We are officially in the first full week of November and that of course means that Thanksgiving will be here in the blink of an eye. Between my Pumpkin Week and Apple Week recipes, there are many items that I would highly recommend as fantastic Fall-flavored desserts that are great alternatives to traditional pies. This post features a bonus pumpkin dessert that is delicious and serves as another yummy option to have at the Thanksgiving dessert table!
This cake roll is not only super easy to make, but it is also faster to make than a traditional layer cake! It combines the same flavor profile as my Pumpkin Caramel Cream Cheese Cake in a beautiful little spiral. Fun fact: I used the pumpkin cake remnants and leftover frosting and caramel from my Superb Pumpkin Caramel Cream Cheese Cake post to make this cake roll. Cake rolls are a great way to use leftover cake-making items!
In addition to being easy and quick to make, this cake roll is wonderfully delicious: a lightly spiced pumpkin cake with sweet and slightly tart cream cheese frosting, velvety caramel, a pinch of salt, and chopped pecans for crunch. What sounds better than this divine combination of autumn flavors? In my book, nothing! So, let us get started!
Ingredients:
- Spiced Pumpkin Cake (made with 1.5 teaspoons of pumpkin spice rather than 2.5 teaspoons) (the link for my recipe is provided here)
- Vanilla Buttercream (the link for my recipe is provided here)
- Cream Cheese Frosting (the link for my recipe is provided here)
- Caramel (the link for my recipe is provided here)
- Salt
- Pecans
Prepare the Cake:
Place the pumpkin sponge (approximately 3 cups) in a large mixing bowl and crumble the sponge into small pieces. Add about ¼ – ½ cup vanilla buttercream, and then thoroughly mix the cake and buttercream together. You want the cake to hold together, so take a small ball of the cake mixture and press it into a disc shape in your hand. If the cake cracks or crumbles at all while doing this, add more buttercream, a little bit at a time.
Once the cake mixture is the desired consistency, form into a rectangle and place on a piece of parchment paper. Place another piece of parchment paper on top and use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a large, flat rectangle that is about ¼ inch thick. Remove the parchment paper and use a paring knife to cut a rectangle in the cake. Remove the excess and set it aside to use for another cake roll.
Add Cream Cheese Frosting and Roll the Cake:
Add ½ cup of cream cheese frosting on top of the cake dough. Using an offset spatula, gently smooth the cream cheese frosting onto the pumpkin cake. Add more cream cheese frosting as needed and continue to smooth the frosting into an even layer on the cake until all the cake dough is covered in frosting.
Next, gently fold one side of the cake to start the rolling portion of the cake roll process. Use the parchment paper to continue to roll the cake until it is all tightly rolled together. Place this onto a sheet pan and pop that into the freezer for 15 minutes to let the cake and cream cheese frosting slightly harden.
Top with Caramel, Salt, and Pecans:
Remove the cake roll from the freezer and cut a thin strip off of each end of the cake roll. Using a piping bag filled with room temperature caramel, pipe a thick drizzle of caramel on top of the cake roll. Next, sprinkle salt over the top of the caramel drizzle. Lastly, generously sprinkle chopped pecan pieces on top of the cake roll. Place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes to allow the cake roll to completely harden as it is much easier to cut neat slices.
Cut the Roll and Serve:
Remove the cake roll from the freezer and use a sharp knife to cut even slices. Serve as it is, or with an additional sprinkle of chopped pecans. Enjoy!
Notes:
- You can either leave the cake roll in the freezer until you are ready to cut before serving, or you may cut the cake rolls ahead of time and keep them in the freezer until you are ready to serve them.
- I recommend that this particular cake roll be kept in the freezer until close to the time of service because the cream cheese frosting is a bit soft, so the slices will be easier to transfer to a plate or serving vessel when it is slightly frozen.
- The cake roll comes to room temperature pretty quickly, so you will not have to wait long before serving it.
Thank you so much for checking out this post! I hope that you give this super easy autumn dessert a try! Please leave a comment below to let me know if you made this and how you enjoyed it!
