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The best and easiest Pumpkin Roll recipe with a moist and tender crumb, filled with smooth cream cheese frosting. I have the best trick to make this simple and completely mess-free!
Do you love pumpkin recipes? Try Pumpkin Spice Eggnog, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, or Pumpkin Cake!
Our Pumpkin Roll is No-Fuss, No-Mess, All Flavor
Don't be intimidated to make pumpkin roll! It's the most basic sheet cake, rolled up to look fancier than it is. And we don't mess with your Grandma's old-fashioned method of dumping the cake on a towel covered in powdered sugar –what a mess! My method is the easiest and works great every single time! If you want to take this dessert to the next level, try using homemade pumpkin purée.
How to make a Pumpkin Roll:
Prep Pan: Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 10×15” pan with cooking spray, then line with parchment paper and leaving an extra inch of parchment paper hanging over the long sides so you can easily lift it up after it bakes. Lightly spray the parchment paper with non-stick spray.
Make Batter: Combine flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl. Mix eggs, vanilla, sugar, and pumpkin in a separate bowl, until smooth. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients, just stirring until combined.
Bake: Pour batter in prepared pan, spreading into an even layer. Bake for 13-16 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Watch it closely since every oven is different. Remove from oven. Lift the parchment paper up and place on a heat-safe flat surface. While cake is hot, start at a short end and slowly roll the cake inside the parchment paper all the way. Let cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
- Tip: It's very important to roll up the cake when it's hot from the oven, so it doesn't crack. The hot cake is soft, pliable, and will roll and set in this shape, so it doesn't crack.
Add Filling: Mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar together with an electric mixer until it's fluffy and smooth. Carefully unroll cooled pumpkin cake then gently smooth the filling in an even layer. Roll up the pumpkin swiss roll back up, without the parchment paper and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving.
Serve: Dust the top of the pumpkin roll cake with powdered sugar, if desired. Cut into slices and serve. Keep leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: The assembled pumpkin roll with cream cheese filling can be made and refrigerated, covered, for 1-2 days. Or if you just want to make the cake part ahead of time, you can bake it, roll it in parchment paper to cool, then refrigerate it while it's rolled in the parchment paper for one day before spreading the frosting. Keep leftovers covered and in the refrigerator.
To Freeze: Wrap in plastic wrap and aluminum foil then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw completely overnight in the refrigerator before slicing and serving.
More Fall Cake Recipes:
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Fresh Apple Cake
- Carrot Cake Loaf
- Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Mug Cake
- Apple Coffee Cake
- Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Gingerbread Cake
- Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Homemade Rum Cake
Pumpkin Roll
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2/3 cup canned pumpkin, (or homemade pumpkin puree)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, , softened
- 2 Tablespoons butter, , softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar, , plus more for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prep Pan: Lightly grease a jelly roll pan (10 x 15'') with non stick cooking spray. Place parchment paper on top so it sticks, leaving an extra inch of parchment sticking up on both long sides of the pan so that you can easily lift the cake out after baking. Lightly grease the parchment paper.
- Dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.
- Wet Ingredients: In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, vanilla and pumpkin until smooth.
- Combine: Add dry ingredients to the bowl and stir just until combined and no dry streaks remain. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Every oven is different, so watch it closely.
- Roll: Immediately lift the payment paper and hot cake out of the pan and onto a flat (heat-safe) surface. While the cake is hot, starting at a short end, gently and slowly roll the cake (and parchment paper!) all the way up. Allow it to cool completely, on top of a wire cooling rack. (This allows it to cool underneath the roll, and keeps the cake from sweating).
- Frosting: While the cake roll is cooling, mix the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar together with an electric mixer until it is fluffy and smooth. Once the cake roll is cooled completely, unroll it very carefully. Gently smooth the filling in an even layer over the cake, leaving a 1-inch border.
- Roll up the frosted cake without the parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, before serving.
- Serve: Dust the top with powdered sugar, if desired. Cut into slices and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe October 2014. Updated September 2017, October 2019 and October 2024.
Original recipe adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I've added more spices.
