A New Thanksgiving Tradition

If you recall, this was the first year I went to the Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival. My best friend and I did our due diligence tasting as much food as possible before concluding that the “World Famous Pumpkin Roll” was our favorite pumpkin treat. 

No need to wait until the 2012 Pumpkin Festival (or sit in hours of traffic) to indulge in these rolls. They were selling the recipe for $1, by far one of the best purchases I made all year! I made a couple of modifications- I cut the ginger in half and replaced it with ground cloves as well as reduced the amount of chopped walnuts.

This roll is so good I think it may replace the traditional pumpkin pie at the Thanksgiving table this year. 

Pumpkin Roll
Cake

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon lemon juice

3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup walnuts, finely chopped

powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375º. Line a 15 x 10 x 1 jelly roll pan or baking sheet with wax paper. Grease and flour paper.  

Beat eggs on high speed for 5 minutes; gradually beat in granulated sugar. Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice. Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, and salt. Fold into pumpkin mixture. Spread in prepared pan. Top with finely chopped walnuts.   

While the cake is baking, sprinkle powdered sugar onto a thin, cotton dish cloth (I use a flour sack). Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately turn the cake out onto cloth and remove the wax paper. Starting at narrow end, roll towel and cake together into a spiral form. Let roll cool on a wire rack, unroll, and fill.

Filling

1 cup powdered sugar

4 tablespoons butter

6 oz. cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter, and vanilla.  Beat until smooth.  Carefully unroll cake and remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Re-roll cake, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least one hour, or you may freeze up to one month. I find that freezing the cake makes cutting it much easier.  

Don’t worry of the cake doesn’t look that pretty when you first put it in the refrigerator or freezer. The cracks in the cake will not be noticeable and the powdered sugar on the outside of the cake will absorb into the cake. 

And the Winner Is...

This year I tested four new pumpkin loaf/cake recipes (one from a trendy bakery cookbook; one from a celebrity chef; a friend’s family recipe; and the last from my tried-and-true Tartine cookbook). I should have known that Tartine’s recipe would be the best but I mistakenly had the pre-conceived notion that a tea cake would be too heavy. Instead, it was similar in density to a carrot cake with a soft, springy crumb with a slightly spicy flavor. This cake was delicious but I wish I had thought to try it with Bourbon whipped cream before I finished the last slice!

Adapted from Tartine’s recipe for Pumpkin Tea Cake.  I prefer to  mix this recipe by hand.

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup + 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree

1 cup vegetable oil

1 1/3 cups sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

Cinnamon Sugar topping: 1 tablespoon sugar + 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, mixed together.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-5 loaf pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves into a mixing bowl and set aside.

In another mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, oil, sugar, and salt until well mixed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition before adding the next egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.  Add the flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and whisk for about 5 to 10 seconds to make a smooth batter. The batter should have the consistency of a thick puree.

Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth the surface with an offset spatula. Sprinkle evenly with cinnamon sugar. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 15 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely on wire rack. Serve at room temperature. The cake will keep, well wrapped, at room temperature for about 4 days.

While I haven’t made Bourbon whipped cream before, I’m guessing my starting point will be about 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar, and 1 teaspoon Bourbon and adjust to taste.  

In Anticipation of Pumpkin Fest

I've been so excited about Half Moon Bay's Art and Pumpkin Festival, I've been baking all sorts of pumpkin treats. It took a couple of tries but I came up with a recipe for pumpkin pancakes that, if you top with Williams-Sonoma Pecan Pumpkin Butter and a little maple syrup, taste just like pumpkin pie.  I made them for friends yesterday and got rave reviews. 

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups buttermilk 

3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin

2 large eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk dry ingredients in large bowl to blend. Whisk milk, pumpkin, eggs, oil and vanilla in medium bowl to blend well. Add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients; mix just until smooth (batter will be thick).

Spray large nonstick skillet with non-stick spray; heat over medium heat. Working in batches, pour a ladleful of batter into skillet. Cook until bubbles form on surface of pancakes, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining batter, spraying pan as needed.