Pumpkin Roll Filled with Cream Cheese

I made this recipe last holiday season but completely spaced on posting it. I had two cream cheese filled pumpkin rolls pinned and decided to try this recipe to see if I could pull off such a dessert.

To start off, I have never known what a jelly roll pan is and after googling it, realized - I think - that is is a glorified cookie sheet. It has higher sides, from what I read. So, as according the the recipe's instructions, I pulled out my cookie sheet and got to mixing.

1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line the jelly roll pan/cookie sheet with parchment paper. Mix 1 cup sugar with the 3 eggs. Then, add in the pumpkin. Next, add in all dry ingredients - baking soda, cinnamon, salt, flour. Combine thoroughly.

Spread the batter evenly onto the pan. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until cake is "springy" and bounces back when pressed with finger.

You're not done! While the roll is baking, lay a dishtowel on your counter top and cover it in powdered sugar. This may get a little messy, but once the pumpkin roll is done baking, flip onto the powdered sugar towel and immediately roll up, while it's still hot. (If you need a visual, Nicole's post of this recipe has photos.)

While the roll is setting, make your cream cheese filling by mixing the following:

2 Tbsp butter, softened
8 oz.cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Now, unroll the pumpkin roll and spread the cream cheese filling all around, then roll it back up. Now you should have a pretty powder sugared pumpkin roll, filled with cream cheese! Remember to keep this in the refrigerator if you need to store it for a bit.

I'd really like to make another "roll" like this, so if you've got one, pass it along please!

Itsy Bitsy Spiderweb Pumpkin Cake

I found this pumpkin bar recipe from Life's Simple Measures last week and had to give it a shot since I had some leftover pumpkin to use up. She listed a delicious sounding maple cream cheese frosting to go on top of hers, but I didn't have any maple extract. Boo. It is now on my list to get before holiday baking begins! Eeee! Super excited!




I cut the recipe that Jess posted for the pumpkin bars in a third, so here is what I used, which made just the right amount baked into a 6 inch cake pan. (Note: This is not cake like, but a very dense moist bar. I just wanted to put a cream cheese filling in so I used a circular pan. Plus I only had enough pumpkin for a smaller batch of batter.) For the full recipe and beautiful pictures check out Jess's recipe at Life's Simple Measures.

10 oz. can pumpkin puree
1/4 c. canola oil

1 large egg

1/2 c. sugar
2/3 c. all purpose flour
2/3 tsp. baking powder
1/3 tsp. baking soda
1/3 tsp. salt
2/3 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 tsp. ground ginger
1/3 tsp. ground nutmeg

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, canola oil, eggs, and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).

In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Slowly pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and fold together until completely combined.

Pour batter into 6 inch cake pan. Bake at 350 for about 25-28 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

After letting it cool, I cut it in half and used the cream cheese recipe from Life's Simple Measures to fill in between the layers. Now, I needed a frosting to cover the two layers and filling.

I thought about how much I love chocolate and pumpkin together (see: 3 Ingredient Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies), so why not add a chocolate frosting to the pumpkin bars? Enter: my Pinterest Cupcakes Board, where I knew I had pinned some frosting recipes to try. You would have pinned this too, right? Gorgeous chocolate buttercream for piping.

Photo credit: Alice @ Savory Sweet Life

I used the chocolate buttercream recipe shown above from Alice at Savory Sweet Life. It is deeeeeee-licious and so easy to spread.

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or 1 teaspoon almond extract)
4 tablespoons heavy cream or milk

Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer on medium speed.

Sift powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. Mix together . (It will be a little lumpy at this point.)

Add vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat on medium for 3 minutes. Now frost away!

Then I took some of the leftover cream cheese frosting and piped two X's one on top of another. Then, just circles about a half inch apart. Finally, take a knife and pull the frosting starting in the center to the outside. These defining spiderweb lines would have been more dramatic if I had made my initial X's and circles thicker.


Thanks for sticking it out this far if you've made it to the end of the post :) I hope you've enjoyed my little mash up of recipes!


This post is linked up to some of the parties listed under my Show & Tell tab at the top of the page. Go check them out for more inspiration!  

Easiest Cookie Recipe Ever: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip

I'm not even kidding. Easiest ever.

2 ingredients to make the cookies.
3 if you count the chocolate chips.
4 if you count the frosting.

Here is all you do:

Mix one box of Spice Cake Mix with about 15oz of pumpkin. Throw in some chocolate chips, if you desire. [We did desire them, surprise surprise.] Bake @ 350 for about 14 minutes. That is it. If you feel like it, add some cream cheese frosting to the top once cooled. [We felt like it.]

These cookies are so moist, you won't be able to eat just one. They do not spread, so the dollop (just smaller than a golf ball, about the size of a rounded tablespoon) you put on the cookie sheet, is basically the size the baked cookie will be, which means you can fit quite a few on one sheet. Also, due to the pumpkin color of the dough, you cannot tell when they are "golden." If you need to, adjust your second sheet's bake time, depending on how you like the first batch after 14 minutes bake time.

It is harder to roll out of bed in the morning than to bake these yummy fall cookies. Don't laugh. I'm not kidding. Well, I might be. But, I really don't like getting out of my warm, snuggly pillow-invaded bed and I really did like how easy baking these cookies was last tonight....


Linking up over at Lady Behind the Curtain as well as a handful of others. I can't get the button to show up on here and am in the process of making a page of the parties I link to! Hang tight!