Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake Roll Recipe

A chocolate cake roll filled with a whipped peanut butter filling topped with chocolate ganache and peanut butter cups.

A chocolate cake roll filled with a whipped peanut butter filling topped with chocolate ganache and peanut butter cups.

Check out how easy it is to make this Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake Roll with Paper Towels!

I know what you’re thinking – cakes and paper towels?! This might seem like an odd pairing but I promise it works! 

5 SIMPLE STEPS TO MAKE THE CAKE ROLL (OVERVIEW):

  1. Bake the cake in a 10×15 jelly roll pan (a quick 15 minutes!).
  2. Invert the cake while it’s still hot onto a stack of paper towels.
  3. Roll the cake using paper towels. Let the cake cool at room temperature.
  4. Gently unroll the cake and spread the frosting inside.
  5. Roll the cake back up and spread the ganache on top.

A chocolate cake roll filled with a whipped peanut butter filling topped with chocolate ganache and peanut butter cups.

TIPS FOR ROLLING A CAKE USING PAPER TOWELS:

  • You need THREE layers of paper towels to roll up a cake. If you use any less than three layers, the steam from the cake will cause the seams of the paper towels to tear apart. If you use a lower quality paper towel, you’ll also encounter this same problem.
  • Be sure to flour the paper towel before inverting the cake onto it. This will keep it from sticking despite the condensation that occurs during cooling.
  • Be extremely gentle when it’s time to unroll the cake after cooling to minimize creating cracks. Press down on the portion of unrolled cake with one hand while gently pulling back on the rolled portion with the other hand.
  • If your cake cracks: try pressing down on the cake to “smush” the cake back together. The frosting will act as a glue, so you can also count on that to help with the cracking. And most importantly… don’t stress out about it! Once you roll it back up with the frosting and cover the top in ganache, those cracks won’t seem like a very big deal at all.

How to make a cake roll using Bounty Quick-Size Paper Towels!

A chocolate cake roll filled with a whipped peanut butter filling topped with chocolate ganache and peanut butter cups.

A chocolate cake roll filled with a whipped peanut butter filling topped with chocolate ganache and peanut butter cups.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake Roll

Yield: 12

A chocolate cake roll filled with a whipped peanut butter filling topped with chocolate ganache and peanut butter cups.

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE

  • 15.25 ounce chocolate cake mix
  • ½ cup water
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

FOR THE WHIPPED PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

  • ½ cup peanut butter
  • 12 tbsp butter, softened
  • 1½ powdered sugar
  • ⅓ cup Cool Whip

ADDITIONAL

  • chocolate ganache (half of this recipe is plenty)
  • flour for dusting
  • peanut butter cups for topping

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Make the cake

  1. Whisk together the cake mix, water, eggs, and melted butter.
  2. Line a 10x15 jelly roll pan with foil or parchment paper and lightly grease with nonstick cooking spray.
  3. Spread the batter in the lined pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Roll the cake

  1. Immediately after removing from the oven, invert the cake onto a stack of 3 paper towels stacked on top of each other dusted with flour (I found that 3 sections wide was the perfect length). Peel the foil or parchment from the back of the cake.
  2. Start at the short end and gently roll up the paper towels and the cake together (see photos in post). Place on the counter to cool at room temperature, seam side down. If necessary, place something alongside the cake to prevent it from unrolling.

Make the frosting

  1. Use an electric mixer to whisk together the butter and peanut butter until combined.
  2. Mix in the powdered sugar ½ cup at a time, whisking in between each addition until smooth and scraping down the sides as needed.
  3. Whisk in the Cool Whip.

Assembly

  1. Gently unroll the cake (leave it on the paper towel).
  2. Spread the frosting on the cake and gently re-roll (without the paper towel).
  3. Carefully transfer the cake roll onto a long piece of plastic wrap. Wrap the roll in plastic wrap as tightly as possible, using multiple pieces of plastic wrap if needed.
  4. Place the cake roll in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
  5. Once chilled, unwrap and spread the ganache on top. Add chopped peanut butter cups if desired. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

You may want to cut off the ends for a cleaner presentation when serving.

 

Notes

Calories 642 | Fat 43g | Saturated Fat 22g | Carbs 63g | Fiber 3g | Sugar 45g | Protein 8g

A chocolate cake roll filled with a whipped peanut butter filling topped with chocolate ganache and peanut butter cups.

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