Christmas Cake & Ice Cream

With just a week left until Christmas, it's time to choose your dessert recipes and head to the grocery store. I'm going to recommend making something that looks fancy but isn't that difficult to make at all! A roulade!

A roulade is simply a thin sponge cake, rolled up with a buttercream filling. You can add any flavoring to the buttercream to change it up for the seasons. Instead of making a peppermint or chocolate roulade, I decided to pair my cake with an incredibly flavorful ice cream!

I'm happy to be working with one of my favorite hometown brands - Perry's Ice Cream - and bring you their amazing new Winter flavor! A few weeks ago, I received a package containing their traditional Fall flavor, Pumpkin Pie, and this new one, Gingerbread cookie. I was a little leery at first, I'm not a huge gingerbread fan, but one bite had me converted. Even the boyfriend took me up on the offer to try some and he wound up making a good dent in the container.

This ice cream is surprisingly complex. The gingerbread ice cream base is dotted with cookies and filled with ribbons of vanilla icing. I only wish that they sent me just one container, because I will inevitably eat both containers myself.

To make the roulade cake, I enlisted the boyfriend to help me. He generally avoids baking with me, it's not his thing, but this was my lucky day! After prepping all of the ingredients, the cake came together very fast. After cooling, filling and rolling, this cake really topped off our evening. It would make for an impressive and delicious addition to your holiday table!

Disclaimer: I received a box full of Perry's Ice Creams Fall/Winter flavors to try out. I have not received any other compensation for this post and all opinions are my own. I am so happy to partner with small, local companies and share them with the world. I grew up with Perry's and it continues to remind me of home.

One Year Ago: Wilde Cookies - A list of all the cookies I've made here at WITK!
Two Years Ago: Cranberry-Orange Soda
Three Years Ago: Eggnog Mallomars
Four Years Ago: Thai Chicken Curry
Five Years Ago: Chorizo & Vegetable Soup

Vanilla Roulade Cake with Vanilla Buttercream

Roulade Cake
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Cakes

2/3 cup cake flour
Pinch of salt
4 large eggs, separated, plus 1 egg yolk
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar & kitchen towel


Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Coat a 10x15x1-inch baking sheet with cooking spray. Line bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Butter parchment paper. Sprinkle lightly with flour and tap around the baking pan to coat evenly with flour. Tap out excess flour. Lay out kitchen towel on the counter top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Sift flour and salt into a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the five egg yolks and 1/3 cup of sugar on medium speed until pale yellow and creamy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, add vanilla extract and beat for another minute.

Add egg whites to a clean bowl. Whisk (or beat with mixer with whip attachment) until egg whites are foamy. Increase speed and whip until egg whites are shiny, white and you have achieved soft peaks. Slowly add remaining 1/3 while you continue to whip. Once all the sugar is added, you should have reached stiff peak stage.

Add 1/3 of the egg white mixture to the center of the egg yolk mixture. Gently fold egg whites into yolks. Once there are no more streaks, add another third and fold in. Add remaining third of egg whites and fold until streak-free.  Add flour mixture in four portions, gently folding with each addition. Once the batter is smooth and all the flour is added, pour into the prepared baking sheet. Smooth out with an offset spatula.

Bake for 10 minutes. Test cake with a toothpick. If toothpick comes out with batter or crumbs clinging, set timer for another 2 minutes. Test again. Bake until the toothpick comes out clean. Mine took about 14 minutes to bake.

Remove cake from the oven and flip out onto kitchen towel. Gently roll up the cake inside of the kitchen towel until you have a 10-inch long roll. Let cool completely while you make the buttercream filling.

Buttercream filling
Adapted from Frostings

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream

Beat butter on medium-high until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time. Add salt and vanilla extract and beat for 3 minutes on medium-high. Add heavy cream and beat on high until fluffy.

Assembling the cake

Unroll cake from the kitchen towel. Pour filling onto cake and spread evenly with a spatula. Using the kitchen towel, gently roll cake back up, peel off towel as you create the roll. Place cake, seam side down, onto a serving plate. Top with some more powdered sugar and serve with your favorite holiday ice cream!