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Pumpkin Spice Cake Roll

Pumpkin spice cake roll with a tender, springy sponge and a cinnamon cream cheese filling rolled into a tight swirl. Chilled for clean slices, then finished with a dramatic powdered sugar dusting.
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 13 minutes
chilling 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 43 minutes
Servings: 10 servings
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Calories: 420
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Pumpkin cake
  • 0.75 cup all-purpose flour
  • 0.5 tsp baking powder
  • 0.5 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 0.25 tsp salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 0.67 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 tsp vanilla
Cream cheese filling
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 0.5 tsp cinnamon
  • extra powdered sugar for dusting

Equipment

  • 1 sheet pan
  • 1 mixing bowl
  • 1 jelly roll pan

Method
 

Bake the pumpkin cake
  1. Preheat oven to 375F and grease a 15x10 jelly roll pan, then line with parchment.
  2. Beat the eggs and granulated sugar until thick, then add the pumpkin puree and vanilla.
  3. Fold in the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt until just combined.
  4. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake 11-13 minutes, until the cake springs back when lightly pressed.
  5. Immediately invert the hot cake onto a powdered sugar-dusted towel and peel off the parchment.
  6. Roll the cake in the towel from the short end and cool completely.
Fill, chill, and slice
  1. Beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, unsalted butter, vanilla, and cinnamon until smooth.
  2. Unroll the cooled cake and spread the filling evenly over the surface.
  3. Re-roll without the towel, wrap in parchment, and chill 1 hour.
  4. Dust with extra powdered sugar and slice to serve.

Notes

For the cleanest spiral, bake only until the cake springs back (don’t overbake, or it will crack when rolled). Chill time (plus cooling after baking) helps the filling set for neat slices; store covered in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Freezing is not recommended for best texture. If you want a lighter option, use reduced-fat cream cheese while keeping the same powdered sugar for structure.