Beautiful to look at and luscious inside, Gloria’s Jam Roll Cake is a gorgeous dessert that your guest will devour. Be prepared to hand over the recipe!

The Backstory: My friend Gloria gave me this recipe for this fabulous cake, but the story doesn’t end there. She and I always have a disagreement about what to call this cake. Believe it or not, she calls this Mandel Bread (!!) and I say, nooooooooooooooooooooo, it’s a Jelly Roll.  My mom, who rarely baked, made this a few times.  She called this a Jelly Roll. What more proof do I need? Look at it. Enough said. This deliciously moist cake is truly beautiful to look at and absolutely scrumptious to eat. It’s sweet (but not too sweet), light, and has just the perfect amount of spongeyness to it. Is that a word? Well it is now. It’s just darn near perfect. More of the Backstory after the recipe…

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Gloria's Jam Roll Cake

I love the aroma of this roll while it is baking. I smell the sugar, jam, raisins and the nuts. When this is finished baking and the roll is cut into serving pieces you can see how the filling looks when everything comes together. Your appetite is ready for this tasty treat.

Course Desserts

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 10 slices

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp. orange juice
• 3+ cups all-purpose flour
• 1+ tsp. baking powder (heaping)
• 1+ cup Strawberry jam/preserves
• 1 + cup raisins
• 1+ cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon for sprinkling, not for the dough
• 2 tbsp. sugar for sprinkling, not for the dough

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the jam, nuts, raisins, sugar and cinnamon aside. Mix the rest of the ingredients together, and knead the dough. The dough consistency should not be too soft or too wet. If more flour is need, add it. You will have to go by the feel of the dough. Divide the dough into 4 pieces.
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Flour a board or your counter top and your rolling pin. Roll each piece of dough to about 8 inches by 5 inches. The long part of the dough is what you will roll up. Leave about an inch from the bottom and the sides. Spread a layer of jam, not too thick and add a layer of raisins and then a layer of nuts.
3. Roll up the the 4 pieces. and place on the baking sheet. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar on top of all the rolls. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool about 15 minutes. Slice when warm, not hot or cold.

…The Backstory continues: The thing is, the recipe does not use jelly since it seeps out of the roll very easily. So why do we still call this a Jelly Roll?  Wake up, people! It’s made with jam or preserves. I say it’s time for a name change, and for goodness sake, Gloria, enough already with the Mandel Bread. This isn’t it. But I still adore you.

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Myrna Turek

I'm a domestic goddess who got my 'PhD' in Home Ec in the early 1960s. I was married for 52 years and have six grandchildren. If it were up to me, everything would be fried. Including chocolate.

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