Today’s baking blog has been one I’ve been excited to share for weeks. I’ve made a lot of tasty treats this past year but nothing has been as perfectly balanced flavor wise as the Pumpkin Roll I made from The Pioneer Woman’s recipe. The cake has a delicate pumpkin flavor that matches so well with the cinnamon cream cheese icing that is spread in side. Read on to find out the steps! I was surprised by how easy this recipe was. I really thought I would get so many cracks in the cake.
The first step involved preheating my oven to 375 degrees and preparing my baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper and spraying with cooking spray. Once that was done, I placed it to the side.
Then, I mixed all of the dry ingredients together in one bowl – so the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, all spice (I used my pumpkin spice), and ginger. Then, in a separate bowl, I mixed the sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs, and vanilla extract together. When the wet ingredients and sugar were well mixed, I added in the the dry until it was a smooth cake batter. The blend of the spices and pumpkin smelled exactly how fall should.
Once all the ingredients were together, I poured them into my prepared baking sheet. When I looked at the amount of batter as compared to the size of my baking sheet, I was surprised that I actually had enough. The mixture was such a thin layer along the bottom, but it did spread to all of the sides so it was actually perfect. The cake bakes for 14-15 minutes or until the cake bounces back when it is touched.
While the cake was baking, I prepared the area that I was going to roll the cake. I placed a clean kitchen towel over my cutting board and sprinkled a layer of confectionary sugar over it.
When the buzzer went off, I took the cake out and used a knife to scrape the edges of the cake loose from the edges of the pan. The most nerve-wracking portion of this bake was flipping the cake onto the towel. I didn’t want it to crack or break or fall to the floor. With Pete’s help and support, I quickly flipped the cake out of the sheet pan. The crucial part of this recipe was making sure to roll it up while it was hot. I slowly moved the short side of the cake towards the other side and then let it rest for two hours with the seam side down.
About an hour and a half later, I prepped the frosting. I first mixed the package of cream cheese with the butter until it was smooth and silky. Then, I added the cinnamon and vanilla. Finally, I put the confectioner’s sugar in the mixing bowl but I actually used about a half cup less than the recipe suggests because the frosting was sweet enough with just two cups.
The frosting was ready right around the time when the cake was cooled down. I slowly unwrapped the towel and my cake did curl up quite nicely. With a spatula, I spread my frosting onto the cake evenly to all the corners. Then, I slowly rolled the cake with the frosting back into a cylindrical shape. A piece of advice I found out the hard way was to STOP spreading the filling a few inches from the edge. If you don’t, then when you roll the cake back up the frosting will ooze out all over your platter. Thankfully the frosting was so tasty that we couldn’t waste it. As you can see in the photo, we left it that way. Once the cake was all rolled up, I covered it in plastic wrap and it set over night.
The next day, I dusted the top of the cake with confectioner’s sugar and Pete and I enjoyed a slice of the cake after we finished our dinner. I’m normally more of a chocolate dessert fan but I absolutely loved the flavor of the pumpkin roll. Pete liked it so much he gave it a score of 9.9 and gave me his own version of the Hollywood handshake a la The Great British Bake Off. I see this recipe being repeated each fall for a long time.
Let me know if you try it out! Also, if you have any recipes for future challenges, let me know!
Sending you all lots of love,
Alanna
every so often... 