This low carb gingerbread cake roll is holiday happiness in a sweet little package. Full of sugar-free vanilla cream, it’s a keto dessert you won’t want to miss.
You can’t see me, but I am dancing around with excitement at sharing this recipe with you. It’s the first day of December and I do declare Gingerbread open for the season. And the absolute best way to celebrate is with this spectacular low carb gingerbread cake roll. Seriously, this is the bomb-diggity. And I don’t say that lightly. In fact I never say it at all. It’s a phrase that heretofore has never passed my lips. So you know it’s going to be good, if I stoop to using teenager-like terminology to describe it. Wait, is that even teenager terminology? Maybe it’s too old for that. Those kids have probably moved on to much more interesting phrases. So I am stuck here in old fogey-land, trying to make myself sound hip and cool and messing it all up. But what do I care? My mouth is too full of this cake to pronounce it properly anyway.
So yes, serious holiday deliciousness that you don’t want to miss. It’s my new favourite low carb cake, honestly. Actually, don’t listen to me when I say stuff like that because I say it all the time. I am a fickle cake lover, and am always switching allegiances to whatever new cake strikes my fancy. I have many favourite cakes and if you held a gun to my head, chances are I wouldn’t be able to name the one I love the most. Boston Cream Poke! No wait, White Chocolate Cranberry! Ohhh, hold on a sec, is that Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter? Look, something shiny! Oh no, wait, that’s just chocolate ganache pouring over Death By Chocolate Cheesecake.
You catch my drift? That said, this really is a delicious cake and worth all the trouble of whipping the egg whites and carefully rolling the cake in a tea towel while you make the filling. It’s an impressive looking thing, too. So you can make it for holiday gathering where all those non-low carb naysayers will be talking about how nothing can taste as good as wheat and sugar. Oh no, they are so glad they don’t have to eat low carb or gluten-free, because that stuff tastes like sawdust. But look at this pretty gingerbread cake roll, you must try a slice! It’s so good, it just has to be made with high carb ingredients. Right? Right?
Word to the wise on low carb cake rolls. You really don’t want to skip the grassfed gelatin, as it helps it be flexible and not crack as much. You may be able to sub in an envelope of Knox gelatin but I am not certain because I have yet to try that.
Now go. Go make this bomb-diggity cake and impress the heck out of your friends and family. And yourself. Happy Gingerbread Season!
Low Carb Gingerbread Cake Roll
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup almond flour
- ¼ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon grassfed gelatin
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 4 large eggs room temperature, separated
- ¼ cup granulated Swerve Sweetener divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt divided
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
Vanilla Cream Filling:
- 2 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 ½ cups whipping cream divided
- ¼ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F and line an 11x17 inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper and pan sides very well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, powdered sweetener, cocoa powder, gelatin, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.
- In another medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with 2 tablespoon of the granulated sweetener until lighter yellow and thickened. Beat in the vanilla extract
- Using clean beaters and a large clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt and cream of tartar until frothy. Beat in the remaining two tablespoon sweetener until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold the egg yolk mixture into the whites. Then gently fold in the almond flour mixture, taking care not to deflate them, until no streaks remain.
- Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking pan and bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the top springs back when touched.
- Remove from the oven and let let cool a few minutes, then run a knife around the edges to loosen. Cover with another large piece of parchment paper and then a kitchen towel. Place another large baking sheet overtop and flip over.
- Gently peel the parchment from what is now the top of the cake. While still warm, gently roll up inside the kitchen towel, starting from one of the shorter ends. Don't roll too tightly or it will crack. Let cool while preparing the filling.
Vanilla Cream Filling:
- In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese with ¼ cup whipping cream until smooth.
- In a large bowl, beat the remaining whipping cream with the sweetener and vanilla extract until it holds soft peaks. Then add the cream cheese mixture and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Do not over-beat. Remove ½ cup and set aside for decorating.
- Gently and carefully unroll the cake. Do not try to lay it completely flat, let it curl up on the ends. Spread with the remaining filling to within ½ inch of the edges. Gently roll back up without the kitchen towel. Place seam side-down on a serving platter.
- Sprinkle with some more powdered sweetener, if desired. Pipe remaining vanilla cream mixture in stars or other shapes down the center of the top of the cake.
