Pumpkin Roll with Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling

About 12 years ago I was an unemployed 19 year old in culinary school hustling to go meals out of my moms house to pay my bills.  Another thing I did was to sell baked goods around the holidays like pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and pumpkin rolls.

Even if you've never had a pumpkin roll, you've probably seen one.  They've made their way into grocery store bakeries in the last 6 years or so.  They are traditionally a pumpkin sponge cake with a basic cream cheese frosting as the filling. 

I've decided to update my personal recipe with a slight spin.  Instead of your run of the mill cream cheese frosting that's sweetened with powdered sugar I've opted to trade in brown sugar and add just a tiny touch of cinnamon.  You still get the light tang of cream cheese but a little more depth of flavor with these two changes.  I think it makes for a really nice twist on the classic.

Included below are step by step instructions on how to roll your cake.  That's definitely the part that makes people most nervous to try, but I promise you it's really not hard at all.  You might see or read other recipes reference using a towel to roll their cakes...but I don't mess with that.  I think it's 1. Kind of gross and 2. Unnecessary and bulky. I feel like you don't get as tight of a roll when using a towel. I've always used parchment paper and it works out great for me.

Pumpkin Roll with Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling

Cake

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup pumpkin

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

Filling

1 package of cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter (half a stick), softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Whisk together all the ingredients for the cake until well combined.  Spread batter evenly into parchment lined and sprayed jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 for 10-13 minutes or until done and springs back to the touch (or a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean).  

When it's fully baked, remove the cake from the pan and immediately roll it up while still warm (detailed step by step instructions below)  Allow to cool completely rolled up before unrolling to fill with icing.

For the filling, blend together until smooth.  Spread evenly into unrolled cake and roll back up.  Refrigerate for at least one hour before slicing and serving.

Rolling Instructions 

1. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper ensuring it covers the whole pan plus goes over the edges a little (this will help you lift the cake out later). Spray lightly with nonstick spray. 

2. Fill the pan with your batter, smoothing out to cover the whole pan and evenly distributed.

3.  After it’s fully baked and still hot, grab to opposite corners of the parchment and lift the entire cake out of the pan.

4. Cover the cake with another piece of parchment paper. We are going to flip it because I think the top baked side pictured above looks the best for presentation and I want the bottom side that was sitting directly in the pan to become the middle that gets rolled up.  

5. Lay your cooling rack (or a sheet tray will work too) on top of the parchment and flip the whole thing over.

6. Now that it’s been flipped over, peel off the top piece of parchment paper. (Do you see why I wanted this to be the inside of the roll now?)

7.  Roll your cake up as tight as you can while still warm.  Allow it to cool completely while rolled up like this.  

8.  After it has cooled completely, unroll your cake. 

9.  Spread your cream cheese icing evenly on the cake.

10.  Roll your cake back up, peeling the parchment paper off as you roll.  

11.  I recommend letting your completely roll set in the fridge for 1-2 hours for the icing to set up before slicing. (You can cut it right away it just won’t cut as cleanly). Some people like to sprinkle their rolls with powdered sugar for garnish as well.