Learn how to make this from-scratch pumpkin roll cake recipe straight from Grandma’s kitchen (with optional homemade pumpkin puree). Skip the Libby’s pumpkin roll recipe and follow this tutorial instead. This is an easy-to-follow recipe that blends tangy cream cheese frosting inside a tightly rolled spiced cake for the perfect fall dessert. It marries the flavors of cheesecake and pumpkin spice – aka, the best thing you’ve ever had.
Why I Love This Recipe
My husband’s grandmother is known for her pumpkin rolls. In fact, I think she should have opened up a business (she would have stayed busy year-round selling her baked goods). When she was alive, she’s had people place orders for them; they’re that good.
What I love about recipes that have been handed down is the opportunity to think of that person each and every time the recipe is made. You may find a tear trickling down my cheek, but they’ll be tears of fond memories and thankfulness for our time together.
Just like great-grandma’s flaky pie crust or this vintage Jam Roly-Poly recipe, it’s on the list as a holiday favorite dessert that will always have me thinking about the person who passed down the recipe. Be sure to check out depression era Chocolate Wacky Cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and these other historical holiday dishes.
Looking for more pumpkin flavor in your holiday treats? Try my no-bake pumpkin cream pie, this pumpkin applesauce cake, these pumpkin applesauce muffins with maple glaze, or these old-fashioned pumpkin sugar cookies.
Tips for Making a Pumpkin Roll
The first time I decided to tackle this recipe, I packed up the kids and my homemade pumpkin puree and went to Grandma’s house for a lesson. Let’s be honest, the rolling part kind of intimidated me, and I wanted to learn how to roll a pumpkin roll without cracking straight from the get-go.
Now, not everyone can hop on down to Grandma’s house for a lesson, but that would be one fun party! Lucky for you, I get to share her tips and her easy pumpkin roll recipe with you. If you want more of my husband’s Grandma’s, my great-grandmother’s, my father’s and more old-fashioned tips and recipes, be sure to grab my book, Hand Made: The Modern Guide to Made-from-Scratch Living.
Here are a list of tips to keep in mind when making a pumpkin roll:
- Use From-Scratch Pumpkin Puree – I’m telling you, if you’ve only ever had pumpkin puree from a can, you’re missing out! The flavor of homemade pumpkin puree is unmatched and really does come through in this recipe. Take the time to make your pumpkin puree. Find my tutorial for pressure canning cubed pumpkin or cooking and freezing pumpkin puree here, or my quick-tip for cooking pumpkin in the instant pot below.
- Jelly Roll Pan – A jelly roll pan is a must, specifically a 10″x15″ jelly roll pan. If you don’t have a jelly roll pan, grab one now; otherwise, your cake will be too thick or too thin and rolling will be a challenge. Think Goldilocks here; we want the thickness just right.
- Plan Accordingly – Did you know this cake is actually rolled twice? Once to form the shape we’re after while the cake is still warm. Then again after it’s been chilled, unrolled and filled with frosting. This does take a bit of extra time (though most of it is hands-off time), so plan accordingly.
- Follow Instructions – It may be tempting to cut corners and skip steps when making this pumpkin roll recipe, but don’t do it! The cooling and resting time is necessary to avoid cracking or crumbling of the cake. Rest-assured, the cake will still taste delicious, but it just won’t have that wow factor.
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How to Make Pumpkin Puree
While one doesn’t need an Instant Pot to make homemade pumpkin puree, it does make it much quicker and easier. You can watch me make homemade pumpkin puree here.
- Place a whole pumpkin into the Instant Pot with the trivet.
- Add one cup of water to the bottom of the pot.
- Pressure cook for 16 minutes.
- When the time is up, manually release the pressure (be careful of the steam).
- Once all pressure has been released, open the lid and carefully remove the pumpkin. Place it on a cookie sheet to cool completely.
- Once the pumpkin is cooled, carefully remove the skin. Slice it open and scoop out the seeds. You’ll be left with the flesh of the pumpkin.
- Place pumpkin into a blender and puree until smooth.
Once my pumpkin is cooked, I take two cups of cooked pumpkin and blend it with 1/4 cup water until smooth. Easy-peasy!
