My husband and I make a pretty good team. We’ve been married for almost 13 years and have been friends since we were little kids. Over the years, we’ve learned who’s good at what and have fallen into a comfortable routine when it comes to housework and taking care of our boys.
I cook dinner and he usually does most of the dishes.
I wash and fold the laundry and he puts it away.
I write the recipes and take care of the photography, and he makes sure my writing is somewhat coherent and manages the techy stuff.
Yep, we go together like peanut butter and jelly…
Or like cookies and milk…
Or maybe we go together like pumpkin cake and maple cream cheese filling. This recipe is so impressive when served, and while it looks complicated, the rolling method really does go very smoothly. The maple cream cheese filling is very subtle in its flavor, not overwhelming at all. Also, it can be made ahead a day or two, wrapped in plastic wrap and kept in the fridge until ready to serve.
PrintPumpkin Roll With Maple Cream Cheese Filling
Fall’s favorite sponge cake rolled with maple cream cheese filling. Perfect for holiday get togethers!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup pure pumpkin puree
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 6 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Grease 15 by 10 by 1-inch jelly-roll pan and line with parchment or waxed paper. Grease and flour paper and set aside. Lay out a clean, smooth kitchen towel and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Be generous with the sugar as this will keep the cake from sticking to the towel.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar on medium high speed until pale yellow. Add pumpkin and mix.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture on low speed until combined.
- Pour cake batter onto prepared jelly roll pan evenly. I gave the pan a few firm taps on the counter to help it level out.
- Bake for 11-14 minutes. I used a dark colored pan and my cake was done at 11 minutes. To test for doneness, gently press the center of the cake. If it is done it will spring back.
- Remove from the oven and invert the cake onto the prepared kitchen towel. Carefully peel away the wax paper.
- Starting from the short end of the cake, gently roll the cake up in the towel and allow to cool while you make the filling.
Filling
- Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, softened butter on low speed until smooth.
- Add maple syrup and heavy cream and beat on high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Carefully unroll cake and remove towel.
- Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic food wrap.
- Refrigerate at least one hour.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar right before serving. If you cake does happen to have some slight blemishes or cracks, this will cover them right up :0)
Notes
Source: Adapted from Libby’s
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Serving
- Calories: 333
- Sugar: 33g
- Sodium: 290mg
- Fat: 17g
- Saturated Fat: 9.8g
- Unsaturated Fat: 5.4g
- Trans Fat: 0.3g
- Carbohydrates: 42g
- Fiber: 0.8g
- Protein: 4.6g
- Cholesterol: 99mg
it looks delish!
Thanks Dina!
I definitely know that pumpkin and maple cream cheese go together beautifully and this cake roll is no exception! Looks amazing =)
The maple in this recipe gives a subtle warmth to the tang of the cream cheese and really does compliment the pumpkin and spices. Thank you Peggy!
This looks amazing and such a different spin on a Swiss roll.
In Australia we can’t get canned pumpkin or “pie pumpkin”. Is this what you meant by “pure pumpkin purée” or of you mean boil up some pumpkin and mash it?
Hi Amanda, yes I am referring to a canned pumpkin puree that we have seasonally here in the States. After doing a little searching, I found that a butternut or Hubbard squash can be roasted, flesh removed, and then pureed. I haven’t tried these myself, but hope this might be helpful for you.
This pumpkin roll is absolutely stunning!
Hi Chung-Ah! Thank you for your kind words. Love your blog!
You and your husband sound awesome! aka: my boyfriend and I also have the very same routine as you and your husband! and I am looking forward to trying out this recipe! 🙂
RosaLinda – That’s what I am talking about! Hope you enjoy.
Do you have to use the real maple syrup or can you use the cheapo stuff? Also would this be good with any kind of frosting, im thinking about making my son a “log” for his lumberjack bday party?
