Pumpkin Roll Cake is pretty much everything you love about fall flavors in one sweet bite! This classic pumpkin cake is loaded with seasonal spices and filled with a simple cream cheese filling. Don’t be intimidated by the technique, it’s really manageable and the result is stunning. If you follow a few simple steps, you will end up with a beautiful cake roll that will pop off of any dessert buffet.

I’ve been making this cake all fall and it’s been a huge hit! The cake is truly beautiful with lovely little cream cheese swirls against that perfect pumpkin orange color. It’s really more impressive and delicious than it is labor intensive. Follow these easy steps and you will have a gorgeous, show piece of a cake for your Thanksgiving dessert buffet!

Prepared jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

The first step is to prepare a jelly-roll pan. A jelly-roll pan is basically a smaller version of a sheet pan. I give my jelly-roll pan a light spray and then put parchment paper in the pan. I spray the pan because it helps the parchment paper adhere to the pan and not slide around when I’m pouring the cake batter into the pan. I then give the parchment paper a light spray so that the paper releases easily from the cake after baking.

Spread cake batter evenly in pan.

Spread the batter evenly into the jelly-roll pan.

Baked cake.

This cake comes together quickly! Mine baked for about 12 minutes. It’s finished when you touch the cake and it springs back. You can see where I tested this cake and it wasn’t ready. OOPS!

Work quickly at this point. You can see how easy the parchment paper makes it to lift the cake out of the pan. In addition, I run a knife between the parchment paper and the sides of the cake to begin the process of peeling off the parchment paper. Then I turn the cake onto a thin kitchen towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Once the cake is on the powdered sugar towel, very carefully (and slowly) peel the parchment paper off of the cake.

Carefully roll cake in powdered sugar dusted kitchen towel. Towel should be thin. Oh, and clean. 🙂

Here comes the fun part! Roll the cake from one narrow end to the other. Once cake is rolled in the towel, set it seam side down on a wire rack to cool. This gives the cake a little “muscle memory” and helps it keep it shape after it’s filled with that perfect cream cheese filling! Once the cake has cooled, unroll cake and spread cream cheese filling evenly on the cake and roll it back up. Always keep the seam side down. Place in refrigerator to set.

Pretty little thing.

TA-DA! When you are ready to serve, dust with powdered sugar and slice with a serrated knife.

You can find a jelly-roll pan here.

You can find a serrated knife here.

Pro-tip: I use an off set spatula to spread things evenly. You can find an off-set spatula here.

I love Cream Cheese Frosting and this one is a winner. It hits the right combination of sweetness from the sugar and tang from the cream cheese.

A few notes:

*Keep the electric mixer on low while incorporating the powdered sugar. That is, unless you want to end up wearing the sugar.

*After you add 2 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar, taste it. If you think it needs more sweetness, add more sifted powdered sugar. Remember, it is better to taste the frosting and add sugar as you go. Once you add it in, you can’t take it out. I mean, it’s a tough job tasting frosting but someone has to do it, right?

*Make sure your cream cheese and butter are room temperature. You want the frosting to be creamy and smooth.

*Sift the powdered sugar. Smooth and creamy is what you’re going for here. No one wants lumps in frosting.

This frosting is delicious and perfect on Red Velvet Cupcakes or Carrot Cake.

Enjoy!