Pennsylvania Dutch Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll Recipe

A Pennsylvania family tradition, the pumpkin roll is a classic dessert you’ll find on any dinner table during the fall season.

Let’s cut straight to the good part, shall we? Below the recipe, you’ll find more information regarding the cost of ingredients, health benefits, and details about how the recipe was curated.

What you’ll need:

• FOR THE CAKE
  • 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar (up to 1 cup)
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon seasoning
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg seasoning
• FOR THE FILLING
  • 8 oz (1-pack) cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 tbsp butter or margarine, softened
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
• FOR THE TEA TOWEL
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Preparation:

You can make this recipe using a cookie sheet, wax paper, and a tea towel.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius)
• Grab a cookie sheet, wax paper, and a tea towel (for later)
• Cover your cookie sheet with wax paper
• Use a wire rack for cooling, if available

Putting it all together:

Using a mixing bowl, combine the canned pumpkin, eggs, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Do not add the walnuts, yet! Mix until blended well.

Pour the mixture onto the wax paper in your cookie sheet, top with walnuts.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes until the cake is springy, light, and fluffy to the touch.

While your cake is baking, prepare your cream cheese mixture. Using a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla extract together. Mix until blended well.

Lay out a tea towel flat on the countertop; this will be used to roll up the cake. Cover the tea towel in powdered sugar. This will prevent the cake from sticking when you roll it up.

Once done baking, remove the cookie sheet from the oven and turn/flip it upside down onto the prepared tea towel. When using wax paper, the cake should separate from the cookie sheet very nicely without any hesitation. Gently peel off wax paper until it is fully removed.

Using the towel, roll the cake lengthwise into a spiral shape. Leave it to cool to room temperature on a wire rack, if available.

Once your cake has cooled, unroll the cake and spread your cream cheese filling mixture on the cake. Roll it back up together (without the tea towel, this time!) and place in the refrigerator to chill.

Serve once it has been cooled for 2-3 hours or so, and enjoy!

You can purchase just about everything on the ingredients list at your local grocery store, like Aldi, Save-A-Lot, IGA, Whole Foods Market, or Trader Joe’s. We have found Aldi often has the cheapest cost-per-serving high-quality ingredients at regular price without the use of coupons.

The pumpkin roll is a type of rolled pumpkin-flavored sponge cake filled with cream cheese icing, similar to a Swiss roll or jelly roll.

The origins of the term “Swiss roll” are unclear; in spite of the name “Swiss roll” implying it may have original created in Switzerland. In reality, the cake is believed to have originated elsewhere in Central Europe, possibly Austria or Slovenia. It appears to have been invented in the 1800’s, along with Battenberg cake, doughnuts, and the Victoria sponge.

In the United States, commercial versions of the cake are sold under popular brand names, such as HoHos, Yodels, and Swiss Cake Rolls among others. Yule logs, a type of roll cake made with chocolate and raspberry jam, originated from France and is traditionally served at Christmas.