It's pumpkin season! Perfect to try this seasonal bake.
THE BACK STORY
I will confess not really being fan of pumpkin. If I am honest I am not sure I have had a sweet pumpkin dish, I have had a pumpkin ravioli once long ago, but can't recall if I liked or didn't like it. Growing up with sweet potato pies, I didn't understand why I would want a pumpkin pie. So, with that I thought I would try something different, a Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll. And the best part, I could get some "roll" practice for a dish I would like to try to make some day, a Bûche de Noël.
The Bake
I settled on giving the King Arthur Baking recipe for Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll. This recipe is pretty straightforward and I love that has the tangy cream cheese filling. Needed is Pumpkin Pie Spice. If you don't have premade spice blend, use 1/4 teaspoon each of ground nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cloves, and ground allspice. The recipe calls for 1 teaspoon. I think I will try 1-1/4 teaspoon next time.
If you have seen any baking competition you know the rolling, unrolling, filling, and re-rolling could result in a cracked roll. That, was my fear going into this. One of the things I noticed in this recipe, is how it didn't use tea towels to roll but greased parchment paper. You may be like me and not really know which of my pans is a jelly roll pan, I had to measure my pans. The jelly roll pan is 9-1/2" x 14". If a jelly roll pan is not available, a standard 10" x 15" pan can be used.
The Result
I got a HUGE crack! Ugh! Fear realized. That aside, it was good! It could use a bit more spice. Either an extra 1/2-1 teaspoon of the pumpkin pie spice mix or my mix needs to be remade. What about the pumpkin? Didn't really taste it. Maybe it would be better, more pumpkin-y with fresh pumpkin purée. The hint in the King Arthur Baking blog about putting the server dish at the end to roll directly on worked great removing the need to try to try to use hands and/or spatulas to move it to the platter.
Will I Make It Again
I think I will, I want to figure out how to NOT have a crack. A chat with Chef Christy Sharp for advice first and maybe more pumpkin pie spice.
Update 4-Nov-2024
Chef Christy suggested if using canned pumpkin to use Libby brand. Her thoughts on my HUGE crack maybe that I left the cake in a few seconds too long. I will give it another go with her advice.
