This classic pumpkin roll recipe is made with a delicious pumpkin cake and heavenly cream cheese filling…and it’s surprisingly easy to make. See the video below for a visual on how to assemble your pumpkin roll!
Happy fall, everyone! In honor of the calendar officially flipping over to the new season this week, I thought I would bump my favorite fall dessert recipe to the top of the blog again.
Yep, I’m talkin’ about a good, old-fashioned, deliciously-indulgent, classic pumpkin roll. ♡
I have had a tradition of making pumpkin rolls every fall for at least a decade now, and always look forward to the cozy, comforting, delicious fall vibes that they bring. But I have to say that this year, during our first September living abroad, this small tradition has been especially nostalgic and comforting.
Even though it now requires making a special trek across town to the one store in Barcelona that sells canned pumpkin puree, plus an extra trip to a different store to purchase a brick of “Philadelphia” (the name for cream cheese here in Spain, so cute), and some major tinkering with my tiny Spanish oven — the rhythms and feels and smells and flavors of this ritual feel just as familiar as ever. And the second I slice off a beautiful round of that perfectly-paired pumpkin cake swirled with cream cheese filling, it tastes just delicious as ever. And the world feels wonderfully, magically, comfortingly small for a moment. Feels like fall.
Anyway, if you also happen to have a nostalgic craving hit this season for a classic pumpkin roll, this recipe has been my go-to for years. It calls for all of the classic ingredients (thanks, Libby’s!), but it’s updated with my method for rolling up the cake in parchment paper, which I have found to be simpler and more reliable than the classic towel method. If this is your first time making a pumpkin roll, don’t fear — it’s much easier than it may seem. Plus, I’ve included a handy step-by-step video below to take any of the guesswork out the equation. And if your friends and family are anything like mine, they are going to love it.
Let’s make a pumpkin roll!
Classic Pumpkin Roll Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Pumpkin Roll Ingredients:
To make this classic pumpkin roll recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
- Flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, eggs, vanilla, granulated sugar: For the base of the pumpkin cake.
- Pumpkin pie spice: For seasoning the cake. (You can either use store-bought pumpkin pie spice, or I’ve included measurements for ingredient amounts for ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.)
- Pumpkin puree: I have always used store-bought canned pumpkin puree, which is super simple. But you are welcome to make pumpkin puree from scratch, if you prefer.
- Cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla: For the cream cheese filling. I told you it was indulgent. ;)
You will also need:
- 10 x 15-inch jelly roll pan: The specific size of the pan is important here, so that the cake can be nice and thin.
- Parchment paper: I like to buy these pre-cut sheets, but you can also definitely cut your own.
How To Make A Pumpkin Roll:
Alright, let’s begin with the pumpkin cake. Simply:
- Make your pumpkin cake batter. You can either do this in a stand mixer, or by hand in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the dry ingredients until combined, and set aside. Then in a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick. Stir in the vanilla and pumpkin puree until combined. Then fold in the dry ingredients until they are just combined, being careful not to overmix the batter.
- Transfer batter to the baking sheet. Cover your jelly roll pan completely with parchment paper, leaving some extra room on the long (15-inch) sides so that you can easily lift the cake out after baking. (If the parchment paper is sliding around, just sprinkle a few drops of water underneath it, which will help it to stick to the pan.) Then spread the batter evenly on top of the parchment.
- Bake. This part goes quickly since the cake is so thin.
- Remove cake from pan. This part needs to move quickly, so be ready. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, run a knife around the edges of the pan (if needed) to loosen the cake. Then carefully grab the edges of the parchment paper to lift the cake out of the pan and slide it over to a flat, heat-proof surface. (I recommend using oven mitts since the cake will still be very hot.)
- Roll the cake. Then holding onto the parchment, carefully roll up the cake — from short end to short end — until it forms a complete roll. (See video above for an example.) Transfer the rolled cake to a wire cooling rack and let it cool completely to room temperature, seam-side-down so that they cake does not unroll.