Hi Katlyn! Oh a lumberjack party is such a great idea! I haven’t tried the cheapo stuff, but you could also just leave it out and have more of a traditional cream cheese filling. It’s a little less sweet than regular frosting which is good because it’s a fairly thick layer. Hope this helps! Have fun!
Do you think it would work to make the cake part two days before and refrigerate it in the towel, or would it dry out?
Hi Katlyn, I think it might be too dry to unroll without cracking so I’m not sure that would be a good idea.
Just thought i would add my input to this comment. I usually make the cake and add the filling, then wrap it in aluminum foil and refrigerate for a number of days. with only two of us it takes about a week to eat the entire roll. I find that it gets more moist in the fridge if it’s kept wrapped in the foil, rather than drying out.
Good to know, thank you Katherine.
When you say roll the cake up in the towel does the towel roll up with the cake or just on the outside?
Yes the towel stays rolled up inside the cake so it will not stick to itself. When it has cooled you gently unroll it and spread the filling. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for your question!
Do you use any kind of maple syrup? I think I will be making this for our small group pot luck next week, it’s just so festive and the combo of maple/pumpkin sounds aaaaamazing!
I used real maple syrup. You could also use 1/4 teaspoon or so of maple extract.
I made this yesterday for our Thanksgiving dinner party and everyone loved it! I’ll have to make sure to bring two next year! Although, I did make my husband and myself our own to eat with the leftover dinner once we arrived home! Thanks!! Happy holidays!
That’s great, I’m so glad it was such a big hit!
Sounds awesome! Can I use something besides a jelly roll pan?
Really, the pan size is crucial because it has to be just the right thickness for that baking time, and to roll up.
How long do you normally let yours cool? I’ve made some recently and more this weekend as a fundraiser for a Bible project and have found that I almost have to roll them back out for filling, praying along the way, within 20 minutes to keep it from cracking/breaking at that point. I’ve tried to let them cool longer but I’ve experienced a definite break. I do use a dark pan but reduced the temp to 350 and cook time takes about 13 minutes. Any other suggestions you might have?
Hi Cheryl, I’m smiling to myself as I read your question because I just made three pumpkin rolls this weekend. Two did not crack, and one did! I made them all exactly the same, and let them cool wrapped in the towel for about 20-25 minutes. They were still slightly warm to the touch. Some say that a cake that is too thick will cause cracking, and some say to let it cool completely. I wish I could be a little more helpful. Any other cake roll experts, please chime in!
But the 20 to 25 minute time frame does help on the cooling period, that others are filling that soon as well. I had someone else encourage me to keep it at the time I had the best result and that was it. I’m believing it must be just some do, some don’t, but always wanting to check one more source, just in case. Thanks for the quick response! And I’ll be adding some maple syrup to try in one – had not heard of that combination.
I don’t know if this would help or not but I’ve always wrapped my pumpkin roll in the towel to cool and folded the ends of towel under and I’ve thrown it into the freezer. I’ve never had a roll crack.
I added finely chopped candied ginger to the cream cheese. Gave another layer of flavor with the maple syrup.
Wonderful, thanks Jeri!
Do you have a banana roll recipe?? We use to buy them at Woolworths bakery counter for years but all Woolworhs here are closed now. I’d love to try to make one.
Your pumpkin roll looks delicious but I’m not a pumpkin fan.
I’m sorry I don’t, but that sounds delicious! I might need to test out some recipes to make one.
Hi! I was wondering if the butter for the cream cheese mixture is salted or unsalted?
Hello, sorry just getting to your question – I use salted, just because I always have it on hand.
Hi Julie, I made 2 of these pumpkin rolls for Thanksgiving. They go together very quickly and really liked the addition of heavy whipping cream to the filling. I used 1 tsp of vanilla extract in place of the maple because that’s what I had on hand. Thanks for another yummy recipe!
Thank you for posting this recipe, sounds amazing. Do both sides of the towel need to be coated with the powdered sugar since both sides of the towel will be touching the cake?