Pumpkin Roll

I’ve had this recipe pinned for a long time, because I knew Selim would like it, but I found it really intimidating. When I bake, things just never turn out as pretty as the should. {I blame my friend/old roommate Terry – she is an amazing baker/dessert wizard. I’m just assuming that when we lived together, any ounce of baking ability that Katie, our other roommate, and I might have ever possessed leeched out of us and went to her. Actually, maybe she absorbed all the potential baking ability of everyone she’s ever lived with – she’s that good. I mean, people pay her to make desserts for their special events out of our little old kitchen. She made our wedding cake! Let’s all gang up on her and peer pressure her to open a bakery; it will be for the betterment for all of humankind!} But anyway… I promised Selim I’d make him a fall treat and that I’d use real pumpkin, so here we are. Obviously, I haven’t tried this dessert with canned pumpkin puree, but I don’t think roasting your own pumpkin really added that much more work. I’m sure it’s worth it 🙂

Now, I’m not going to lie. This dessert is a little bit of a project. The active time really isn’t all that much, but there’s a lot of down time. It’s a perfect fall weekend project, while you’re around the house anyway! Pumpkin roasting in the oven = watch a quarter of football. Rolled cake cooling = rake some leaves. Entire roll chilling in the oven = go on a walk around the neighborhood.

Mine didn’t turn out quite as pretty as my model from Gimme Some Oven, or as pretty as Terry would’ve made it, but it was tasty!! What can I say, I’m a baking work in progress 🤷

Pumpkin Roll

(Adapted from Gimme Some Oven)

Ingredients: 

• 1 sugar/pumpkin pie pumpkin (utilizing 2/3 cup of pumpkin puree)
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla, divided
• 8oz block cream cheese, softened/room temp
• 6 tbsp butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar + extra for sprinkling

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Slice pumpkin in half and scoop out all of the seeds and strings. Roast face-up for an hour.
3. Meanwhile, in one large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients from flour through salt.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and 1 tsp of vanilla.
5. Once the pumpkins are done, scoop the flesh out and into a food processor. Blend a few times until you have a nice puree.
6. Take 2/3 cup of the pumpkin puree and whisk in with the other wet ingredients.
7. Now, fold the wet and dry ingredients together until you have a well-combined batter.
8. Splash a tiny bit of water into a 10 x 15 glass baking dish. Press wax/parchment paper into the dish, with extra hanging over the edge (you’ll use this to lift the cake out of the dish).
9. Pour the batter into the dish and then bake for 15 minutes. [When it’s done, the dough will spring back when you touch it with your finger.]
10. Lift the cake dough out of its pan and lay on a counter-top. Trim the paper so it is just past the edges of the cake. Roll the dough from short end to short end, as tightly as you can.
11. Set the roll, seam down, on a wire cooling rack and allow to cool.
12. Meanwhile, prepare the cream cheese filling. Using a hand-held mixer, ombine all of the remaining ingredients – cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla, butter, and powdered sugar.
13. If the cake has cooled to room temperature, unroll it and spread the cream cheese mixture onto it. Leave a little bit of an edge on all sides.
14. Re-roll! Peel the wax paper away as you’re rolling. Wrap the now-completed roll tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
15. Prior to serving, slice off the edges (and eat them!), so you have a pretty edges to show the world!
16. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar if desired. Slice with a bread knife and serve those rounds.