While the cake is cooling, make your cream cheese filling. To do so, simply:
- Stir together your ingredients until smooth. It’s ok if there are a few tiny lumps of cream cheese. But in general, you want the filling to be pretty smooth. Also, it’s crucial that your ingredients are all room temperature so that the cream cheese filling can be nice and sturdy. Otherwise, the filling will be too thin and will ooze out of the pumpkin roll. (If it seems too thin, just add more powdered sugar.)
- Refrigerate until ready to use. To keep it nice and fresh.
Once the cake has cooled, it’s time for the fun part. To assemble your pumpkin roll:
- Gently unroll the cake. Place the cake back on a flat surface and gently unroll it until the cake is mostly flat again, going slowly so that the cake doesn’t break. (If it does a bit, don’t worry, it will still taste delicious.)
- Spread on the cream cheese filling. Using a spatula, spread the cream cheese filling out evenly on top of the cake, leaving a 3/4-inch border around all sides of the cake so that the filling doesn’t spill out while the cake is being re-rolled.
- Re-roll the cake. Then go ahead and roll the cake back up again, carefully peeling off the parchment paper as you roll until it until it is completely released.
- Wrap the cake. Wrap the finished pumpkin roll tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for at least an hour until chilled.
- Dust with powdered sugar. When you’re ready to serve the cake, remove and unwrap it. Then lightly dust the entire roll with powdered sugar. Then…
- Slice and serve! I like to take a small slice off of the ends just before serving, to reveal those beautiful swirls and make it a bit prettier. Then voila! Your homemade pumpkin roll will be ready to enjoy!
How To Store + Freeze A Pumpkin Roll:
Great news! Pumpkin rolls keep well in the refrigerator and freezer, so they’re the perfect dessert to make ahead of time if you’d like. To store your pumpkin roll, wrap it up tightly in plastic wrap. Then you can either refrigerate it for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. If you choose to freeze the pumpkin roll, be sure to let it thaw in the refrigerator for 1 day before serving. (If you try to warm it up in the microwave or oven, it can dry out.)
Variations:
Love this pumpkin roll recipe? Be sure to try these other dessert rolls too:
Enjoy, everyone!
Pumpkin Roll
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 0 About 8-10 servings 1x
Description
This classic pumpkin roll recipe is made with a delicious pumpkin cake and heavenly cream cheese filling…and it’s surprisingly easy to make. See the video above for a step-by-step visual tutorial for how to assemble your roll.
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cake Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (*or see below for substitution)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
- optional: powdered sugar (to sprinkle on at the end!)
Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients:
- 1 (8 ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 6 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
To Make The Pumpkin Roll:
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Line a 15 x 10-inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper, leaving an extra 1-inch of parchment sticking up on both 15-inch sides of the pan so that you can easily lift the cake out after baking. (If you’d like the parchment to stick to the bottom of the pan more easily, sprinkle a little bit of water on the pan and then press the parchment paper on top of it. You can also lightly mist the top of the parchment paper with cooking spray for easier cake release afterwards, although it’s not required.)
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a large mixing bowl until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and granulated sugar for 1 minute until thick. Add in the vanilla and pumpkin, and whisk until just combined. Fold in the flour mixture with a rubber spatula, and stir together until just combined.
- Spread the batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until top of cake springs back when touched. Carefully lift the parchment paper and cake out onto a flat (and heat-safe) surface. Then slowly, use your hands to roll the cake — rolling from the short end to the short end — until it is completely rolled up. Transfer the cake roll to a wire rack, and cool until it reaches room temperature.
- While the cake is cooling, make the cream cheese filling (see below).
- Once the cake has reached room temperature, transfer the cake roll to a flat surface, and carefully it until it is flat again (or mostly flat, it’s ok if the ends curl up a bit). Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over cake, leaving a 3/4-inch border on all sides. Then carefully re-roll the cake, gently peeling away the parchment paper as you roll until you can completely remove and discard it. Tightly wrap the pumpkin roll in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour.
