Pumpkin Roll with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filling

Every few weeks or so, my best friend Cora and I make a commitment to spend the afternoon together. On Tuesday she came over and had a very special project in mind: we needed to make Pumpkin rolls. As someone who has never attempted a cake roll, this seemed scary to me. BUT I had the recent memory of enjoying a tasty slice of pumpkin cake roll from Burt's Pumpkin farm on my brain (not to mention, David had heard whispers of baking and had gotten pretty enthusiastic about it) and was powerless not to consent. We bought one can of pumpkin and decided to make two.

Pumpkin Roll with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients (makes one pumpkin roll)
For the cake:

3 eggs
3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup of sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp lemon juice
1 T of Sifted Powdered sugar

For the filling:
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 cup of powdered sugar
1/4 cup of butter
1/4 cup of pumpkin
1 (heaping) tsp of vanilla
1 tsp of cinnamon 

Allow eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile grease a 15x10x1-inch pan. Add a sheet of parchment paper on top and then grease parchment. In a bowl stir together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Preheat the oven to 375.

In your mixer, beat eggs on high speed for five minutes until they are very thick (yes, this is necessary).When it is finished, gradually add in sugar. Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice. Gently mix in the flour mixture.

Spread batter evenly onto the greased pan. Bake for about 15 minutes (or until cake is done). While your cake is baking, lay out a clean dishtowel and sift about a tablespoon of powdered sugar on top of it. Immediately after cake has finished baking, you're going to transfer it to the towel. Gently roll it up with the towel, and set it on a wired rack to cool.

While the cake is rolled up and cooling, cut up your butter and mix it up with the vanilla and cream cheese (at room temperature), gradually add in powdered sugar. When everything is well mixed, add your pumpkin and cinnamon and mix again. Set in fridge to stay cool while cake is cooling.

Once the cake has cooled, gently unroll it from the towel and remove towel. Spread cream cheese filling over the cake generously and then roll back up. Take a knife and cut off the ends for aesthetic effect Wrap in saran wrap and chill for 2-6 hours (The longer it sits in the fridge the better it is going to taste later).

This recipe isn't difficult, per se, but we did learn how important it is to follow the baking and rolling instructions to a T. Make sure your cake is completely finished cooking before removing it from the oven, and give it time to cool before adding the cream cheese. If you don't, your cream cheese will be oozy and you won't get to have as much on the cake. Cora and I were pretty impatient, though, and had to hurry up and have a taste. We cut off the ends and grabbed two forks! Even though it wasn't chilled, it was extremely yummy! 

I hope you guys are enjoying everything this season has to offer!

Love,
Casey

Coca-cola Cake

Now for some baking! This is such a yummy and rich cake that is really easy to make. I like it as something really quick to throw together for get-togethers or just as something easy and to have as a dessert at home. The trick is, of course, that you have to like chocolate and Coke. Fortunately, I'm a big fan of both. Here's how I make mine:

Coca-Cola Cake 

Ingredients

Cake
2 cups of all purpose flour
2 sticks of unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 cups of mini marshmallows
1 cup of Coca-cola
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp of vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt

Glaze 
4 cups of confectioner's sugar (powdered)
1 stick of butter
1 tsp vanilla 
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
1/2 cup of Coca-cola

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 13x9 inch cake pan (Sheet cake pan). In a pot, combine butter, Coca-cola, and cocoa and bring to a boil, stirring off and on to avoid clumps or settling at the bottom. Meanwhile, you'll want to combine your flour, white and brown sugar, and salt in a big bowl (Everything is going to eventually get stirred into this bowl so make sure you have picked one that can securely hold all of these ingredients). When your cocoa/cola (see what I did there?) mixture is boiling, remove from heat and pour into flour bowl, stirring it good. In a measuring cup, combine baking soda and buttermilk and stir well. This will get foamy and rise, so go ahead and pour it into your big bowl along with the eggs and vanilla. Whisk together and stir in marshmallows.

Transfer your mixture into your sheet cake pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes (or until fork/toothpick comes out clean). Let your cake cool for about 15-20 minutes before you begin with the glaze. Glaze will be runny enough without the added heat to keep it from thickening!

Take your pot that you used to make your first cocoa/cola mixture and start again, bringing butter, cocoa, and Coca-cola again to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and powdered sugar. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time while continuously stirring to avoid clumping. Pour this mixture right on top of the cake as a nice glaze. Allow about 15 minutes to set (if you can wait that long). :)

*This cake is also great with a few pecans (about a cup) in the glaze, if you like, or served warm with a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream, which is my husband's favorite way to eat it.