Are you craving a fresh and fruity dessert that is easy to prepare and not too sweet? Then this sponge roll is exactly what you are looking for. Indulge your sweet tooth with a wonderful creamy filling, flavored with a squeeze of lemon and covered in a light and fluffy sponge.
You won’t need more than half an hour to prepare this dessert, which makes it a perfect treat for spontaneous baking sessions or for last minute get-togethers.
While the sponge is baking in the oven, you can prepare the filling. After rolling it up, keep the pastry in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. https://foodal.com/recipes/desserts/refresh-yourself-with-this-lemon-and-lime-sponge-roll/In the summertime, I really love to freeze the dessert by the slice and serve it right before it has completely thawed, while it’s still half frozen. It’s pure nirvana refreshment on a hot and muggy day.
In Germany, lemon sponge roll is a popular cake to buy in bakeries or the frozen food sections of supermarkets.
Personally, I prefer baking my own because it’s an easy recipe to make, and I can use organic fruits, juice, and zest to give it a natural aroma and taste. Citrus fruits are one of my favorites, and I like to include lime as well for a twist on the traditional lemon flavor.
If you like, try it with oranges or grapefruits too. Just make sure you don’t mix too much juice into the cream so that it doesn’t get too liquid.
Try another one of our citrus-happy delights: our no-bake vegan lemon bars are so healthy and refreshing!
If you’re in a fruity mood but not for lemon or lime, try this festive German strawberry layer cake, or our gluten-free mandarin orange spongecake recipes. They’re delicious!
The Recipe
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Lemon and Lime Sponge Roll
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 4 tbs sugar
- 4 tbs hot water
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 2/3 cups whipping cream
- 1 organic lemon unwaxed
- 1 organic lime unwaxed
- 3 tbs squeezed juice
- Powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Whisk the eggs, sugar and hot water until smooth and fluffy.
- Carefully stir in the flour with the baking powder. Don’t overmix.
- Spread on the baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes. The sponge is ready when the surface is dry and yields to some pressure. The edges still need to be soft.
- Grate both fruits and squeeze the juice of half the lemon and half the lime. Whip the cream and stir in the zest and 3 tbs juice.
- Meanwhile, cover a countertop with a moist kitchen towel. Take the sponge out of the oven and turn it upside down onto the towel, still stuck to the parchment paper. Then carefully remove it.
- Spread the cream on the sponge. Leave ½ inch with no cream at the edges. Start with the long side and roll up with the help of your kitchen towel. You have to be careful that the sponge does not break when you start rolling. But do not despair when if th occurs. It may not be noticeable it in the finished product.
- If the edges of the rolled sponge look a bit uneven, you can cut a slice at both sides. This is a perfect way to have a tasting test for the impatient among us too.
- Place the roll onto a plate and dust with powdered sugar.
- Keep it cool until served.
Notes
Photos by Nina-Kristin Isensee, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details.
About Nina-Kristin Isensee
Nina lives in Iserlohn, Germany and holds an MA in Art History (Medieval and Renaissance Studies). She is currently working as a freelance writer in various fields. She enjoys travel, photography, cooking, and baking. Nina tries to cook from scratch every day when she has the time and enjoys trying out new spices and ingredients, as well as surprising her family with new cake creations.
A nice and refreshing filling for a tea time dessert as one would say in England. Swiss rolls as they are often known are cakes that everyone likes with jam in usually. I do love lemon cakes, so this makes a nice variation and a little jam with it would add some color and taste as good.
Lemon and Lime sponge role sounds so fresh and just perfect for spring. I think this recipe is just in time for a Mother’s Day desert or tea party. It looks so soft and creamy, jus the way I like my desert. I think I’m going to give this recipe a try for this weekend.
I know that sponge rolls come with jam filling, that is the traditional Swiss roll, but I’m not sure if I would add jam with the lemon cream filling.
This looks and sounds amazing! I love the idea of freezing it and enjoying it during the hotter months – there is something about lemon and lime that makes me feel so refreshed on a sweltering summer’s day.
The sponge recipe is definitely light, and looks easy to whip up when you don’t have much time to do something more elaborate.
I’ll definitely be trying this at the weekend!
