diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/log/LogCleanerManagerTest.scala b/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/log/LogCleanerManagerTest.scala
index 2315acc3fb31c..155b96f2a3aa5 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/log/LogCleanerManagerTest.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/log/LogCleanerManagerTest.scala
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ class LogCleanerManagerTest extends Logging {
 
     log.appendAsLeader(records, leaderEpoch = 0)
     log.roll()
-    log.appendAsLeader(records, leaderEpoch = 0)
+    log.appendAsLeader(TestUtils.singletonRecords("test2".getBytes, key="test2".getBytes), leaderEpoch = 0)
     log.updateHighWatermark(2L)
 
     // simulate cleanup thread working on the log partition