This recipe is amazing, but omg!! If you are going to make it, put a clean towel under your roll as soon as it gets out of the oven to roll it. I burnt my hands 🥹. All worth it though because it tastes AMAZING
Wear heat proof gloves like for grilling, no burns
I use parchment paper to bake and roll it up in the same after lifting it out of the pan
Thats kinda common sense something that just came out of the oven would be hot lol
Burned?
In other countries, like Australia or UK, they use ‘burnt’
I had enough parchment paper on the edges that, once I began the roll, I could actually just roll the paper from the outside
I let it cool for ten minutes then rolled up
Love this recipe! I have friends/family ask for these pumpkin rolls on repeat!
Oh my goodness, this recipe is fantastic!!!!!! I made 1 on Thursday to freeze for Thanksgiving, but the hubby liked it so much that he ate half of it. It was easier than I expected and I have since made 2 more that are hidden in the freezer!! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Tried this recipe this week, my first time ever making a pumpkin roll cake. It was so easy and so good! I got lots of compliments on it!
I just started making these this week and WOW!! They are a HUGE HIT AROUND THIS HOUSE. THANK YOU.. AN SO EASY TO PUT TOGETHER. . this is a HUGE mood lifter cause I feel like I’m baking like a PRO.. 😁❤
This is the BEST pumpkin roll recipe ever! Made it three times so far, and each time, turned out perfect. So delicious and MUCH easier than the old tea-towel method. Wish I would have had this recipe 30 years ago! Thank you so much, Lauren! 🤗
Yum! This was my first attempt at a pumpkin roll, and it rocked! I sprinkled cinnamon on top as well as powdered sugar, just for fun
super easy to make but the cake part is so sticky for some reason so it made it difficult to roll without parts of the cake coming off
Haven’t tried the pumpkin roll yet. You sure make it look easy. I will try today. I love making everything from scratch.
Truly delicious! I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this was to make, yet it looks (and tastes) impressive. I made it exactly as the recipe stated, no ingredient substitutions, and it was excellent.
I gotta say, this was delicious and so easy to make! I initially made pumpkin roll with my pumpkin cupcake recipe which was slightly different from your recipe. It cracked in multiple places. Then I tried it with your recipe and it was perfect! No cracks, easy to make and delicious! This will be my go to recipe for pumpkin roll!!
Pumpkin Roll is a must at my house, everyone loves it! My family insists on it for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I’m so anxious to try this tomorrow for my Dad’s birthday. Baffled by the complete opposite comments though; some has awesome luck with the parchment, some disaster, any advice?
So I did make this and took other’s recommendation of adding Cool Whip, good call! This is so very good, but I was wondering if anybody else has trouble with the roll sweating a lot. Mine did, and I made another today and it was even worse. To the point that it gets gooey. I rolled in a powder sugar coated towel.
You want to make sure you’re using a towel that is very breathable, so the steam has a way to escape while it is cooling down. I like to use a flour sack towel, they usually come in a pack of 10 at Walmart, they are completely white and very thin. You want to put a good amount of powdered sugar on the towel, not too much, not too little. If the cake sweats and the steam is trapped, the powdered sugar can turn to goo on the cake. Also, make sure you’re allowing the cake to cool on a wire rack. Hope this helps! 🙂
Very easy to make and so delicious. I made 2 rolls on my second one I mixed 1/2 cup cream cheese and 1/2 cup cool whip and the filling was so much fluffier and lighter..it was a big hit at Thanksgiving Dinner
Super easy
I made this twice and am finding the baking soda very strong. Anyone else have this issue?
I have never commented on a recipe before, but I had to…. This is incredible. My two kids and husband cannot stop eating it. We are lucky if it lasts more than two days. It’s so easy to make, and the icing sugar sprinkled before you roll it works so well. Definitely a hit!!
I’ve never made a pumpkin roll before, and I got inspired by a friends post on Facebook. I followed your recipe to the letter and use the parchment paper. I don’t know if I let it cool too long or if I didn’t let it cool, long enough, but the actual cake part stuck a little bit to the parchment paper.
I think next time I may spray it with some cooking spray just to make sure? What do you think?
It didn’t really take any cake off. It just looked like it was sticking.
Try sprinkling the paper with powdered sugar, that’s what I do.
This turned out awesome! Will definitely be making it again!