Robins Egg Carrot Cake Swiss Roll With Cream Cheese Frosting

I love how this turned out. Easter is a whole better with a special dessert you eat with friends and family. I’ve seen these robin egg cakes everywhere so I thought I would put my own spin on it and make a Swiss roll cake. This carrot cake is so good and flavorful. Lets be honest, easter is not complete without carrot cake. This recipe is from  gimmesomeoven.com. Let’s get baking!

CARROT CAKE INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups shredded carrots 

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

• 1 cup powered sugar
• 8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
• 6 tablespoons butter (softened)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

TO MAKE THE SPECKLES:

• 1 tablespoon coco powder
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 10 by 13 pan with parchment paper and grease lightly.
2. Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, salt, nutmeg, and cloves in a medium sized bowl until combined.
3. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar for 1 minute until thick.
4. Add in the oil, vanilla and shredded carrots, and whisk until just combined. Fold in the flour mixture with a rubber spatula, and stir together until just combined.
5. Spread the batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes, or until top of cake springs back when touched. Carefully lift the parchment paper and cake out onto a flat (and heat-safe) surface.  Then slowly, roll the cake — rolling from the short end to the short end — until it is completely rolled up. Let cool.
6. When the cake has reached room temperature, transfer the cake roll to a flat surface, and carefully roll it until it is flat again (or mostly flat, it’s ok if the ends curl up a bit).
7. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over cake, leaving a 3/4-inch border on all sides.  Then carefully re-roll the cake, gently peeling away the parchment paper as you roll until you can completely remove and discard it. Crumb coat the outside. You might need to make a second batch of cream cheese frosting. 
8. Dye it blue and completely frost the outside of the roll. With a food safe paintbrush flick the coco powder and vanilla mixture all over the cake.
9. With the leftover blue frosting fill a piping bag fitted with a number 2D. Pipe rosetts down the middle of the roll. Add jelly beans with the speckled mixture on the cake if you wish. Enjoy!

FOR THE SPECKLES:

1. Mix the coco powder and vanilla. If its too thick add coco powder if to thick add more vanilla. 

FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

1. Whisk together cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract until smooth. If the filling is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add a half teaspoon or two of water.  (You want a medium consistency so that the filling is easy to spread, but not too warm or thin that it will ooze out of the cake when you’re rolling it up.)

Thanks for baking with me!

~ Natalie