Pumpkin Roll

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! This time of year almost everyone likes to eat and drink pumpkin flavored things. I know that there are some of you out there that don’t like pumpkin, so this is a recipe for you to ignore unless someone else in your family likes pumpkin. Most people think of pumpkin spice lattes and fraps from Starbucks or pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving dinner. While my husband and I will be having pumpkin pie tomorrow we will also be having my favorite pumpkin dessert, pumpkin roll.

I loved pumpkin roll when I was growing up and I thought that everyone knew what they were. When I got to the west coast I found out that I was very wrong, my husband didn’t even know what they were. I exposed him to them last year and he fell in love. I’m trying to spread the word about these delicious desserts on this coast.

In order to do so I have to share the recipe…

What You’ll Need…

¾ Cup All-Purpose Flour

½ Teaspoon Baking Soda

½ Teaspoon Baking Powder (It can be left out if you only have soda available, I leave it out.)

½ Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

½ Teaspoon Ground Cloves

¼ Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Sugar

3 Large Eggs

2/3 Cup Pure Pumpkin Puree

Powdered Sugar (Enough to cover the towel.)

Filling…

1 Cup Powdered Sugar (Sifted or not, your choice.)

4oz Cream Cheese (Softened)

4oz Butter (Softened)

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

First, cover a 10 x 15 jellyroll pan (baking sheet) with either parchment paper or foil. Grease and flour the paper or foil. Also, preheat your oven to 375.  Next in a medium mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda and/or powder, cinnamon, cloves, salt and sugar. (You can always mix the sugar and eggs together first, but I just add everything to the same bowl.) To the dry ingredients add the eggs and pumpkin and mix until thoroughly combined. Spread the batter evenly on the baking sheet.

Bake the cake at 375 for 11-15 minutes. The baking time all depends on your oven and the color of the pan you are using. Darker pans bake faster and the cake will be done after 12 minutes. The cake is done when it springs back after being lightly poked.

While the cake is baking sprinkle a clean kitchen towel with powdered sugar. The sugar allows the cake to not stick to the towel when it is rolled up. I find that it works better if the sprinkled sugar is rubbed into the towel a bit. 

When the cake is done baking immediately flip it off of the pan and onto the towel. Starting at the shorter end of the cake roll it up in the towel and allow it cool completely. This takes a few hours.

You can make the icing at any time you like, but I find that it spreads better at room temperature. So, once the cake has cooled completely if you haven’t made the icing already do so now. The icing is quite simple, in a mixing bowl combine the powdered sugar (sifted or not, if will clump up again even if it is sifted), cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Mix the icing until it is smooth. At this point carefully unroll the cake and spread the icing evenly. 

Once the icing is spread roll the cake back up at tightly as possible and cover with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap will help keep the cake rolled up. Refrigerate the roll for at least an hour before serving so that it can set up properly. 

Pumpkin roll is delicious by itself or with a little extra powdered sugar on top. When not being served it should be kept in the refrigerator. To be honest I’m not sure how long they can keep in the refrigerator because we never have one for more than two or three days.

Enjoy!