How to Make a Pumpkin Roll
This recipe is shared from my book, Hand Made and is on page 208.
Supplies Needed
- Stand Mixer – A stand mixer is optional here, but does make for speeding the process up a bit. If you want to mix your cake by hand, use the stand mixer to whip together the filling.
- Whisk – If you’re not using a stand mixer, having a whisk to blend the dry ingredients is helpful.
- Spatula – You’ll want a spatula so you can scrape down the sides of the bowl while mixing.
- 10″x15″ Jelly Roll Pan – As mentioned above, a jelly roll pan is a must for this recipe. If you want to give this recipe a try, but don’t have a pan, you can grab a jelly roll pan from Amazon here.
- Parchment Paper – Grandma taught me always to generously grease and flour the jelly roll pan so the cake wouldn’t stick. I’ve since started using a sheet of parchment paper as an extra failsafe. Pro Tip: You can use a piece of parchment paper more than once! If it’s relatively clean, just fold or roll it up and save it for next time.
- Tea Towel – A clean, lint-free towel is necessary for rolling up the jelly roll. Grab an Everything Worth Preserving flour sack towel here!
- Cooling Rack – This is to help the cake cool quickly.
Ingredients Needed
- Eggs – Make sure you read the tip about mixing the eggs for five whole minutes!
- Sugar – Any granulated sugar will do, I used evaporated cane juice. Feel free to play with the amount of sugar and cut it back, especially in the filling. I’ve been known to use half the sugar and wee bit of Stevia (no one could even tell).
- Pumpkin Puree – Homemade is best (see instructions above), but canned pumpkin puree will also work.
- Flour – I used all-purpose flour. You can use fresh ground Spelt with this recipe, but you may need to increase the flour by 1/4 cup. For more info on grinding your own flour see our Fresh Ground Flour Guide. You can also try a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend. However, I haven’t recipe-tested the results, so proceed with caution.
- Baking Powder – Make sure your baking powder hasn’t expired!
- Salt – We always use Redmond Real Salt for all our cooking. Use coupon code “Pioneering” for 15% off your purchase at checkout.
- Nutmeg – If you have whole nutmeg, it’s always best when freshly ground into the batter.
- Cinnamon – Ceylon cinnamon has the best flavor, but any ground cinnamon will do.
- Ground Ginger – This gives the recipe that classic pumpkin spice flavor.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice – If you’d rather, you can omit the nutmeg, cinnamon and ground ginger and use 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice instead. I’m not a fan of clove, so I make my own pumpkin pie spice without it.
- Powdered Sugar – This is necessary for the frosting and for dusting your towel prior to rolling the cake up. Pro Tip: You can make your own powdered sugar by blending regular granulated sugar in a high-powered blender until soft and fluffy.
- Cream Cheese – Make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature, this makes blending the cream cheese filling much easier.
- Butter – Same goes for the butter, room temperature (softened, not melted) butter is best.
- Vanilla – Learn how to make your own homemade vanilla extract here.
- Maple Syrup – If you’d like to use a little bit of maple syrup in your frosting to give it a slight maple flavor you can. I usually adjust the powdered sugar down to account for the added sweetness of the maple syrup.
Step-by-Step Directions
- Make the Cake: Preheat oven to 375ºF.
- Grease and flour a 10×15 inch jelly roll pan with oil. Or, line pan with parchment paper and spray with avocado oil (that’s the easy way!). Remember to be generous with your oil.
- Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and spices.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat eggs for 5 minutes (yes, the whole 5 minutes) until light and foamy.
- Add sugar and stir until creamy, then gently fold in the pumpkin puree.
- Fold in the dry ingredients and stir until just combined (don’t overmix the batter, stir until there is no more visible flour).
- Pour batter into prepared pan and spread until even. Pick up the pan and tap it (the bottom of the pan) against the counter a few times to remove air bubbles. (I jumped when Grandma did this; it makes a bang!)
- Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until the cake is done.
- While the cake is baking, place a clean flour sack or tea towel on the counter and sprinkle with a bit of powdered sugar.
