Perfect Pumpkin Roll
Wouldn’t you like to win Thanksgiving this year?
The recipe
Yield: 10–12 servings
Time: 3 hours, most of it inactive
Ingredients
Cake:
1 and ⅛ c (141 g) flour
1 tbsp (7 g) cinnamon
1 and ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp (7 g) salt
1 ½ c (330 g) sugar
1 c (256 g) canned pumpkin
4 eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
Frosting:
1 stick (113 g or 8 tbsp) salted butter, at room temperature
2 tsp (10 g) vanilla extract
8 oz (1 package or 226 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
2 c (208 g) powdered sugar
Instructions
Cake:
1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Prepare a half sheet pan (18 x 13 inches) by lightly buttering the bottom and pressing a piece of parchment paper onto the butter to adhere it, smoothing out any wrinkles.
2. Whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl until well combined.
3. In a separate, large bowl, whisk the sugar, canned pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla extract until combined and uniform.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and gently whisk them together. Mix just until the batter is combined and no longer streaky. (A few remaining lumps are okay.)
5. Spread the batter evenly in the sheet pan, making sure it reaches the edges. Tap the pan on the counter firmly and jiggle it a few times to even out the batter.
6. Bake for 18–22 minutes, until the middle of the cake springs back when touched lightly with a finger. (A toothpick inserted into the middle should come out clean or with a few dry crumbs clinging to it.)
7. Let the cake rest in the pan for 5 minutes. Then run a knife along the edges of the pan to loosen the cake. Turn the cake out, then flip it so that the side with the parchment paper is facing down. (I used a cutting board to help flip the cake out of the pan.) Starting with the short end, roll the cake up tightly and place it in the fridge, seam side down, until completely cool, 1 and ½ to 2 hours.
Frosting:
1. While the cake is cooling, make the frosting.
2. Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat it on medium speed until soft and pliable, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the vanilla to the butter and beat until well combined.
4. Add the cream cheese to the stand mixer and beat on medium speed, scraping down the bowl as needed, until well combined.
5. Add the sugar and beat a final time, starting on low and then increasing to medium speed, until the frosting is smooth and no lumps of sugar remain, scraping down the bowl as needed.
6. When the cake is cool, unroll it carefully. Spread the frosting evenly over the cake, but leave a ½-inch border on the edge where the seam will be.
7. Roll the cake up again as tightly as you can, gently peeling the parchment from the other side as you go.
8. Cut off the ends of the roll so that swirl looks neat and snack on those yourself—you earned it!
9. The cake, covered, can be stored in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for a few weeks. Just thaw it before eating. You can enjoy it cold or at room temperature.
Notes and tips
Most recipes call for a jelly roll pan, a 10 x 15 inch pan, but I don’t own one. I wasn’t about to buy one just to make this cake, so I decided to scale up my recipe fit a standard half sheet pan instead.
The key to making sure your cake is tender is to mix as little as possible, just until the ingredients are combined. Any longer and it will start becoming tough.
I usually tell you to take a cake out of the oven a little earlier than this, when the crumbs clinging to the toothpick look moist. That’s because your cakes lose moisture as they cool. Because a pumpkin roll gets wrapped up so tightly, that reduces the amount of moisture lost. You also need a good structure in your cake so it rolls well, which means baking it a little longer.
Most pumpkin roll recipes also call for rolling the cake up in a powdered-sugar dusted towel, but that dries out the surface of the cake. The parchment paper method gives you a better cake and is a lot less messy.
If you aren’t going to fill your cake as soon as it’s cool, then leave it on the counter at room temperature. A cold cake is less flexible and might crack. You could also let your cake cool on the counter for the entire time; it will just take longer than in the fridge.
The story
Win Thanksgiving? you think. How dare I suggest that a holiday about gratitude is a competition! Or maybe you grudgingly admit that some people treat it that way, but you’re not one of them. Your family spends the day thanking God and enjoying quality time together. But just pause for a moment and consider. The heart of this holiday is a giant meal, and everyone will be asked to bring a dish. Your family might never say it, but you know that they look forward to one person’s contribution the most.
What if, this year, that person were you? What if you achieved it with a dessert so delicious it upstaged both the turkey and the pumpkin pie? (Let’s be honest; that won’t take much.)
You’ll make my perfect pumpkin roll, which is a moist, spiced pumpkin cake with a light and tangy cream cheese frosting in the center, rolled up to create a show-stopping swirl that looks very difficult to make but isn’t really. After all, this isn’t your grandmother’s recipe. She had to whip up egg whites and carefully fold the batter so it didn’t deflate. You’ll just stir your ingredients together. She stressed about the cake cracking as she rolled it up in a sugar-dusted kitchen towel, but you’ll be carefree. You’ll use parchment paper, and when you gently unwrap it, the cake won’t crack or stick.
You’ll make this pumpkin roll ahead of time, since it keeps in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for a few weeks. There will be no Thanksgiving week cooking stress for you. And since the pumpkin roll is equally good straight out of the fridge and at room temperature, you won’t worry about a repeat from last year, where the mashed potatoes got cold and congealed on the ride over to dinner. This year, you’ll leave your serving plate on the dessert table and crack open a beer while your aunts fight over who gets to use the oven when.
When dessert time comes, your mom will try some of that pumpkin roll and look at you with new respect in her eyes. She didn’t know you were an amazing baker. Your cousin and brother-in-law’s argument about the national debt will fizzle out as they focus on the cake in front of them. You’ll hold your breath as your grandmother takes a bite. She will consider for a long moment, then she will smile and clean her plate. Your grandfather, who has spent the whole dinner complaining that the toddlers are too loud and the turkey is dry, will say it’s pretty good. And when your sister-in-law takes to Instagram to share how grateful she is for her perfect family, your pumpkin roll will be the first photo in the post.
Now we’re talking.
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