I thought I’d make one more festive pumpkin dessert this fall, just in time for Thanksgiving. They sell these pumpkin cream cheese rolls at our local Fresh Market bakery and they are amazing! Knowing me though, I can’t show up at a holiday get together with something store bought, so I was on a mission to find a good homemade recipe. I made this pumpkin cream cheese roll yesterday and my husband, who isn’t a big fan of pumpkin desserts, thought this was not only really good, but better than Fresh Market’s! I’ll take that ;)

Servings: 8

Cake:

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup flour

Filling:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 10″x15″ jelly roll pan. Line pan with waxed paper, then grease and lightly flour the waxed paper.

In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar. Beat in remaining cake ingredients. Pour batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 15 minutes. Cake cooks fast so watch carefully to avoid burning the edges.

While cake is baking, sprinkle powdered sugar heavily over the kitchen towel, using a sieve or sifter. Turn hot cake onto the towel. Remove waxed paper. Trim off burnt or crusty edges. Sprinkle more powdered sugar over the hot cake and quickly roll up with towel inside. Let cake cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare filling by beating together all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Unroll cooled cake and spread with the filling mixture. Roll up cake with filling on the inside. Wrap in waxed paper and then foil. Refrigerate or freeze. To serve, slice cake about 1/3 inch thick and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cake cuts best when still slightly frozen.

This recipe was easier than I thought it’d be, even though the cake flipping and rolling made me nervous. The bread split when I was rolling up the cream cheese, but I was able to mend it back together in the final step when I wrapped the roll in wax paper tightly before freezing and slicing.

What’s on your Thanksgiving menu? Are you making any desserts for the occasion?

pumpkin cream cheese roll recipe – food.com