So, I have had this recipe in one of my make shift recipe notebooks for awhile. Last Sunday, Mike declared that it was the kind of afternoon where I bake something and I declared the perfection of that because I needed to use the rest of the pumpkin from the snickerdoodles. And this is what he picked. A pumpkin roll. I've always wanted to make one. I've made a couple of cake rolls before, but this one.... well it tasted good. We'll get to my problem later on.
Pumpkin Roll
1 cup cake flour, sifted (do NOT use regular flour!)
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
5 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (I had the PERFECT amount to do a batch of the snickerdoodles and this!)
3 cups creamed cheese frosting
Confectioner's sugar and spiced nuts for garnish (optional-do you really think I put nuts on this? of course not)
For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 350. Grease 18 by 13 inch rimmed baking sheet and line with greased parchment paper. Whisk flour, spice, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl, set aside. With electric mixer on medium high speed, beat eggs and sugar until pale yellow and thick, 6 to 10 minutes (seriously, beat it that long. Don't think that just mixing until combine is enough. It's going to change color and thickness as you continue to mix it, I promise) Add pumpkin and mix on low until incorporated. Fold in flour mixture until combined. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until cake is firm and springs back when touched, about 15 minutes. Before cooling, run knife around edge of cake to loosen and turn out onto clean sheet of parchment paper that has been dusted with confectioner's sugar. Gently peel off parchment attached to cake and discard. Roll cake and fresh parchment into log and cool completely, about 1 hour.
To assemble: Gently unroll cake and spread with frosting, leaving 1 inch border at edges (you could probably go within a half of an inch...) Re-roll cake snugly, leaving parchment behind. Wrap cake firmly in plastic wrap and chill completely, at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. Remove plastic, dust with confectioners' sugar and garnish with spiced nuts.
Here's the cream cheese frosting recipe I used (but you can use your own, just have about 3 cups worth):
Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting - makes 1 1/2 cups, enough to frost 12 cupcakes
4 TB unsalted butter, softened but not super soft and warm
1 cup confectioners' sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, softened, cut into 4 pieces (soften at room temp about 15 minutes, do not soften in the microwave or the texture of the frosting will be too runny)
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
With electric mixer on medium high speed, beat butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese one piece at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla and mix until no lumps remain.
Here's the cake after baking. Kind of spongy looking.
And yes, it should definitely look like it has paper rolled into it when you roll paper into it...
Finished product!!! Pretty right? Wait...
See? As I said before, I've done cake rolls but I honestly don't know what I did wrong this time around. I rolled it into parchment paper after I took it out of the oven, I let it cool completely before unrolling it, and then when I did unroll it, it snapped in 2 places! I was so mad. It still tasted yummy though.
But seriously, if anyone has experience with this, or can give me any ideas of what I can do differently so this doesn't happen again, PLEASE impart your wisdom! I'm at a loss here... But still! Yummy! I mean hello, it's pumpkin and cream cheese. Can you really go wrong?
Recipe Source: Cook's Country