This year, we had Thanksgiving out at our house and I decided to make everything -except for the turkey; thats my mom's job.
I decided that I would make a pie, but use store bought crust and filling since you generally think of pie for the holidays. I also wanted to make a pumpkin roll cake. I had never before made a roll cake of any kind, but that didn't seem to bother me.
On thursday (Thanksgiving) I decided to make the pumpkin roll cake. One reason being that they can be chilled or frozen after being prepared and another being if it didn't turn out or it cracked then I would have enough time to either make another cake or go to Plan B (I didn't really have a plan B, but I knew it would be another pumpkin dessert.)
The batter itself was very simple and fast to prepare. Our kitchen was filled with the aroma of pumpkin and nutmeg while the cake was baking.
The filling was very tasty and can be prepared ahead of time and just whipped again before filling the cake. I used vanilla that a friend brought back from a recent trip to mexico. It has a sweeter flavor than the stuff you buy at the store.
But there were some bumps in the road....
1. I kinda went overboard with the powdered sugar on the towel to prevent sticking and ending up getting powdered sugar on one whole side of the kitchen and floor. I later resembled an archaeologist dusting off extra powdered sugar off the nuts (#3) and the outside of the cake with a pastry brush.
2. I hesitated to roll the cake at first due to fear of breaking it, but it turned out good; even though it did have a slight crack- just 1 inch or so,but nothing that anyone, but me would notice.
3. I did roll it "backwards" though- I made the side with the nuts on the outside instead of the inside.
Filling the cake with the cream was actually very easy and I didn't have any cream seeping out the sides when I rolled the cake up again.
