If a huge hurricane headed towards your house, what would you grab first?
Let me say, I’d save my family and my journals first, then I’d grab my neighborhood cookbooks. My collection of tried and true recipes from sweet widows and favorite neighbors are priceless. Need proof?
I swear this Pumpkin Cake Roll recipe would win first prize at the State Fair…and your dinner table!
Pumpkin Cake Roll Recipe
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup pecans bits
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Filling:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
1/4 cup butter (4 tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
Prepare a jelly roll (11 x 17 inch) pan by greasing and flouring well or using Baking Pam or Bake Off.
In a large stand mixer or mixing bowl, beat eggs on high for 5 minutes. Slowly add sugar. Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice. In a small bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold in flour mixture into pumpkin mixture. Spread batter in pan and gently tap pan to remove air bubbles and equally distribute batter. Top with nuts. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until cake springs back to the touch.
Turn out onto a clean dish towel, generously sprinkled with powdered sugar. Roll up cake from a short end and allow to cool.
To make filling, beat cream cheese and butter on high for 3-4 minutes until smooth. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and blend until smooth. If filling drips off the spatula, add more powdered sugar to stiffen. Unroll and spread filling over cake evenly and roll up again. Chill until served. To serve, slice into 1-inch pieces.
Other Notes-
Since it’s a sponge cake, don’t forget to give the eggs the full beating time and go easy when adding the flour so the batter stays nice and fluffy.
This is adapted from an original recipe by Sara Boyer in the Oak Hills Neighborhood Cookbook, circa 1994. This book has traveled with me to college, to Hong Kong, back to San Fran and back to my shelf in our house now.
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