? Thank you!!
Hi Olga, it can feel just slightly sticky on the surface that was on the parchment but once it is at room temperature it should not feel sticky since the sponge cake itself is not not a moist cake.
Hmm… it was definitely more than a little bit sticky. I put it together and it did not go well. :(. It got so stuck to the towel that parts of the cake came undone when I was trying to separate it from the towel. And then I made the mistake of putting it on the cutting board and I could not peel it off. I was able to somewhat wrap it with the cream but it looks very battered and I cannot move it off the plate.
The good news is, it tastes good, so there is that. 🙂
I did some research online… did I underbake it? Is that why it was so sticky? Also I used raw sugar. Could that have done it? It was in the oven for 15 minutes… if I did underbake it, do I have to worry about consuming undercooked eggs?
Lastly (sorry for so many questions!), do you think I could freeze it?
Thank you! (And sorry for the novel 🙂 )
Hi Olga, there is no worry with consuming undercooked eggs if you were baking at 350˚F, that cake would have gotten well above the safe heating temperature for a cake. There are 3 things that could be the culprit – either underbeating the eggs and sugar – this may be the big one has has to do with the second thing – the type of sugar used. If the sugar was raw and larger granules, it will not incorporate as readily into the eggs as they are whipped which could result in under beating. Thirdly, the bake time might have affected it if your oven is known to run on the cooler side and underbake recipes (not all ovens are the same). I hope that helps! I haven’t tried freezing this assembled but I do think it would work well. I would wait to add the powdered sugar, whipped cream topping and fresh blackberries/lemon until the day you are serving.
hi just regular cream cheese is fine or I want to use whipped cream cheese
Hi Vinitha, I haven’t used whipped cream cheese but I imagine it would still work if it is the same amount by weight (8oz)
Hey Natasha! I have everything I need to make this except the baking powder 🙁 is there any substitute?
Hi Mariya, I have actually made this cake base without any baking powder and it still worked, just be sure to beat the eggs and sugar sufficiently since the cake relies on those for leavening.
Hey Natasha! I made this cake and it was so delicious!!! Thank you for your great recipes…… Just one problem, the insides of the cake turned green for some reason. Has this happened to you? Is there anything I can do to prevent that? Thank you again ☺️
Hi Mohi, it sounds like maybe you used frozen blueberries that released too much juice. If you mix the blueberries into the batter, they will discolor the batter. It won’t harm anything, but the color will look greenish.
This cake is so good! The only problem is that it was stuck to the tea towel. When I put the frosting on and tried to roll it into a roll, it broke. We still covered it with the powdered sugar and cream so it wasn’t so bad-looking. Anyway, it tasted amazing!
Hi Olga, I’m so glad you liked the flavor! 🙂 It helps to roll the cake right away while it was hot out of the oven. If you skip that step or wait too long, the cake doesn’t form the “muscle memory” to create the roll without cracking. I ohpe that helps for next time!
Thanks for the advice! Also, I hope you’ll make more video recipes in the future. 😉
How long can this cake stand after being put together?
Hi Ava, I have refrigerated it overnight and served the following day. It’s best enjoyed within a day but it will stay good in the fridge up to 3 days or depending on how fresh your berries are.
Hi Natasha I dont have a 18×13 pan only 12×15 is that okay?
Hi Jen, a 12×15 may be a little small for this cake if it doesn’t have tall walls. I would be worried it might overwhelm that pan size.
Hi Natasha!!
I really want to make this cake for Thanksgiving but because of lack of supplies I will have to bake tomorrow (Wednesday)- and bring to the party on Thursday 🙂
I was thinking I could bake the sponge cake, roll it in the towel and cool, then plastic wrap overnight like you mentioned. But should I keep the towel inside overnight as well?
Also, I will need to make both the blackberry cream and the whipped topping a day in advance as well. Then I can keep them refrigerated overnight and fill and decorate the cake right before the party. I’m hoping that will work 🙂 Please let me know what you think! Thanks for listening :)) P.S. Love your blog SO much!
Hi Tanya, you can unroll it to remove the towel and then just re-roll with the parchment paper and I would leave it overnight on the counter at room temperature. You can add the frosting the day of or even the day before but if you add the frosting, then you definitely want to refrigerate overnight 🙂
Hi Natasha. Thanks for the recipe. But my cake was a disaster.first, the bottom layer got stuck to the parchment paper, evwn though I use a non-stick baking paper and then the top layer got stuck to the tea towel. 😪
Hi Juliana, It is difficult to say what the issue is but I am always happy to help troubleshoot – did you use parchment paper? It is very important to use parchment and not wax paper – it will stick badly to wax paper. Also, did your cake rise properly like I have shown in the photos? If eggs and sugar are underbeaten, they won’t rise properly so the cake won’t bake properly and may be more stickly. I hope that helps!
Can I use a hand held mixer?
Hi Karlene, yes that would work with a high powered electric hand mixer on high speed but you will need to beat an extra 2-3 minutes since a stand mixer is a little more efficient in whipping in air.