Pumpkin Roll Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

We wanted to celebrate our 100th post with a special treat. A roll cake looks deceptively easy, but we learned the hard way it takes some practice and more patience to create. However, all the hard work does pay off as it's delicious and a fun, non-traditional dessert. The baking process also lends itself to some great stories. We ad libbed this recipe from All Recipes, which provided a great base. 

Before embarking on this journey, it would behoove you to read this 'how-to' from Cooking Light. We'll also outline the process below-but just in case you wanted a second opinion. 

Some key equipment you'll need to guarantee success:

• 15x10x1 baking sheet. We tried to cheat with a regular cookie sheet, and it's too big. It makes the cake too thin and susceptible to tearing during the rolling process.
• Wax paper: can't roll the cake without it.
• Smooth (read: no textures) kitchen towel. Anything with raised patterns just gives the cake more surface to latch onto, increasing the chance of tearing.
• Mesh strainer: this will help evenly spread the powdered sugar. 

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 1h 15 mins (including cooling)

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• Juice from half a lemon (around 1-1.5 teaspoons)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for pan/paper
• 2.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar, plus extra to dust linen towel
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (great time to use your homemade extract)

Preheat oven to 375. In a medium sized bowl, beat eggs on high until foamy, about 5 minutes. Gradually introduce the sugar until it's thick. Mix in pumpkin and lemon juice. 

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt and fold into the pumpkin mixture.

Grease your baking pan and line it with wax paper. Grease and flour the paper to ensure the cake does not stick. Spread the batter evenly on the pan. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, until the cake is springy to the touch. While the cake is baking prepare the linen towel: dust liberally with confectioners sugar 

Immediately flip the cake out of the pan and onto the linen towel. Peel off the wax paper backing and roll the cake, short end first. Cool for about 30 minutes. 

While the cake is cooling, make the frosting. Mix softened cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla until well combined. 

When the cake is slightly cool to the touch, carefully unroll it and spread the icing over the cake, up to about 1 inch of the edges. Roll it back up, sans towel. If your cake does tear, don't fret and use the icing like glue to keep it all together. Cover it with cling wrap and chill until ready to serve. (Trust us, it does taste better chilled).