I love light desserts. Especially during the hot months when a brownie or something similar just feels too decadent, so this looks so perfect to me right now. Plus a short prep time? Winner! I’ll definitely have to try this soon.
Oh my, this is the tastiest looking thing I’ve seen in quite a while. I like the fact that this is lighter than many cakes, and a citrus dessert is perfect for Spring and Summer. This recipe sounds fairly easy, and I’m looking forward to trying this out.
I’m not a huge fan of sponge roll, but this one doesn’t sound that bad. I go back and forth between liking lemon/lime combinations, too. I won’t try this recipe myself as far as preparing it is concerned, but I’ll definitely try to convince my girlfriend to make it for us. Sponge roll is pretty easy to mess up if you don’t know what you’re doing anyways, and I assure everyone that I don’t know what I’m doing with it.
I’m not a huge fan of lime at all but this sponge roll does look delicious. If I was to omit the lime altogether, would I need to use an extra lemon instead?
I think one lemon would be enough. Instead of squeezing half the fruit, you just take the whole lemon then. Depending on your taste, you might grate another one for additional zest but you don’t need to do that. Another idea could be an orange if you prefer a more fruity than sour version.
Hmm…a tangy taste in my mouth… i’ll confess, i’ve never been best of friends with lemons or limes but that won’t stop me from trying out this amazing sponge roll… am betting accompanying it with a cup of hot chocolate, i just might fall in love …who knows {shoulder shrug} 🙂
I have a question: Are organic limes & lemons normally ‘unwaxed’ or is that something separate that I have to look for? Super interested in giving this a go for the summer. The flavours are perfect.
Where I live, organic fruits are always unwaxed while regular fruits are mostly chemically treated. It does not have to be organic when the lemon zest is untreated – that fact is actually the most important thing to consider because it will be eaten.
Hmmmm lemon and lime! It looks so nice! Usually, in the summer, I’m a fan of raspberry — though I had a lemon-keypie lined up in my baking list. Have to admit, the cake looks so creamy and fluffy and delicious that the keypie might just have to take a step back here!
At first glance, I thought this would be difficult to make. After reading about it and looking over the recipe, it sounds really do-able. Not only do-able but also delicious.
I think I would go with just lemon or maybe even orange. Maybe even a mixture of lemon and orange. I like lime, but not so much in sweets.
I really want to make this now. It looks so good.
This looks simple enough for me to be able to do it! Lol
I think I’ll take your suggestion and try it with orange. My family will like it a lot more than lemon/lime lol
I won’t my first time, but after my first time I think I’ll try a few different variations, other than orange.
Well, that depends. Do you want them to eat it all or do you want some left for you? Just kidding. I think my family would prefer orange or just the lemon. I might try the lime just for the heck of it, at least once. I keep coming back to this recipe thinking it looks so good. I know that one of my daughters would love this with just lemon. She likes anything with lemon.
This sounds both easy to make and absolutely delicious. I’ve never had anything like this, with the exception of pumpkin rolls, which are usually really heavy. I love citrus so much, and I’ll definitely try this in the future. Of course, I’ll also try one when I go to Germany next summer, but in the meantime, we’ll see what I can do with my own oven.
I have never had a sponge roll before but it sounds like a lovely light dessert. The suggestion to freeze slices sounds delightful for hot days. I can see me making this with every different citrus fruit since they are some of my favorite flavors, lemon and grapefruit especially.
I’m really into citrus fruits, too. And for sure, it’s a great idea to maybe mix it up a little with grapefruits e.g., like you say. I like to use blood oranges, too, because of their color. I hope you will find your favorite citrus combination and enjoy this refreshing dessert!
so I attempted this recipe and I must say this is a keeper! The roll is tasty, not too sweet, and I love the texture! Perfect for a light dessert!
Happy to hear that you liked it! I agree with you about the sweetness and the fluffy texture, it’s wonderful. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Putting this cake in the freezer and serving it during the summer months is a great idea! Thanks for sharing this quick and easy recipe!!
Oh, this is something I would thoroughly enjoy! In my part of the world, it’s uber hot from 39 to 44 degrees. Having this dessert is just so appealing.
Indeed, with temperatures like that, this roll would really provide some refreshing moments for you. Enjoy it and “cool down” 🙂