- As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, run a butter knife around the outside edge of the cake to separate it from the pan. Immediately, using hot pads, turn the pan upside down over the prepared towel. Pat the back of the pan, if needed, but the cake should fall out easily (especially if you used parchment paper).
- As soon as the cake is out of the pan, place another clean kitchen towel on the short end of the cake and roll it up like a sleeping bag.
- Cool the cake on a wire rack for about 30 minutes.
- Make the Frosting: While the cake is cooling, prepare your filling by creaming together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, softened butter, vanilla, and maple syrup.
- Assemble the Cake: Carefully unroll the cooled cake and gently spread the filling evenly over the surface. Reroll the cake (without the towel this time), cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes.
- When ready to serve, slice the cake into rounds and dust each piece with powdered sugar.
Make Ahead & Freeze
Pro tip: You can make this easy pumpkin roll cake recipe and freeze it ahead of time!
Once the cake is frosted and re-rolled, simply wrap it in a piece of parchment paper followed by plastic wrap. Then, seal it up with a layer of tinfoil and freeze for up to three months.
To serve, remove it from the freezer and defrost it overnight in the refrigerator. Remove the tinfoil, plastic wrap and parchment paper (carefully). Slice, serve and enjoy!
You can use fresh ground Spelt with this recipe, but you may need to increase the flour by 1/4 cup. For more info on grinding your own flour see our Fresh Ground Flour Guide
Feel free to play with the amount of sugar and cut it back, especially in the filling. I’ve been known to use half the sugar and wee bit of Stevia.
Did you make this recipe? If so, please leave a star rating in the recipe card below. Then, snap a photo of your pumpkin roll and tag me on social media @melissaknorris so I can see!
Grandma’s Pumpkin Roll Cake Recipe
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Whisk
- Spatula
- 10"x15" Jelly Roll Pan
- Parchment Paper
- Tea Towel
- Cooling Rack
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 3 whole eggs well beaten (Grandma’s notes-beat for 5 minutes until light and foamy)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup pumpkin puree see post for homemade option
- ¾ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
For the Filling
- 1 cup powdered sugar +more for dusting the towel
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup optional
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 375ºF.
- Grease and flour a 10×15 inch jelly roll pan with oil. Or, line pan with parchment paper and spray with avocado oil (that's the easy way!). Remember to be generous with your oil.
- Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and spices.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat eggs for 5 minutes (yes, the whole 5 minutes) until light and foamy.
- Add sugar and stir until creamy, then gently fold in the pumpkin puree.
- Fold in the dry ingredients and stir until just combined (don't overmix the batter, stir until there is no more visible flour).
- Pour batter into prepared jelly roll pan and spread until even. Pick up the pan and tap it (the bottom of the pan) against the counter a few times to remove air bubbles. (I jumped when Grandma did this; it makes a bang!)
- Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until the cake is done.
- While the cake is baking, place a clean flour sack or tea towel on the counter and sprinkle with a bit of powdered sugar.
- As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, run a butter knife around the outside edge of the cake to separate it from the pan. Immediately, using hot pads, turn the pan upside down over the prepared towel. Pat the back of the pan, if needed, but the cake should fall out easily (especially if you used parchment paper).
- As soon as the cake is out of the pan, place another clean flour sack towel on the short end of the cake and roll it up like a sleeping bag.
- Cool the cake on a wire rack for about 30 minutes.
For the Filling
- While the cake is cooling, prepare your filling by creaming together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, softened butter, vanilla, and maple syrup.
- Unroll the cooled cake and carefully spread the filling evenly over the surface. Reroll the cake (without the towel this time), cover, and allow to chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes.
- When ready to serve, slice the cake into rounds and dust each piece with powdered sugar.
Notes
Tips for the Best Pumpkin Roll Cake:
- Use From-Scratch Pumpkin Puree – I’m telling you, if you’ve only ever had pumpkin puree from a can, you’re missing out! The flavor of homemade pumpkin puree is unmatched and really does come through in this recipe. Take the time to make your pumpkin puree. Find my tutorial for pressure canning cubed pumpkin or cooking and freezing pumpkin puree here, or my quick-tip for cooking pumpkin in the instant pot below.
