Recipe of the Week: Ms. Sharon's Pumpkin Cake Roll

Hi, friends! I meant to get this post up yesterday, but I got busy with a couple of other projects, and then Mike and Justin got home from their Colorado elk hunting trip, (I'll share pics of that with you later this week), so my post got pushed back until tonight.

Last week my friend & co-worker Christi W. mentioned how much she loved pumpkin cake rolls, and that she hadn't had one in a long time, so I made one, (SO YUMMY!!), and took it to the office for everyone to enjoy. I thought that you might enjoy making one for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, so I am sharing that recipe with you today.

My Pumpkin Cake Roll recipe comes from a sweet lady that I know from my hometown of Afton, OK. Several years ago she and I worked together at the Afton Farmer's Co-Op. Ms. Sharon G. was the office manager, and at the VERY YOUNG age of 19, I was hired as a secretary there. (I was the third generation, but the only girl, in my family to work at the Afton Farmer's Co-Op...my grandpa retired from there and my dad ran the grain elevators.) Anyhoo, here's the delicious recipe that she shared with me almost 30 years ago:

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1 cup powdered sugar (plus a little extra for sprinkling)
• 6 oz. softened cream cheese
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat eggs on high speed for 5 minutes. Gradually add sugar; then stir in the pumpkin and lemon juice. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Fold dry mixture into pumpkin. Spread batter in a 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan that has been thoroughly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Top with chopped walnuts or pecans and bake for 15 minutes or when a toothpick comes out clean after being inserted into the center of the cake. Turn cake out onto a muslin tea-towel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Beginning at the narrow end of the cake, roll towel and cake together and place in the refrigerator to cool. (About 45 minutes.) While cake is rolled up and cooling, beat together powdered sugar, softened cream cheese, softened butter and vanilla until smooth. Unroll cake and spread cream cheese mixture over the cake. Roll up in the towel again and place in refrigerator until completely chilled. Remove from fridge and towel and carefully slice. Makes about 14 slices.

HELPFUL HINT:

Instead of cutting my cake roll with a knife, I like to use uncoated dental floss so that the cake slices don't "squish" during the slicing process. By sliding a piece of floss under the cake roll and then crossing it over and pulling it through the cake, I get nice, clean slices for serving:

 

 Here's my pumpkin cake roll all plated up on a pretty fall plate to serve at work:

 Thanks so much for dropping by today!! I'll be posting photos from Mike and Justin's Colorado elk hunting/camping trip later this week, so be sure to stop back by to see those. :)

Have a FANTASTIC week!