Pumpkin Roll
This Pumpkin Roll cake is an easy and beautiful dessert to make in the fall. It’s a pumpkin spice cake rolled with a cream cheese buttercream filling.
Roll cakes were often in the fridge during my childhood, so they have a special nostalgia for me.
My mom would buy them from the store, and they always looked so elaborate and fancy, but they’re actually quite simple to make yourself.
This pumpkin cake is adapted from a recipe that’s fairly old and well-loved around the country, from the back of a Libby’s Pumpkin can. I’ve tweaked it ever so slightly over the years that I’ve made it, but it’s still easy to pull off.
Because the cake is a very thin layer of batter on a sheet pan, it bakes very quickly.
I like doing a classic cream cheese frosting in the center, since it goes so well with the spiced pumpkin flavor, but you could fill it with any sort of frosting or filling.
The main trick to a perfect roll cake is rolling it up in a towel right after baking, to set its shape and prevent cracking.
How to Make It Step by Step:
To start, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground allspice, and ground cloves:
In a separate bowl, combine eggs, granulated sugar, and pumpkin.
Canned or fresh both work great, but I like the flavor of fresh more when I have it readily available.
Whisk until smooth:
Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir until no flour streaks remain, and you have a smooth batter:
Spread into a large rectangle on a silicone mat or parchment lined half sheet tray:
Bake for about 13 minutes until springy when touched:
While the cake is still warm, dust the top with confectioner’s sugar, then place a piece of parchment on top of the cake.
Flip it over, then peel the silicone mat off and roll the cake in the parchment paper:
Just like with any roll cake, this gives the cake “muscle memory” and makes it more likely to hold the roll shape and less likely to crack later on.
While that cools, make the cream cheese filling.
It’s made with room temperature cream cheese and butter, confectioner’s sugar, and vanilla:
Spread the filling evenly over the cake, leaving room at the edges (because as you roll, the filling will spread a little bit):
Roll the cake back up, tightly, and refrigerate for 30 minutes:
Refrigerating is important for firming up the frosting, so you get clean slices.
Trim the ends off, then cut into thick slices:
Pumpkin Muffins are another one of my favorite fall baked goods, as well as Homemade Pumpkin Butter and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. Enjoy!
The full recipe is below, and there’s also a full video below the recipe card if you’d like more guidance.
Can the Pumpkin Roll be frozen? Yes, this cake freezes well. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
Can the Pumpkin Roll sit out at room temperature? It’s fine for a few hours, but after that it should be refrigerated or frozen.
How long can it be refrigerated? It will last about one week.

Pumpkin Roll
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/8 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup fresh or canned pumpkin puree
- confectioner's sugar for sprinkling
For the filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 8 tbsp butter softened
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a half sheet pan with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, allspice, and salt.
- In another bowl, whisk to combine the eggs, sugar, and pumpkin.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until no flour streaks remain.
- Spread into a rectangle about 15×10 inches on the sheet pan, then bake for 13 minutes, until the cake springs back to the touch.
- While the cake is still warm, sprinkle the top with confectioner’s sugar flip it into a piece of parchment paper. Peel the silicone mat off the cake, then roll the cake up. While it cools, make the filling.
- With a hand mixer, whip together the cream cheese, butter, confectioner’s sugar, and vanilla extract.
- Unroll the cake, then spread the filling evenly, leaving a border at the edges.
- Roll the cake up and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- When ready to serve, trim the edges off, slice, and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
16 Comments on “Pumpkin Roll”
Hi how do I get the roll not to crack
Have you ever tried substituting 6 egg whites for 3 whole eggs and a reduced fat cream cheese to cut the calories, fat & cholesterol? Also, do you have idea how many you could make using the whole can of pumpkin? I hate to waste it–especially since you said it can be frozen. This sounds “yummy!”. Thank you.
Couldn’t you just use the silicone liner to roll the cake up? I have never tried a roll cake yet so I was just curious. Thanks.
Hi Kerry, a silicone liner would be hard to roll. You’d have to hold it together with a rubber band or something because its tendency is to lay flat.
I made this the other day and it is delicious! Mine did crack though……do you think that could happen if it’s under baked? If felt a bit tacky on top when I took it out but I was feeding the baby and didn’t feel like messing around baking it a bit longer. Or maybe it was because I waited till I was done feeding the baby till I rolled it up. I don’t know but it was still awesome cracks or no cracks!
Hi Trina, it may have been too long of a waiting time, is my guess (but hey, you were feeding your baby and baking at the same time? That’s amazing lol).
Tis the season to make this beautiful dessert for sure. I love almost anything pumpkin! Great directions too! Thanks…
Can you make this a day ahead? Where should I keep it?
Love this cake. My mom made something very similar when I was a little girl.
This looks so good! Do you think this would turn out okay with premade pumpkin pie spice? That’s all I have on hand at the moment and I’d like to give it a try, though I don’t know how much of it I would use.
Hi Tammy, sorry I missed this until now. Premade pumpkin pie spice definitely works, and you could just substitute the total amount of other spices that are in here.
Thanks Joanne, I did just that when I made it for Thanksgiving, and everyone loved it! My cake did end up a lot denser than yours but it was still delicious.
I don’t know if you ever had this problem, but my roll seemed to… sweat? A lot of moisture would come out of it and pool at the bottom. I wonder what I did that made that happen. Anyway, still super good and I hope to attempt your chocolate version next!
That’s odd, when did the sweating occur? I’ve never seen that before but I’m very curious in what situation it came about.
I made this today and it turned out great. I have only ever tried a pumpkin roll once before, and this was so much easier with the Silpat and the parchment. Last time, I used a towel and there was sugar everywhere. This was so, so much easier. I gave this away as a birthday gift for someone who loves pumpkin rolls, but I did get to try a tiny bit from the ends that I cut off and it seemed to taste great. I know they will love it. I just found your site recently and I will definitely be trying your swirl shortbread cookies for Christmas and can’t wait to look around some more. Thanks so much for taking the time to make the videos…..so helpful!
Hi Joanna, I’m really happy to hear that! The shortbread swirl cookies are one of my favorites. Happy holidays!
I can’t wait to try this!