- Jelly Roll Pan – A jelly roll pan is a must, specifically a 10″x15″ jelly roll pan. If you don’t have a jelly roll pan, grab one now; otherwise, your cake will be too thick or too thin and rolling will be a challenge. Think Goldilocks here; we want the thickness just right.
- Plan Accordingly – Did you know this cake is actually rolled twice? Once to form the shape we’re after while the cake is still warm. Then again after it’s been chilled, unrolled and filled with frosting. This does take a bit of extra time (though most of it is hands-off time), so plan accordingly.
- Follow Instructions – It may be tempting to cut corners and skip steps when making this pumpkin roll recipe, but don’t do it! The cooling and resting time is necessary to avoid cracking or crumbling of the cake. Rest-assured, the cake will still taste delicious, but it just won’t have that wow factor.
How could you make this gluten/dairy free? Asking for my daughter. I would like to make this but I don’t know about the substitutes and how they would work in the recipe?
Thanks!
I may have found one of my new favorite deserts! Two of your Grandma’s recipes are blessing our table this Thanksgiving…Pumpkin Rolls made with freshly ground flour and fresh Cherokee Tan pumpkin puree… And her Spelt dinner rolls. Oh my goodness! Thanks so much for sharing! They are regulars in my house now.
Just letting you know the link to Hand Made brought me to a webpage that’s mostly blank except some Russian.. 🤷🏻♀️
Thank You for sharing!
I JUST found this recipe and TRIED it 3 times… Once with cake flour…I threw it out. 2nd was my fault…I mixed the sugar in with the dry ingredients and it was AWFUL gummy. I threw it out. The 3rd. I followed the recipe to a T and I used King Arthur All Purpose and it was SoOoOo heavy !! I threw it out…PLEASE help me make this with success.. I LOoOOoVE pumkin rolls. I WANT TO WIN… 😉
Did you watch the video? If it’s heavy you likely didn’t whip the eggs and sugar together long enough (it’s a full 5 minutes) OR over mixed when combining the pumpkin puree and dry ingredients with the eggs and sugar mixture.
I tried your recipe for the first time. It cracked really bad, any suggestions?
Either you didn’t roll it fast enough (cooled to fast in pan) OR it overbaked (because it’s such a thin cake and every oven bakes differently it can be easy to do.
My filling always seems to squeeze out all over the place. Yours didn’t do that.
Be sure the cake roll is cooled completely and sometimes I put the filling in the fridge a few minutes to firm it up.
Hi Melissa, I just made your Pumpkin Roll recipe. It was easy to make and tasted delicious! 🙂
This turned out perfect and was so yummy! The only thing I did different was use pumpkin pie spice instead of the three different spices.
I wasn’t sure if the butter should be salted or not, but I used salted. Again, this was wonderful.
Made this last thanksgiving. Everyone loved it, even those that don’t care for pumpkin.
I have not treid this but it looks easier then I thought.
I purchased one from a Grandma in our town who does orders starting Oct.15th. One tip she uses pecans in cream cheese filling or plain. She also wraps her rolls with parchment paper puts tape on ends then one side small piece.Then in heavy duty foil so they freeze well longer. I confess wrapped in fridge brought out flavor. I froze second roll. After watching I am ready to try this.
I was wondering could a person use fresh ground wheat in place of the regular flour? My husband grows wheat and we just bought a mockmill.
I haven’t tested fresh ground in this one (though I do use it often in other recipes) mainly because I don’t want it to be fragile for rolling and didn’t want to sacrifice any to testing. But I would start with a soft white wheat or Spelt and try 1/2 fresh ground and 1/2 all-purpose as the first go round. If you do let me know how it turns out!
Looks great! Is it 2 cups or 2/3 cup of pumpkin puree?
2/3 cup
The pumpkin roll turned-out terrible! I replaced the sugar with high fructose corn syrup and the flour with bisquick. My aunt doesn’t like cream cheese so I used non-fat tofu. I didn’t have a pumpkin so I used two potatoes instead. I will never make this again.
ps. Just kidding. I can’t wait to make it just like you wrote it!
lol you totally had me going for a minute!
