Christmas Gingerbread Men Pattern Cake Roll

Delicious gingerbread cheesecake roll baked with a festive gingerbread men pattern. Perfect for Christmas parties and holiday dinners.

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This inspiration for this gingerbread men pattern cake roll recipe came from my love of pattern rolls and cheesecake. It utilizes techniques from my Fancy Pattern Cake Roll recipe to create beautiful patterns on cake roll that won't crack easily. Flavor-wise it's adapted for the Christmas season with gingerbread spice and cheesecake. It's a really stunning dessert to bring to any winter holiday gathering. Wishing you all a hopeful and happy season.

XOXO,
Mimi

Why You'll Love this Recipe

• Stunning Holiday Design - create your own look with the versatile pattern paste
• Festive gingerbread spice flavor
• Flexible cake base prevents cracking
• Japanese-style fluffy cake base - the fluffiest gingerbread cake around!
• Stabilized cheesecake filling is strong and sturdy for presentation on dessert tables
• Versatile frosting can be used to pipe designs or frost cupcakes
• Christmas Buche de Noel base - make it into a cake log for winter holiday dinners.

How Does This Cake Differ to Other Rolls?

This recipe utilizes a combination of these two recipes: Gingerbread Cake Roll and Fancy Pattern Cake Roll. If you're not familiar with the cakes in my cake roll series, here are the distinctive features you'll find in each. For the pattern paste in this cake, I used the one from the Fancy Pattern Cake Roll recipe. Because it is yolk-less, it is ideal for blending colors more accurately. For the cake base, I used the one from my Gingerbread Cake Roll recipe for its taste and texture. It's flavored with festive spices that is perfect for the winter holiday season. The texture is typical of chiffon cakes - light and fluffy!

How to Prepare Ingredients & Substitutions

Pattern Paste

• Gel colors - this concentrated form of food coloring is ideal for coloring baked goods without adding excess moisture. I like this brand.

Dry Mix for Cake Batter

• Cake flour - a low protein flour which will help make this cake softer than if using AP flour. It usually has a protein content between 6-8% while pastry flour, also a lower protein flour, has a protein content between 8-9%. Grocery stores usually sell a combination of cake and pastry flour at 7-9% protein. It can be substituted with all-purpose flour but the cake will be a little tougher than if using cake flour.
• Gingerbread spice - can be substituted with ``½ teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg.
• Fine Sea salt - used to highlight the flavors in the cake.

Wet Mix for Cake Batter

• Milk - adds moisture to the cake
• Neutral vegetable oil - neutral tasting oils like canola, vegetable, grapeseed or avocado are all good choices.
• Granulated sugar - this first set of sugar is added into the wet ingredients to help add moisture and to break up the grains in the dry mix.
• Egg yolks - tenderizes the cake. Use large size.
• Vanilla extract - rounds out the flavors. Since vanilla is not the main flavor, feel free to use an artificial kind to save costs as pure vanilla can be quite pricey.

Meringue for Cake Batter

• Egg whites - from large eggs. Room temperature ones will whip to volume better. Soak cold eggs in warm water to bring to room temperature quickly.
• Cream of tartar - is an acid that helps to stabilize the meringue. It can be substituted with double the amount of lemon juice or vinegar. You can skip it if you're careful with the whipping.
• Granulated sugar - adds sweet taste and structure to the meringue.

Stabilized Cheesecake Filling

• Gelatin powder - use only the unflavored kind. I prefer Knox gelatin.
• Cream cheese - a soft tub-style cream cheese was used here. If using brick-style, decrease the water and gelatin by half. It must be COLD.
• Sour cream - gives this cheesecake filling its traditional tartness
• Heavy cream - is a cream with a minimum milk fat content of 36% and above. Heavy cream produces a very stable cream but can be substituted with whipping cream with a milk fat content between 30-35%. Cream must be chilled for it to whip properly.
• Granulated sugar - adds sweetness.
• Vanilla extract - use either pure or artificial.
• Lemon juice - is a concentrated way to add tang to traditional cheesecake without compromising its structure too much.

