Libby's Pumpkin Roll Recipe (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.

My pumpkin rolls always crack; what am I doing wrong??

You also want to pull the cake from the oven as soon as it is done baking. An over-baked cake is much more likely to crack, even if rolled while it is hot from the oven.

As the pumpkin roll cools, it has a tendency to form a little bit of condensation on the outside. This can cause it to feel a little wet or sticky. That's where the powdered sugar comes in! Not only does it add a little bit of extra sweetness, but it helps absorb some of that excess moisture.

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.

Make sure you roll up the cake when it's hot out of the oven. If you let it cool much at all, it will risk cracking when rolling or unrolling. I highly recommend using a scale to measure your flour as it's the most accurate method and will prevent you from ending up with a dense cake.

Mistake to Avoid #2: Tough Dinner Rolls

Do your dinner rolls resemble shoe leather? Too much flour, or not the right kind, could be to blame. Dough made only from flour with a high or even average amount of protein (like bread flour or all-purpose flour) can become tough from overmixing.

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.

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.

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 ...

White mold severely affects pumpkins and some varieties of winter squash. The disease infects both stems and fruit. White mold often infects pumpkin through the blossom end of the fruit. Stem infections start where cotyledons are fading or where the plant has wounds.

Why is my pumpkin bread gooey in the middle? ›

Your pumpkin bread is underdone when you find the middle is still uncooked. The exterior may look fully baked, but unless you check the middle by using a toothpick or cake tester, there's no way to know if the interior is done.

Spray or grease the parchment paper too. We want an extremely nonstick surface for this cake roll. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together in a large bowl.

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.

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. If it's too cold, it won't roll properly. Once rolled, leave it to cool completely.

Sourdough bread is usually scored using a lame, a tool that safely holds a sharp razor blade at the end. If you don't have a lame, use a sharp paring knife. You can dust your loaf with flour to make your designs stand out even more. As the loaf bakes and expands, it will take on the shape of a pumpkin.

Homemade pie that has been left out for longer than two hours should be thrown away. If you left any pumpkin pie out for too long, don't be tempted to roll the dice.