So we had a pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving and I have a good 15 oz of pumpkin puree leftover that I don’t want to waste. Well… the sweetie tells me about this super scrumptious pumpkin roll cake (rolled up with a cream cheese filling) that someone brought to work from a local grocery store. Alright – I can do that. It sounds like the Libby Pumpkin Roll Cake that I have seen all over the place.
Why do I never have the right baking pan? My kitchen is full of good equipment, and yet, there are still recipes that want me to have more… The Libby recipe calls for a 11×15″ jelly roll pan. I don’t have that. Do you have that? So I had to pull out the math skills in order to use up 15 oz of pumpkin and not buy anything extra – like a jelly roll pan.
My sweetie’s eyes glaze over as I wax on about having to figure the surface area of the jelly roll and the surface area of my half sheet pan (13×18″), as well as their percentage of difference. All my friends eyes seem to glaze over when I pull out the math. I love math. Why do so many hate it? So I extrapolated a pumpkin roll cake recipe for a half sheet pan, which I feel is a much more common pan size for foodies in America.
I have to say, I wasn’t really sure I even wanted to make this cake, but of course I did because I always fulfill food requests. However, I take all my reservations back. This pumpkin cake is moist and delicious with absolutely no fat. I am going to work on manipulating that into a pumpkin quick bread. But for now, here is the roll cake recipe.
PUMPKIN ROLL CAKE (for HALF SHEET PAN 13×18″)
CAKE
• 46 g powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
• 136 g all-purpose flour
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• 1½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 large eggs + 1 white
• 300 g granulated sugar
• 252 g pumpkin puree
FILLING
• 12½ oz. cream cheese,@ room temp
• 156 g powdered sugar, sifted
• 132 g butter, softened
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar (optional for decoration)
Directions for Cake:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 18×13-inch half sheet pan; line with parchment paper. Lightly grease paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar. (***NOTE: I did this kitchen towel business and by the time it was over, I couldn’t believe I was so dumb. Why not just use some parchment paper instead of ending up with a disgusting towel and mess everywhere!***)
COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt in small bowl.
BEAT eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture – don’t overmix! Spread evenly into prepared pan.
BAKE for 14-17 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. (***NOTE: If I had used parchment instead of a kitchen towel, the plan would be to place the parchment onto a large enough cookie sheet. Place on top of cake in the pan, and flip it over so that your cake is now on the parchment on the sheet.***) Carefully peel off the baked paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool.
Directions for Filling:
BEAT cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.