Supplies & Substitutions

• Regular kitchen tools PLUS:
• 8x12" Cake Pan - The toaster oven Silpat mat fits perfectly in this pan. If you have a bigger sized pan, you can build a dam inside with aluminum foil to make the pan smaller. Take a look at this post on how to bake this type of cake in different sized pans.
• Toaster silicone mat - If making the pattern paste design, it's best to pipe it on the silicone mat to prevent the paste from shuffling. Parchment paper can be used but it doesn't grip the design as well and isn't substantially weighted to prevent movement inside the pan.
• Piping bags - You can use Ziplock bags with a small cut at the tip but I find piping bags along with piping tips to provide more precise piping performance.
• Round Piping Tip #3 - sizes 3 & 4 are great for piping the pattern paste. The paste can be a little runny and the smaller tips prevents large amounts from flowing out.
• Round Piping Tip #4

Step By Step

With pattern paste, pipe desired design onto silicone mats with templates placed underneath as guide. Discard leftover pattern paste. 5-10 minutes before pouring cake base over design, place it in the freezer to set small details. Place frozen design in cake tray. Transfer some of the gingerbread cake batter into a piping bag and pipe around the frozen pattern paste design to minimize movement of the design when the rest of the batter is added.

Gently pour the rest of the batter into cake pan, spread out the batter evenly with an angled spatula. Very gently, tap the pan on the counter to release large air pockets. Bake for 12-14 min. at 325 F until a skewer pulls out clean and cake springs back in the center. Let cool in pan for 5 min. Place cooling rack over cake pan. Flip cake over onto the rack, gently remove paper/mat. The side facing up will eventually become the top of the cake roll. Let it cool while making the cheesecake filling.

Chill mixing bowl and beaters in refrigerator. Add cool water to heat-proof cup, sprinkle gelatin powder on top to bloom. Wait 5 minutes until granules have swelled. Bring a pot of water to boil. Place cup in boiling water, remove when the gelatin becomes liquid. In a large mixing bowl, whip the cold cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla on medium-low speed until it all comes together. Add the chilled cream into the mixing bowl and whip on high until the beater starts leaving trails in the cream.

Check on the gelatin, it should no longer be hot but still liquid. Pour the liquid gelatin into the bowl while whipping, aim for the area in between the bowl and whisk. Whip until stiff peaks. Optional: add a few drops of lemon juice to taste for a tangier cheesecake flavor. Use cream immediately to assemble cake roll.

Lay plastic wrap on the counter, flip cake onto it. Spread the cheesecake filling onto the cake with a bit of extra on the side that is to be rolled first.

Carefully roll up the cake from the short edge using the plastic wrap to help push the cake onto itself. For a rounder cake, wrap one more time with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to set before cutting (see post for details). Before serving, cut off sides for a cleaner presentation. Gingerbread cake roll can be kept in the fridge in an air tight container for 2-3 days.

What are Substitutes for Gingerbread Spice?

Gingerbread spice blends are readily available online, like this one here. They may be a little harder to find at regular grocery stores. It be substituted with ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves and ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg. For an extra spicier version, add a pinch of black pepper. For added dimension, add ¼ teaspoon of all spice. If you're missing either cloves or nutmeg, just add in extra ginger or cinnamon in equal amounts.

Do I Need to Stabilize the Cheesecake Filling?

The cheesecake filling in this cake is similar to the one from pumpkin cream cheese cake roll. That one is easier to prepare and contains only 4 ingredients but will be less sturdy. This one, on the other hand, is stabilized and tastes more like cheesecake. For use in a cake roll, I like stabilizing the cheesecake filling with gelatin because it's more aesthetically pleasing - the roll stays rounder, and the filling won't start pushing out from the ends. It's not necessary to stabilize it if you're not too picky about the way it looks. Once stabilized, you can use it to pipe designs and frost cupcakes!

How to Create Other Flavored Fillings

This cake roll can be paired with other filling flavors or you can experiment and try making your own. Almost all my cake rolls have stabilized fillings that are sturdy to keep the cake roll nice and round. Here are some of my other recipes that you can use to pair with this cake base: chocolate cake roll, carrot spice mascarpone cake roll, strawberry fresh cream cake roll, coffee cake roll, Earl Grey tea cake roll, Matcha cake roll, and cotton candy cake roll. You can also use this cake as a base for Buche de Noel or cake log for Christmas dinner and parties.

Gingerbread Men Pattern Template

You can download this free gingerbread man cake roll template for free when you sign up for my newsletter. It is perfect for use with the toaster sized Silpat mat and 8x12" cake pan. If your pan is bigger, it will still work. You'll need to visualize how the cake will be rolled in order to find the proper placement under the mat.

The post Christmas Gingerbread Men Pattern Cake Roll appeared first on Indulge With Mimi.