Julie Clark
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Your favorite Italian pastry in the form of a cake roll! Creamy ricotta filling is stuffed inside yellow sponge cake in this Cannoli Cake Roll. Top with whipped cream for a beautiful presentation! You may also like our chocolate strawberry cake roll.
Cannoli Cake Roll Recipe
Have you ever had a cannoli? I’ve not ever had an authentic cannoli, but one time I took a tour of an Italian kitchen and they were making cannoli cream. The cook let me try it and it was fantastic. I’ve not made it back to that restaurant to try a cannoli, but it is on my list of things to do! This cannoli cake roll takes a traditional Italian pastry and turns it into a fun, fresh cake roll.
What is the filling in a cannoli?
Cannoli cream traditionally is a creamy mixture containing ricotta cheese. This cake roll filling has both cream cheese and ricotta, along with whipping cream, sugar, vanilla and a touch of cinnamon. Make sure that the cream cheese is softened and that the ricotta is at room temperature so the mixture comes together smoothly. Beat just until the mixture is combined.
We added chocolate chips in the cream. Mini chocolate chips work the best but regular size work well too!
How do you make a jelly roll cake?
- This cake recipe makes enough cake batter to fill a 10″x15″ pan.
- Line the jelly roll pan with parchment paper (or foil) and then spray it with cooking spray. If you are having trouble keeping the parchment paper in place, spread a light coating of butter on one side of the paper and place the buttered side down in the pan. It will help it to “stick” into place.
- Mix the cake and bake as directed.
- Lay out a piece of parchment paper that is a little bigger than the cake itself. Sprinkle it with powdered sugar and turn the cake out onto that parchment paper.
- Peel off the parchment paper that the cake was baked on and cut off any edges of the cake that may be crispy or browned. (You have my permission to eat those scraps!)
- Roll up the cake starting on the short end and refrigerate the cake for at least 20 minutes while it cools.
- Unroll the cake once it is cool, spread it with cannoli cream, then roll it back up.
- Place the cake roll seam side down on a serving plate. Cover it with plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate the cake roll for at least 1 hour before serving.
- Before serving, sprinkle the cake roll with a mixture of powdered sugar and whipped cream if desired!
Other Cake Roll Recipes
- Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Roll
- Old Fashioned Pumpkin Roll
- Chocolate Strawberry Cake Roll
- Lemon Blueberry Cake Roll
Tools to Make This Cake
- KitchenAid Stand Mixer:For whipping the ganache.
- 10″x15″ Jelly Roll Pan: For cake rolls and sheet cakes.
- Parchment Paper: To easily remove cakes for cake rolls.
Cannoli Cake Roll
4.64 from 11 votes
Your favorite Italian pastry in the form of a cake roll! Creamy ricotta filling is stuffed inside yellow sponge cake in this Cannoli Cake Roll. Top with whipped cream for a beautiful presentation!
Servings 8
Prep Time 25 minutes minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes minutes
Total Time 40 minutes minutes
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Ingredients
Cake
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup hot water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For Dusting the Parchment Paper:
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
Filling
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 15 ounces Ricotta cheese (strained)
- 8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a jelly roll pan (10"x15") with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment (or using a hand mixer), beat the eggs for 5 minutes on medium speed until they are bubbly.
While continuing to mix on low, gradually add the sugar. Then mix in water and vanilla extract.
With the mixer still on low speed, sift in flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until well combined, scraping the bowl as needed. The batter will be thin. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 7-9 minutes. Cake will be springy to the touch and start to shrink away from the sides of the pan.
Lay out a sheet of parchment paper slightly longer than the cake and sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar. Turn the sheet cake out onto the prepared parchment paper. Peel off the parchment paper and cut away the crusty edges of the cake.
Roll the cake up in the parchment paper sprinkled with powdered sugar. Place in the refrigerator to cool.
Whip heavy cream on high in a stand mixer until cream is thick. Add in Ricotta cheese, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon and mix on low to medium to combine until ingredients are mixed together well. Stir in chocolate chips.
Unroll cake and spread the cannoli filling over the cake. Tightly roll the cake back up and refrigerate for an hour before serving.
To slice, run hot water over a knife and wipe dry before slicing straight through. Rinse in hot water and dry knife in between cutting each slice. This allows for a cleaner slice.
Video
Notes
The calories shown are based on the cake roll being cut into 8 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of cake roll. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate.
Nutrition
Calories: 634kcal | Carbohydrates: 71g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Cholesterol: 171mg | Sodium: 259mg | Potassium: 210mg | Sugar: 55g | Vitamin A: 1195IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 211mg | Iron: 1.6mg
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Calories 634
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