- Refrigerate 1 hour before slicing. Store in the refrigerator.
Molly Murphy says
Made this for dessert on Christmas Day! It was a relatively easy recipe to make and looking forward to trying it with my family. Thank you for sharing your time, talents, and gifts with those of us learning to cook low carb!
Carolyn says
So glad you liked it!
Jackie says
Wondering if there are other gelatin that can be used? The one linked here is a little pricey in Canada and I’d really like to give this recipe a try. I know from reading above that knox won’t work…
Carolyn says
You can use Knox gelatin but you need to soak it in some water first and add it in at the stage of mixing everything together.
Jan says
This was so easy to make!!! Took me just about 45 minutes, including clean up. It looks amazing and the sneak tastes I took are very promising.
* I forgot the gelatin but I had a pack of cherry sugar free jello, so I used that and left out the gingery spices (put more cocoa instead) and made it a cherry chocolate almond roll….it smells amazing.
I cannot wait to take it out of the fridge.
Carolyn says
Interesting little twist! 🙂
Chocolate Rose says
I’d really like to make this for Christmas. But, I won’t be able to make it Christmas Eve day or Christmas day. Do you think it would hold up if I made it 2 days ahead of time? TIA
Carolyn says
Yes, it should be good for 3 or 4 days. But I wouldn’t make it ahead any further than 2 so you can get the best flavours out of it.
Chocolate Rose says
Awesome!! Thank you! Also, I just finished making your German Chocolate Truffles and Italian Christmas Cookies. Both are excellent! I didn’t have anise and didn’t want to wait to get it, so I used almond extract. I’m going to make a point of purchasing anise before Christmas. I’ll be making them both again.
Carolyn says
Yay, so glad you liked them! This is the anise extract I got and it’s really good. http://amzn.to/2gBk4bp
Martina Slajerova says
This looks amazing Carolyn! Gelatine, that’s it! I made a chocolate-nutella roll a few days ago, and to keep the it flexible, I tried protein powder and psyllium powder but I haven’t thought of gelatine. Yours looks much better, I need to try this!
Carolyn says
It really seems to work!
Amanda says
I made the pumpkin roll with the cream cheese filling from your zucchini whoopie pies, it was soooo good! My husbands asking for another one? I might make this instead!
Question for the pumpkin roll recipe though, do you think adding a tablespoon of gelatin to that would make it roll better?
Carolyn says
Now that I’ve discovered it, I do think it would!
VHM says
HI Carolyn. This looks delicious. Do you think it could be made as something other than a cake roll? Maybe in an 8″ round, cut in half horizontally (into two pieces) and the cream filling spread in the middle? Or as cupcakes with the cream filling on top? Just trying to find some option(s) this is easier and maybe more foolproof for my poor baking skills than a cake roll. Any recommendations? Thank you!
Carolyn says
No, the cake in this is really not meant to be a regular cake. It wouldn’t have the right texture. If you would like a regular gingerbread cake, use this recipe. http://www.swervesweetener.com/recipes/gingerbread-cupcakes/
Angela says
I love your pumpkin cake roll so looking forward to trying this one.
Tammy says
This sounds so yummy. But I’ve been looking for a low carb red velvet cake roll recipe. Do you suppose I could just leave out the spices & add red food color to this one?
JOY says
red velvet also has cocoa powder, so it would need more tweaking than just dropping spices and adding red food coloring
Tammy says
Forgot all about the cocoa powder. Since I’m from the south, I’ve been making red velvet cakes forever. My so very unhealthy recipe also calls for vinegar. This is going to be harder than I thought…
Becky says
This recipe has cocoa powder. ☺️
kate says
Can this recipe be used to make ..mini cupcakes , or regulate cupcakes ?
Carolyn says
No, it’s not designed for that sort of cake because It’s meant to be super soft and flexible for rolling. If you’d like some gingerbread cupcakes, I have some here: http://www.swervesweetener.com/recipes/gingerbread-cupcakes/
Maddie says
This looks amazing. I haven’t done any low carbs baking but if it tastes anything like it looks….
