I grew up eating Little Debbie treats, so I totally get the fascination with these sweet little cakes. One of my favorite treats to pack in my school lunches many years ago was the Swiss Rolls.

The best way to eat those little chocolate rolls is to peel off the outer layer of chocolate and eat that first, and then unroll the cake before eating it. It turns out my husband used to eat his like that too when he was younger. No wonder we are a perfect match.

This spring I had the opportunity to create a recipe using a Little Debbie snack cake, so I went to the grocery store and bought a couple boxes of a few of my favorite treats. I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to go with my recipe, so I had to be prepared for when dessert inspiration hit.

You should have seen our children’s eyes when they got home from school that afternoon and they saw the boxes of snack cakes piled in the pantry. Immediately, they started asking questions about why I had so many…and of course, the top question was, “Can we eat some, too?”

I had to make a snap decision right away about which snack cake was going to be forbidden from the hungry mob. I was leaning towards the Swiss Rolls anyway, so I gave them permission to attack the boxes of Zebra® Cakes and Oatmeal Creme Pies.

I’m pretty sure those cellophane wrappers hold a little bit of magic in them because I haven’t seen my kids this excited for sweets in a while.

Of course, I’m not really surprised at how fast the kids devoured the extra boxes of snack cakes. My mom bought these little cakes for our lunch boxes when I was growing up, and I’m still crazy about them years later. You just never outgrow the taste of Little Debbie snacks.

I learned how to bake by watching my mom and my gram in the kitchen when I was little. It’s fun to look back on those sweet memories of making homemade pie crusts with my mom. Now as a mom myself, I love to get in the kitchen and create fun treats with or for our kids.

For this cake, I cut the Swiss Rolls into little circles and lined a springform pan with them. Make sure to line the pan with parchment paper first, so the pan ring comes off without messing up the outside of the cake.

The filling for this no bake cake is just cream cheese, pie filling, and Cool Whip. This fun mousse is perfect for topping cupcakes, filling cakes, or eating with a spoon. Trust me, I had a few spoonfuls before I started layering everything together.

Two layers of mousse, three layers of Swiss Rolls, one layer of Cool Whip, and more pie filling, and this cake was ready for the refrigerator. No bake treats are the best for summer time because who wants to turn on the oven and make it ever hotter in the house!

A few decorations on top gives this no bake cherry Swiss Rolls cake the perfect finish! Just make sure that no one swipes a few rolls from the top while it is setting up in the refrigerator.

I suggest keeping a few Swiss Rolls hidden, just for emergency decorating purposes. Little hands like to snatch chocolate rolls when no one is looking…at least in my house, they do!