Need some low cal recipes. Lots of veggies please.
How can I adjust this to make in a larger 12 x 17 jelly roll pan? Made one yesterday in a 10 1/2 x 15! It was awesome but I would love to use my larger pan.
You’d need to find a different recipe for a larger pan, this one is for the 10 x 15. I think it would be too thin in a larger pan.
Mr jelly roll pan is 2 inches wider and 2 inches longer. I’m not good with math, I just thought you might know off the top of your head how to adjust the recipe. I’ll see if Google can help…she’s really smart, knows everything or knows someone who does!!! ??? thanks Melissa!
We made this using North Carolina Candy Squash, awesome !!!!
Melissa, I have always wanted to make a pumpkin and jelly roll. However, we are a small family so this is just too big. If I were to cut the pumpkin roll in thirds and freeze the other two sections should I cut it right after I roll it or after it sets in the fridge? And, do you have a link as to where you get your towels? I can never find plain white or almost white towels like the ones you are using. Thanking you in advance.
Hi Linda, I would wait to cut until ti sets in the fridge and then you can absolutely freeze it. They freezer very well actually, just wrap it up in plastic wrap and then another layer of tinfoil for the freezer. I’ve had those towels forever I don’t even remember where I got them honestly.
Linda, you can get the potato sack towels at Sam’s Club. I’m not sure how many come in a pack, love them for drying dishes, making jelly, making cake rolls etc, most of your stores like Gordons, Bed, Bath and Beyond will have them!
Linda, you can get the plain white towels at Walmart. They are not with the bathroom towels or kitchen towels they are more where the kitchen supplies are or sometimes opposite the isle where the rugs are. If you do not see them anywhere ask an associate because they are there.
Made this recipe for the first time. Really pretty and delicious. I put up a plum cordial earlier this year and put some on the roll just before adding the filling and final roll. I also added a tempered white chocolate glaze.
I will probably make this again over the holidays.
Thank you for sharing.
Ann Marie
I made this today and it turned out perfect. I used parchment paper but did grease with coconut oil too just in case. Worked like a charm. Cake looks and tastes delicious. You made it easy !
Woo hoo! So glad you enjoyed it.
I haven’t but I think it would work well because this is already moisture and egg heavy.
Hi, I really enjoyed your video, we have the same mixer and I love your style. Always gotta wear an apron. Clearly you’re a real food cook, me as well. I’ll think about making this soon. I’ll let you know and send a photos if I do.
Hi, Have you ever made this recipe with gluten free flour? Have 2 daughters who are gluten free? Thanks
Does the cake part work with raw sugar?
Yes, I only use evaporated cane juice and/or raw sugar
‘- Could you line the pan with parchment paper and grease the paper with coconut oil?
– Can I use my Kitchen Aide “whip” to beat the eggs (or would that make them too foamy?)
You can definitely line it and flip. I haven’t used the whip so be careful you don’t whip it too much.
Yes you certainly can we prefer wax paper
Instructions for cooking pumpkin? Are they different for canned and fresh?
This recipe was a bit tougher than it seemed in reading this post. I made it twice. The first time I was a bit too slow in rolling and it broke because of that. You have to roll it right away. Also, the cake was thicker in the middle than the ends so it really broke apart right in the center. Luckily, that was hidden once the filling went in. It still looked, cut, and turned out fine in the end. The second time I made it, I pushed more of the cake to the edges before baking and used my linen couche and wrapped it with the cake and used a LOT more powdered sugar. The second time it came together perfectly, except I didn’t let it cool it quite enough and the filling sort of melted when I put it on. A linen couche is pretty thick plus the cake was wrapped inside it so I guess I’ll have to allow it to cool longer. The pumpkin roll is really delicious and I look forward to trying the cake portion with fruit purées and adjusting the spices as a new variation. Big thanks to your grandma and you, Melissa, for the recipe!
Hi Marilee, so glad you got it to work, and yes, even if it cracks, it still eats good! The key is to roll it quick as you learned. I’ll have a video up shortly to help folks too. Glad you enjoyed it!