I love cake rolls. When I first delved into the baking arts, I made scones and cake rolls. Cake rolls—once you know how to do them—don’t take a lot of effort to create a fun effect, so your friends and family think you’re a skilled baker. There are also many varieties and flavor combinations, and you can use different types of sponge and fill the icing with lots of goodies like fruit, nuts, candy cane bits or whatever your recipe calls for.

Last year we made a pumpkin cake roll with cream cheese icing for Halloween, and it was the perfect dessert to serve with coffee while handing out candy, especially when you have guests stopping in. Just cut off another slice. This is based on a combination of recipes that I’ve tried over the years. Many of the tips I’ve discovered or incorporated.

Some people say it’s easier just to wrap it in the parchment paper. I think the towel gives it a better shape for filling. I’ve seen this recipe made with sponge also, when you separate the eggs. It doesn’t really do much for it. The pumpkin puree is quite heavy.

HISTORY

Is it a cake roll, a Swiss roll, a yule log, a rolled jelly cake, a rolly cake? (I made the last one up.) Yes. Now American pastry chefs and menus in the fancy restaurants called it a roulade. And of course, the commercial chocolate log, known as the Yodel, is quite popular as smaller treat. We’re not sure where the term Swiss roll originated from, somewhere in Central Europe in the 1800s. The earliest British reference to a rolled cake appeared on a bill of fare in 1871, published in the 1872 book A Voyage from Southampton to Cape Town, in the Union Company’s Mail Steamer “Syria” (London). Detroit had its own recipe for a Swiss Roll in the same year in The American Home Cookbook. A recipe for a rolled cake spread with jelly was printed in the Northern Farmer, a journal published in Utica, New York, in December 1852.

SPECIAL GEAR

DISH TOWEL MAINTANANCE

Get a dish towel with an even texture on both sides, uniform material with no variations in pattern. And when done, set it aside. Use it just for this. Don’t wash dishes with it. When you rinse it out, only use a tiny bit of soap preferably without a scent. I cherish my cake roll towel. I’ve had it since before I got married. I would be wrecked without my cake roll dishtowel. Oh no. Where is it?

And remember . . . patience always in baking and life. Let your ingredients warm to the right temperatures. Let the cake cool properly. Plan enough time to do it right and enjoy it.

YOUR GOAL: Bake a perfect cake roll that holds its shape with very few cracks.

TIPS:

• Take out your eggs, cream cheese and butter to give them enough time to get to room temperature. The cream cheese will take longer, say 90 minutes. DO NOT TRY TO MICROWAVE YOUR CREAM CHEESE TO WARM IT. It will turn to liquid. Start early and let it all warm over time.
• Check your brown sugar for lumps.
• Setup your towel covered in powdered sugar near the oven on a counter or table. You’re going to need to roll it as soon as it comes out of the oven so the cake will start to cool in the shape of roll. So, get it all ready before you start.
• Ideally this should be done the day before serving or early that morning. It takes hours to cool properly. If you put it in the refrigerator to cool, you have to let it warm back to room temperature before you icing it.
• Choose quality cream cheese. Don’t do the store brand. You want it thick. Go PHILADELPHIA CREAM CHEESE!

INGREDIENTS

CAKE

Dry Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup (94g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon of nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon of ginger
• ¼ teaspoon of ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon of salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup (150g) canned pumpkin puree
• ½ cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
• ½ cup (100g) of granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of powdered sugar (for towel insulation)

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

• 12 Ounces (2 blocks) of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature.
• ½ cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3 cups (360g) of powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 2-3 Tablespoons of Fireball Whiskey or flavor liquor (Optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C)
2. Prepare your 10×15-inch jelly roll pan by using a nonstick spray or butter on the pan, then line it with rectangular parchment paper and if you want, use a little nonstick spray on the parchment paper. You have to be fast when you flop it onto the towel, so you want it to be a smooth transition. It’s going to be hot. Make sure there’s some overhang of the parchment paper to give you plenty of room. Remember. The batter’s going to weigh it down in the corners.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, spices and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk it so it mixes evenly. Sift it if you like for extra mixing.
4. In a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat the eggs for about 5 minutes or until thick with a lemon color. Then, gradually add the sugar, beating on medium speed until fluffy. Next add the vanilla and finally the pumpkin puree. Mix in the dry ingredients until combined on a low to medium speed.

5. Pour the batter onto to the prepared pan. Use a spatula to get it even to every corner. You need it level and pretty even. Don’t worry if it doesn’t get to quite to the edge of the pan. It expands. Then, drop it from a height of an inch on the counter a few times. You’ll see air bubbles come to the surface. This helps to prevent cracks.

6. Bake it on a rack in the middle position for about 16-17 minutes. When it’s ready, it’ll bounce when you lightly tap the cake.
7. Here’s where you need to be careful cause you need to do this fast and it’s going to be hot. Hopefully, you’ve already placed the kitchen towel flat on the counter and covered it in the powdered sugar. If not, do it now, because it needs to be rolled as soon as it comes out. Once the cake is ready, you’re going to need to turn over the pan over the towel—not too high above—so the baked rectangle of cake lands completed on the sugared towel. The pan’s going to be hot too. Then, starting with the narrow end, begin to slowly and gently roll the cake up. Do this now or it will crack.

THE CREAM CHEESE FILLING

YOU WANT THICK FILLING

While the cake roll is cooling, make the filling. I like to do this and chill it so it’s thicker and doesn’t all squeeze out. You can add more powdered sugar by the tablespoon fill to thicken it or corn silk if you don’t want it sweeter. I double the filling so you can make a thick layer and have extra on the side. My wife loves the filling. You want a nice thick layer of icing in the roll so it looks nice and holds its round shape.

You want the cream cheese icing nice and smooth. Make sure it’s at room temperature. Add a couple of tablespoons of corn silk to thicken it if you like.

1. In a large bowl using a stand or hand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the room temperature cream cheese until it’s smooth and creamy. Then, beat in the butter until combined. Then add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat on medium-high speed until its combined and creamy. Add some morsel semi-sweet chocolate chips if you like or chopped nuts.
2. Now chill the icing for like 20-30 minutes or until it’s not as liquidly. This will let you add a thicker layer of filling, and it will hold together better. It still needs to be spreadable though. If it’s too cold, it’ll rip up cake.
3. Now, gently, slowly, carefully unroll the cake so it’s flat. Cracks are bad. When the cake is flat, spread the cool filling up to 1/2-inch border off the edge of the cake. If it’s cooler, you should be able to get a good amount of icing on there in layers. In the past, I’ve sometimes done this twice, rolling it once, chilling the cake roll then adding more icing and rolling it again to build layers. But you have to be extremely carefully using this method. I just like a nice-looking cake roll that’s round with thick layers for the Facebook boasting photos. You don’t want too much icing either or you won’t get that curl.
4. Put it on a plate, wrap it and chill it in the refrigerator for at least an hour. I like to do it overnight, so it cuts into nice pieces without compressing the shape of it. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top before serving but not before, as the cake can absorb it.
5. Make it look pretty by cutting off the ends, so it looks neat. If it oozes or compresses, let it chill longer. I have a pretty square serving plate.

ICING ON THE SIDE

You can take the extra icing and mix in the Fireball Whisky or other liquor, say coffee-based, to add some side filling. Add a little more powdered sugar to get the thickness right, depending on how much liquor you like in your filling. Mix it with a spoon until it’s thick and put a dollop on the side of the plate. If you’re feeling fancy, use a pastry bag to add some dots or lines to the cake roll after it’s cooled.

And enjoy your autumn treat. There are many other recipes for a variety of cake rolls you should try.