Pumpkin Mascarpone Roulade

November 22, 2022

It is finally time to start planning holiday desserts! Although, I love cooking with pumpkin year round, I really kick it up a notch come mid October. I make cookies, cupcakes, pancakes and bread with pumpkin in October, but when Thanksgiving draws near, I start thinking more about pumpkin pie and other holiday related pumpkin desserts.

Although I happen to love pumpkin pie, there are a lot of people that do not and this pumpkin roll is perfect for these people. It gives you the beautiful flavors of pumpkin, but in a light cakey texture with an even amount of sweetened mascarpone cream filling inside… perfect for those of us that want the same amount of whipped cream as we have pie on our plates.

This pumpkin roll or pumpkin roulade can quickly become the centerpiece of the dessert table at any holiday gathering with its beautiful appearance and cool, creamy, perfectly sweet flavors.

Let’s get started…

To make the cake, you will need 3 large eggs, 3/4 cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 2/3 cup of pumpkin purée, 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon of ginger, 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon salt and about 1/4 cup powdered sugar.

Use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer to cream 3 large eggs with 3/4 cup of granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of brown sugar in a large bowl. You want to mix on medium to medium high speed until you have a light, pale yellow, frothy consistency like what you see in the photo above. This will help to give your cake a light, airy texture that when rolled correctly will not crack.

Add 2/3 cup of pumpkin purée, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon of ginger, 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon salt and mix until the batter is just combined.

Look at that gorgeous color! So pumpkiny and inviting. Now that the batter is ready, prepare a 10″x15″ jelly roll pan by spraying it with non-stick spray, lining the bottom with parchment paper and then spraying the other side of the parchment paper as well. This will help the cake pop out of the jelly roll pan easily and help the parchment paper peel off of the cake easily too.

Most sheets of parchment paper will be larger than your 10″x15″ jelly roll pan, but instead of trimming away the excess, I like to leave it overhanging from the pan so once the cake it baked, I can use that to help easily pull the cake out of the pan.

Add the batter into the prepared jelly roll pan and smooth it evenly throughout. This cake is thin, so in order to have it bake evenly, be sure that the batter is as even as possible.

Bake the cake in a 375 degree oven for 11-14 minutes. Start watching your cake around the 8 minute mark. If you see one side browning more than the other, rotate the pan a bit so you get even color throughout the entire cake. Depending on the color and material that your pan is made in and your ovens actual temperature, your cake could be fully done at 11 minutes or may need up to 14 minutes.

The cake is ready to come out when the center feels set and slightly springy to a light touch. Another way to check is to put a toothpick into the center and if it comes out clean, the cake is ready to come out.

While the cake is in the oven, open a thin kitchen towel and dust the towel with confectioners sugar. It should take about a quarter cup. This is the towel that we will be rolling the cake in as soon as we pull it out of the oven and the layer of confectioners sugar will prevent the hot cake from sticking to anything as it cools.

Making a cake roll is really easily when you follow these simple steps…

Step #1. As soon as the cake is fully baked, transfer the pan onto a heat proof surface.

Step #2. Invert the cake onto the confectioners sugar dusted towel. If you are feeling confident, you can get a good grasp on either side of the pan and literally flip the pan over onto the towel. If the sound of that makes you nervous, carefully lay the towel sugar side down over the cake, place a cutting board over the towel and hold the cutting board and pan together with heat gloves and flip everything together.

Step #3. Carefully remove the pan and peel back the parchment paper. If you feel the parchment paper sticking to the cake anywhere, work slowly to un-peel it to prevent the cake from cracking.

Step #4. Wrap the cake into the confectioners sugar dusted towel as you would roll a cinnamon roll being sure that you do not wrap cake on cake at any place in the roll.

Step #5. Transfer the cake onto a cooling rack for about an hour. Allowing the hot cake to slowly cool wrapped inside the towel will help it to relax in the rolled shaped and this is the most important step in creating a beautiful crack free cake roll.

While the cake is cooling, make the mascarpone buttercream filling by whipping 8 ounces of softened mascarpone with 6 tablespoons of softened salted butter, 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract until creamy. Mascarpone has to be fully at room temperature in order to make it completely smooth and it shouldn’t be whipped for very long or it can become lumpy, so only cream the ingredients until everything is fully combined.

Sift between 1 1/2 and 2 cups of confectioners sugar and a little pinch of salt into the bowl a little at a time, mixing to combine as you go. The amount of confectioners sugar that you add will depend on how sweet you want your filling, so taste as you go and stop adding sugar when you are happy with the taste and consistency.

Note: If you are wondering why I suggest sifting the confectioners sugar, it is only to prevent lumpy buttercream. If you a slightly lumpy filling doesn’t bother you, you don’t have to sift the sugar!

Once the mascarpone buttercream is made and the cake has cooled to room temperature, carefully unroll the cake and spread the filling over the entire surface. Re-roll the cake in the same way you rolled it the first time.

You don’t want to roll it too loosely or you will have empty places in your slices later on, but you also don’t want to press down too hard as you roll or you will push some of the filling out the sides. Once the cake is rolled, discard the towel and grab another sheet of parchment paper and some plastic wrap.

Roll the cake with a sheet of parchment paper first. This will help the moist outer surface of the cake from sticking to the plastic wrap when you unroll it later on. Next, wrap the entire roll with plastic wrap. This wrap should be firm enough to keep the roll neatly together. Transfer the roll into your refrigerator to chill until you are ready to slice and serve. The minimum chilling time is about 2 hours, but you can chill it for a day or two if you want to make this ahead of time.

When you are ready to serve this cake, gently unwrap it, dust the top with confectioners sugar and transfer it onto a cutting board. Slice the roll into inch thick slices and take a moment to appreciate how beautiful that spiral is…

This pumpkin roll is very special. It looks like and tastes like the holidays. Growing up, we would always buy a pumpkin roll from a local bakery around Thanksgiving and slicing into this one fills me with those homey, comforting feelings and I love it.

The pumpkin cake is very tender and warmly flavored. It is subtly sweet with just the right amount of spices. The filling contrasts the cake very well with its rich, creamy consistency. It is more sweet than the cake and reminds me of why I love a huge pile of whipped cream over a slice of pumpkin pie. The light and creamy with the rich and buttery just hits every note you want from a beautiful holiday dessert.

This pumpkin mascarpone roulade is an elevated classic that is perfect for the holidays, but can be enjoyed year round. It is a wonderful option for friends and family that may not love pumpkin pie, but still want to enjoy the fall flavors of a beautiful pumpkin dessert.

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