Pumpkin Roll
Now that it's October and it's socially acceptable to get excited about pumpkin-flavored things, I've decided to do just that. This week I chose to make a pumpkin roll cake. I've seen enough episodes of Great British Bake-Off to know that this is a tricky cake to get right. I've never made a roll cake before, so here we go!
This recipe comes from Cooking With Union Hospital and is credited to D. Paulson.
Pumpkin Roll
Cake:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 tsp. lemon juice
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
Filling:
8 oz. soft cream cheese
4 tbsp. margarine (I used butter)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
In large bowl, combine eggs and sugar, beating well. Add pumpkin and lemon juice, mixing until blended. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Add to egg mixture, mixing well. Spread batter into greased and waxed paper-lined 10x15-inch jelly roll pan. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes. Remove. Cool 15 minutes and place cake on a clean tea towel. Cool 10 minutes longer. From 10-inch side, roll cake up in towel; set aside.
Prepare filling. Unroll cake. Evenly spread filling over cake and roll up again. Wrap in plastic wrap. Cover and chill at least 1 hour. Slice before serving. Keep refrigerated.
As you might be able to tell from the images, I did have a few issues. Firstly, I realized that I don't actually own a 10x15 jellyroll pan and that all of mine are larger than that. Of course I ran out of eggs and cinnamon making this, so I couldn't make extra batter to account for the extra surface area. I decided to take the risk on the larger pan and bake it for slightly less time.
The cake thickness actually worked out alright, but the parchment paper I used created some creases on the surface the first time I rolled it up into the towel. I like the technique of rolling it up so it can make that shape easier once it cools down, but I did still have an issue with cracking on one part. I think that's because my filling was not entirely even and the cake bulges in the middle. I conveniently cut that part out of the photos I took. I'm genuinely surprised that it came out looking halfway decent since I'm a roll cake novice.
Final rating: 5/5 definitely making this again and it won't look pregnant next time