Cinnamon Swiss Roll

An amazing Cinnamon Roll cake, packed with warming, autumnal spices with a cream cheese frosting. 100% Vegan!

It feels very strange to begin Autumnal baking, I still feel like it should be summer- haha!

Autumn = cosy, warming spices, and the first one that comes to mind is CINNAMON!

How could we make a cinnamon cake even better?… MAKE IT IN A ROLL! This cake features a spiced sponge, easy cream cheese frosting with decoratively piped frosting and walnuts. Similar to a Swiss roll with its swirled sponge.

What is a Swiss roll?

A Swiss roll is a swirled cake consisting of a rolled sponge cake layer with a cream filling or icing.They can come in any flavour such as chocolate, vanilla, Biscoff etc.

Check out my Biscoff Swiss Roll Here.

Biscoff-Chocolate-Swiss-Roll-Cake

When I think of Autumn (or as some readers call it, Fall), cinnamon dessert’s play around in my head, I get so many ideas, just like this cinnamon roll cake. It’s such a delicious flavour to bake with.

Speaking of cinnamon rolls, this roll cake has a cinnamon roll feel about it with its rich flavour and cream cheese frosting.

Get my Vegan Cinnamon Rolls recipe here.

Cinnamon-rolls-with-cream-cheese

I won’t lie, roll cakes aren’t exactly easy to make. Well, i mean the actual making of the cake is easy, but the rolling can entail some issues, such as cracking. This will happen to every single cake, vegan or not, but vegan roll cakes have a tendency to crack. I have a few tricks which will help you create a beautiful swirl, even if there are cracking so keep reading!

Why you need to make this cake:

Scrumptious
Looks impressive
Fun to make
Full of cosy flavours
The perfect addition to any dinner table / celebration
Extremely flavourful and perfectly textured

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Roll Cake

I am super excited to share this recipe as its in collaboration with my gorgeous friend Liv from It’sLivB.

I have been the biggest fan of Liv for years now, so this collab has been super exciting!

About Liv:

Liv is a recipe developer, video content creator, and photographer. She is the author of the best selling cookbook Liv B’s Vegan on a Budget and Liv B’s Easy Everyday. Her photography is flawless and recipes are just dreamy!

I found Liv through youtube (she’s a vegan youtube QUEEN, make sure to check out her channel for incredible recipes, and vegan content), and became friends over on Instagram. Her food and recipe videos helped me when I first started my vegan journey.

For Liv’s part of our collab, she has made the most incredible Cinnamon Roll Latte..yes, you heard me correctly, doesn’t it look dreamy?!!!

We went for a cinnamon ‘roll / swirl’ theme and it’s just gorgeous. I love how we both incorporated the cinnamon flavour in our own, unique way.

Make sure to check out Liv’s Cinnamon Roll Latte, click here.

Follow her on social media:

Instagram

Youtube

Facebook

It’s been a pleasure making this recipe with Liv, she is such a lovely friend. Also, make sure to check out her Fianće, Greg. He is the owner behind ‘Gregs Vegan Gourmet‘. Some incredible dishes on here also! What a lovely and talented couple!

Spiced Swiss Roll Cake

Looking for more Vegan Autumnal inspired recipes? Look no further:

Cinnamon Swirl Loaf

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Vegan S’mores Cookies

Baked Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Vegan Caramel Apple Cake

Notes*

What is aquafaba?

Aquafaba is the water from a can/tin of Chickpeas.The Chickpea water or brine as its called, acts as an amazing egg substitute for cakes, meringue buttercreams etc. You can also buy it in a carton. Check it out here.

What vegan block butter to use?

As Swiss meringue uses liquid from the aquafaba, having a stiffer butter is key. I like the Naturli Vegan Block or Flora Plant Based Block Butter Alternative.

Preparation: 20 minutes

Baking time:18-20 minutes

Serves: 8-10

Level: Medium

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Ingredients for the sponge

1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons of water
170g of self raising flour
2 tablespoons of cornflour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
80g of icing sugar
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
180ml of dairy-free milk
1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of dairy-free plain yogurt or vegan condensed milk
55ml of vegetable oil

Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting

150g of dairy-free block butter (see notes*)
50g of dairy-free cream cheese
200g of icing sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract / vanilla bean paste
20ml of aquafaba (chickpea brine) see notes*

Walnuts for decoration
Icing sugar, for dusting

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Method (sponge)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees c (fan oven) and line a 25 x 38 x 2.5 cm baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2. Add the flaxseed and water into a small bowl, stir to combine and set aside for 10 minutes to thicken.

3. Sift the flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, icing sugar and spices into a medium / large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.

4. Add in the dairy-free milk, vinegar, yogurt or condensed milk, oil and flax mixture. Mix well to combine.

5. Pour the cake batter into the lined baking tray. Level out with an off-set spatula or spoon, you want it to be as level as possible.

6. Place into the oven and allow to bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes.

7. Lay a large piece of baking paper on your work surface, sprinkle over some icing sugar and invert the sponge onto the paper, peel way the original baking paper.

8. Trim the edges off the sponge with a sharp knife. Trimming off the crispy edges helps when rolling.

9. Roll up (from the longer edge) using the paper, rolling it up with the paper inside. Set aside to cool. Alternatively, you can roll the cake up in a clean tea towel, make sure it has some icing sugar sprinkled on it or the cake could stick to it and it will be difficult to release.

Rolling it up with the paper inside helps the cake not to stick to itself.

Set aside to cool fully.

Method (frosting)

1. In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter and cream cheese and whip until creamy. I use a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment, a hand mixer will work great too.

2. Sift in the icing sugar and vanilla. Whip on high speed for a couple of minutes to incorporate it.

3. Pour in the aquafaba and whip for 5 minutes until it turns light in colour and creamy. Don’t over whip it or it can become too soft. If it does, just add in more icing sugar until it’s thick and creamy. The buttercream should be airy and light. You might need to add in some more butter to get it to the right consistency.

4. Once the sponge has fully cooled, carefully unroll the sponge from the grease proof paper. It might crack or break but that’s okay. This sponge is moist enough you can easily press it back together with your hands. If it feels too dry, mix a tablespoon of maple syrup and a few teaspoons of water together to create a sugar syrup and brush it over the sponge then press down. It doesn’t matter about how it looks at this stage as we’ll be covering it with frosting at the end. You just want a rectangle of sponge.

Spread a layer of the cream cheese frosting all over the sponge then carefully re-roll the sponge tightly without the paper. Try to get it as tightly rolled as possible. Use the grease proof paper to lift the sponge over the frosting and into a roll shape. Check out this amazing video showing you how its done.

Optional: Sprinkle over some chopped walnuts.

Pop into the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

5. Once the filing has set, coat the outside of the cake with the other half of the frosting. This doesn’t just taste delicious but helps hide any breaks or cracks making the final cake very neat.

6. Transfer any left over buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star tip nozzle ( I use a Wilton 2D tip). Pipe a decorative design on-top of the cake.

Decorate with some whole / chopped walnuts.

Serve with a dusting of icing sugar (optional).

To store:

Keep this cake in a sealed container in the fridge. Leave at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Best served within 3 days of making.