- Remove and unwrap the pumpkin roll and transfer it to your serving dish. Lightly dust the pumpkin roll on all sides with powdered sugar, if you would like. Then slice* and serve.
- If you have leftovers, just re-wrap the pumpkin roll in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months.
To Make The Cream Cheese Filling:
- Whisk together cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until smooth. If the filling is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add a half teaspoon or two of water. (You want a medium consistency so that the filling is easy to spread, but not too warm or thin that it will ooze out of the cake when you’re rolling it up.)
Notes
*If you do not already have a jar of pumpkin pie spice, you can use the following:
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
**If you want the cake to be pretty on the very ends, I recommend slicing off about 1/2-inch of the cake on both ends before serving. Then you’ll definitely see those pretty cream cheese swirls!
Recipe is very slightly adapted from Libby’s. Cooking time listed above does not account for cooling time.
Could it be made gluten free?
Best pumpkin roll recipe I’ve ever made🤩
I’ve made 3 pumpkin rolls using this recipe for a few years. Always turn out great. It’s an easy recipe so don’t be afraid to try it.
Going to add sour cream and fireball whiskey to the filling to jazz it up
Tried this recipe twice and had the same result. The sponge is very dense and gummy. I’m not sure what I did wrong. The taste is delicious but the cake consistency is definitely off. Any insight/advice for me?
I followed the recipe and found the cake to be too dense and tough. The flavor was good though.
Made this recipe for Sunday dinner and it was a hit! Delicious and relatively easy to make, especially using the parchment to roll the cake instead of a towel. I’m definitely going to do that for any roll cakes that I make in the future, because it’s so much better. The only change I did was to make a cream cheese glaze to go on top, because I recently bought some cute fall sprinkles and wanted to use them.
I found this recipe in September 2019 – and it was such a major hit with my immediate family and my work that every year since then, I’ve had to make dozens of these in the Fall time. The recipe is perfect – there were two slight modifications I did. One, I turned my oven down to 350 degrees instead of 375 – I did not want the edges crispy at all. The other modification was for the cream cheese filling. It calls for 6 Tbsps of butter – I only did 4 Tbsps – because I want more of the cream cheese flavor rather than the butter flavor. But I do have to agree that Parchment paper is PERFECT for using – do NOT substitute this with wax paper – it will cause issues. And yes, if you have a spray bottle or mister – spray the pan before putting the parchment paper on.
If anyone wants to add chocolate chips to the batter – little tip: coat the chips in flour first before adding to the batter. This will keep those chips from sinking to the bottom of the cake (before it’s rolled) and they’ll be evenly proportionate throughout. Just don’t go overboard with the chips. I’d do about a cup to a 1 cup and 1/2. If you use too much, they will laden the roll and it’ll be soggy and will not roll. And the more chips in the batter – the better chance it will cook/burn on the parchment sheet – leaving crisps and a slight burn taste to the cake roll.
If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice – the ingredients for a substitute listed in the recipe is spot on. It works really well – I’ve used it in a pinch before. And since these rolls can be frozen – I like to wrap each roll in the parchment paper tightly – and then I stuff the roll into a large freezer bag – gallon size or if you can find them – 2 gallon sized freezer bags. (I use the latter – they fit better and are easier to take out) Just take out the night before and they will be thawed out perfectly.
My most favorite Go-To Pumpkin Roll recipe! Totally 5 stars well deserved!
I have been making this for at least the last 4 years. It’s awesome. You came make them up ahead of time. The freeze beautifully. Sometimes I add cinnamon to the cream cheese frosting. Sometimes I made whipped cream instead. I’ve also added cinnamon to that too. LOVE AND ADORE THIS RECIPE.
This is the best pumpkin roll recipe I’ve ever made! I make them every holiday season and everyone raves about them. Using parchment paper makes constructing the roll a breeze.