Pumpkin Roll

I seriously can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving. It completely snuck up on me this year!! Tomorrow I'll be cleaning house and dog, running errands, picking up a monster load of groceries and preparing for the first Thanksgiving in TEN YEARS that my whole family will be in the same place at the same time!! I hope you have a fantastic week, whether you're in the US celebrating Thanksgiving or all over the world doing whatever it is other people do this week. I hope there is at least yummy food involved for all of you! And this is a treat you can make no matter where you are or what you're doing. As long as you can get your hands on pumpkin and cream cheese, that is. Which I am learning is not as universal as I always vaguely assumed. Either way...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Pumpkin Roll (adapted from Gimme Some Oven)

Printable Recipe

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
12 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin puree

powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients:
1 (8 oz.) brick cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan with parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment. Lay a clean, thin, non-fluffy kitchen towel flat on your work surface and sprinkle as evenly as possible with powdered sugar.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk until combined.

Cream eggs and sugars together on medium speed until lightened and thickened, about 5 minutes. Add pumpkin and vanilla, and mix until combined. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined. Spread evenly into prepared pan. (And yes, you do have to actually spread it, and make sure it's even, it won't even itself out while baking like some batters)

Bake for 13-15 minutes, until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately turn cake onto prepared powdered sugar dusted towel. Peel off the paper. Gently roll up cake and towel together, starting with a short side, not a long side. Place towel-wrapped cake on a wire rack to cool completely. 

While the cake is cooling, beat cream cheese filling ingredients together until smooth and fluffy.

When your cake is completely cooled, carefully unroll cake and remove the towel. Spread cream cheese filling evenly over cake. Immediately re-roll cake tightly. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Slice to serve.

I started out so intimidated by the idea of this recipe... The cake is so thin!! How does it not break!? I'm totally going to break it, it's going to fall apart, ack... It looks so simple, right? But manhandling cake just seems wrong, somehow. Well, guess what? It was an absolute cinch! The cake is a breeze to whip up, it's very flexible and forgiving through all of the rolling and unrolling stages, I promise you can handle it.

It would be so easy to throw one together and keep it in the fridge for a treat during the holidays! Especially next week! I like to store the cake in the fridge and let it come up to room temperature before serving, the cake is soft and pumpkiny and scrumptious, and that filling??

Seriously. This cream cheese filling is insanely delicious. I just want to eat it with a spoon!! I'm hoping it's stiff enough to use as frosting, because I'm going to have to try it for my next cream cheese frosting application. Its gorgeously buttery and cream cheese-y and not super sugary. Have I convinced you yet? If you've never made a pumpkin roll, it's time to try one!!