Classic Pumpkin Roll (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to rolling a pumpkin roll? ›

Roll the cake while it's hot!

This is the secret to a perfectly-swirled roll cake. While the cake is still hot, use the parchment to transfer the cake from the baking pan onto a clean kitchen towel. Using the towel as a hot mitt, roll the cake into a tight spiral from the narrow side.

How to keep pumpkin roll from cracking: The biggest trick to preventing your cake roll from cracking is to roll the cake up in the parchment paper as soon as it comes out of the oven. The hot cake will be soft and pliable and should roll up without cracking.

Overbaking could also be the culprit. The thin layer of cake batter in the typical 15- by 10- by 1-inch baking pan takes only about 10 to 15 minutes to bake. Check your cake after 8 or 9 minutes and watch closely until it tests done. It should be lightly browned, and the top should spring back when lightly touched.

Pumpkin Roll Ingredients

You likely have most of the ingredients you'll need on hand. If not, here's what to add to your grocery list: For the Cake: eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, all-purpose flour, and baking soda. For the Filling: cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, butter, and vanilla extract.

If the pumpkin roll is sticking to the kitchen towel that you've rolled the cake in, then it could be because there wasn't enough powdered sugar on the towel. Moisture is another important factor.

Once cool, refrigerate it (rolled in the parchment paper) for up to one day, before frosting. Once you have fully assembled your pumpkin roll, you can also store it in the refrigerator for a few days!

The thick, rough crack is a sure sign of insufficient steam. The crust wasn't moist enough to be flexible, so it hardened and set before the loaf was done expanding. Another possible reason is that your baking temperature was too high, resulting in the same effect.

You cooled the pie too quickly

The thermal shock of a pie going from a hot oven to the fridge can rapidly contract the egg proteins and just like overbaking, this will split the filling. To avoid this, make sure to allow your pie to cool down completely before chilling.

Starting with a short side of the cake, roll up the towel and the warm cake together into a spiral. Yes, the towel will be inside your baked cake roll. This step helps to form the cake roll shape later without any cracking. Roll to the end of the towel.

combined with our taste-perfect vanilla ice cream.” The first version of what is commonly referred to as a pumpkin roll appeared in 1977 as the sourdough pumpkin roll in the recipe book Rita Davenport's Sourdough cookery by Rita Davenport.

Why did my pumpkin bread come out gummy? ›

If your pumpkin spice bread is gummy or undercooked in the center, it's typically because it either 1) needed more time to bake in the oven or 2) the batter was too wet, which led the bread to collapse in on itself a bit (this happens if you measure ingredients by volume, rather than by weight: it's easy to ...

Butter is firm at room temperature so when it cools it will harden and make the sponge more susceptible to cracking as you roll it.

Although they both come in cans and the packaging looks almost identical, they can't be used interchangeably. Pumpkin puree doesn't have anything added to it, but pumpkin pie filling comes with pumpkin spice and sugar already mixed in.

Overbaking will make your cake dry and prone to cracking. However, under-baking your cake will also cause it to collapse as the cake will be wet and won't hold its shape properly.

Place it, still warm, on a sheet of greaseproof paper or a tea towel. Starting at the shorter edge of the cake, roll the cake and greaseproof paper up together, making sure that it is especially tight at the beginning. It's important that the cake is warm so it can set in the right shape.