I think I gained 3 pounds just scrolling through the photos at the bottom of the post! 🙂
Carolyn says
🙂
Diana says
Hi Carolyn, Like all of your recipes, this looks fabulous. Before I make it, I have one question: I have both kinds of Great Lakes gelatin, the “green can” collagen hydrolysate that doesn’t gel and the “red can” one that does. Which should I use here?
Carolyn says
Use the red can that’s the actual gelatin. The collagen doesn’t gel as well.
Julienne says
This looks fab for the upcoming festive season (and any other reason to eat cake, like just because we can!) Here in UK I can’t find an exact sub for the GL Grassfed Gelatine’s 225g bloom. Also, most gelatin available here is not produced in an ethical way that I can live with…..so, I’m going to try using Vege-Gel, which has the same setting propensity, is vegetarian, and is produced in an ethical way.
Carolyn says
Okay, go for it and report back please!
Lisa says
I think they’ve returned to “awesome” again, thinking that it’s new and special to their era. They’ll learn. I’ve never tried any of the cake rolls but this just looks too good not to give it a go. I can only hope it comes out looking as lovely as yours.
Micaela says
As a teen, I’m trying to bring ‘rad’ back. The jury’s out on whether I’ll succeed.
Kate says
Much sexier than a regular Yule Log type cake roll. I’ll definitely add this one to this year’s desserts !
Another lovely option from you, Carolyn ! Thanks, as always !
Jackie Butts says
It looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it.
Vicki says
Thank you! I love Gingerbread and have missed it. Will be trying this today.
Ralph Fusco says
I am a 68 year old male just learning to cook for myself and my 23 year old son. Can you explain the following: Whey you say grease the paper and pan – with what? Do I grease both sides of the paper? When you say whisk – do I use an electric mixer. fork or one of those wire things? I love your website – I get e-mails every day from you and I have tried many of your recipes and look every day to see what’s next – I support all the products you recomend and love your personal comments – I feel I know you – Please keep up the great work so all of us who are old Diabetic cooking dummies can survive and not starve to death – I am on my way to loosing about 100 pounds – Thank You! I wish you the Best in 2017!
Carolyn says
Hi Ralph. These are all great questions for a brand new cook. So:
1. Grease the paper with some sort of liquid oil. I often brush it with avocado oil. In this case, you just grease the top of the paper and the exposed sides of the pan…anything that will touch the cake batter once it’s spread into the pan. For other greasing, when you are putting it directly ON the pan (like a regular cake), I suggest butter or coconut oil.
2. A whisk is one of those wires things (I am linking to amazon here, only to show you what they look like) http://amzn.to/2gplHJN When whisking together dry ingredients like almond flour and sweetener, you can do this with a fork or a rubber spatula too, it’s really to get the ingredients well mixed up before adding them to the wet ingredients. However, whisks are very useful and I suggest having them around because they are the best things for breaking up egg yolks and smoothing out melting chocolate and that sort of thing.
Proud of you for working so hard to lose weight and thank you for reaching out. I’ve been cooking all my life so some things I just don’t even realize are new terms to people!
Stephanie Deal says
Ralph — I loved your post and questions. I too also feel like I *know* Carolyn and talk about her to my low-carb friends like we are old & dear *friends*! LOL Best of luck to you in your weight loss journey and have fun cooking!!!
Steven Ciannavei says
I have Knox gelatin. I’all use it and let you know the results. Thanks Carolyn!
Carolyn says
I think it should work the same but I can’t be sure. Grassfed doesn’t require heat to gel it and Knox does, but that’s when you add it into a liquid application and here you add it in to the dry ingredients.
Steven Ciannavei says
Ok so I have the results. Non grass fed gelatin does require heating and/or liquefying to gel first but it shouldn’t be cooled too quickly. My cake had what’s known as roping, when the gelatin cools too quickly. I did not preheat the gelatin in a liquid first simply because the recipe did not call for it but next time I’ll try to mix the gelatin with the eggs then mix into the batter. Perhaps that will solve the problem. If not, grass fed gelatin it is!!!!!! Thanks again Carolyn! Your recipes have returned me to a life of enjoying desserts.
Donna says
Well dang I thought I could get away with Knox gelatin!! It’s in the oven now…. We’ll see what happens!!
-Donna
Steven Ciannavei says
I have a box of Knox. I’ will make this using that gelatin and let you know the results. Thanks Carolyn!