Caramel Pumpkin Spice Cake Roll

An incredible Pumpkin Cake Roll filled with Italian Buttercream and elevated with Salted Caramel and Toffee bits! What a combo!

There are pumpkin rolls a plenty - as numerous as the pumpkins piled in the farm and country stores everywhere you look during October. I love every one of those recipes but was hankering for the luxury of salted caramel to pair with it. And though cream cheese frosting is the life of the party on any dessert, I wanted to go a bit subtler without losing any of the buttery flavor. Thus the Italian Buttercream.

I know I should be careful using the term "perfect" but so this pumpkin cake recipe is, according to my palette and opinion of what a pumpkin cake should taste like! Now, I am no novice to autumn spices used in pumpkin breads, cakes, pies, soups, stews so I speak from extensive pumpkin-tasting experience.

Upon discovering this recipe I also came to appreciate Chinese 5-Spice powder and how it works in concert with pumpkin and fall! And then to fill that with an incredibly creamy Italian buttercream, which complements the moist crumb of the cake with buttery, melt-away sweetness....ahhh! In all honesty, I had to sit down while sampling my first serving this season, overcome by the "umami" and with self-deprecating honesty, I did not eat just one slice!

My favorite pumpkin story occurred in Tunis, Tunisia where we lived for two years. Now in those days, the 80s, the only pumpkins you found in the states were the traditional fat round orange ones. But those didn't exist in Tunisia. In fact, one year I had to use various melons which we found don't carve well. But being determined to have a jack-o-lantern for our poor culturally deprived children, the next year we eventually found a pumpkin (pale green with streaks of peach). Yes, they had them but they were large, the wrong color and grown exclusively for their meaty flesh to be used in stews and ragouts.

Tunisians used them like we use a hubbard or acorn squash and hadn't visualized them as lanterns with scowling, grinning features. At least the vegetable merchant didn't get it and we had to repeat several times that yes, we wanted the whole thing. which necessitated lugging the pumpkin to the meat market where the scale was big enough to weigh "the whole thing." ("Crazy Americans!").

This, the smallest of the pumpkins, 2 feet in diameter, weighed in at 50 pounds. One of my favorite images is that of my husband hauling it to the car, with Tunisians watching curiously after him. But there was carving fun for all and it held several pillar candles. Another perk - I cooked down the 4-inch flesh the next day to use as pumpkin pie filling - something else we couldn't find there, so it took care of two holiday traditions!

Speaking of traditions, this cake roll may become one for you! Put this recipe on the top of your list of pumpkin sweets to make - I can't imagine you'd be sorry, even if you had to haul a 50-pound pumpkin for the required ingredient. Maybe that's what I should have done after the number of pieces of this cake I ate!

Pumpkin Spice Cake

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter at room temperature

1 cup packed, brown sugar

2 medium eggs at room temperature

2/3 cup solid pack pumpkin

1/2 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet 9what size_ with parchment paper or spray with baking spray and dust with flour.

-Whisk flour, baking powder and soda, Chinese 5- spice powder and salt together in large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat butter in another bowl until smooth. Add brown sugar and continue to beat until creamy. Add eggs 1 at a time beating to blend between each egg. Beat in pumpkin. Add half the dry ingredient to the butter mixture then the milk, then the other half of the dry ingredients. (Mix just until smooth).

-Oil and flour or place parchment paper or a silpad on a 10 X 13 inch baking sheet with a lip on it. Pour the cake batter into the pan and smooth to completely cover the bottom evenly with a spatula.

-Bake in a 350 degree oven until the cake is just done when pierced with a knife (12 - 15 minutes). Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes.

-Loosen cake from edges of pan; invert onto a cotton tea towel or waxed or parchment paper, sprinkled with powdered sugar. Carefully remove the parchment paper from the bottom of cake; trim off stiff, brittle edges if necessary.

 -Let sit 10 minutes then loosely roll cake with the towel or paper, from one long end (or roll cake and paper around rolling pin to give it support.) Let cool completely.

Italian Butter Cream (for filling)

4 egg whites large, at room temperature

1⅓ cups granulated sugar

1/3 cup water

¼ teaspoon salt

16 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature cut into 1-inch pieces

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

-In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar until foamy. Slowly add in ⅓ cup of sugar and continue beating until soft peaks form.

-While the egg whites are whipping, place the remaining 1 cup sugar and ⅓ cup of water into a medium pot and place over medium-low heat. Stir until sugar melts and becomes clear.

-Increase heat to medium-high heat and continue boiling until temperature reaches the soft ball stage of 238 degrees. Do not stir after mixture begins to boil. (Cover with a lid the last 2 - 3 minutes of boiling to help melt down any sugar crystals that may have formed on the sides of the pot.)

-Remove from heat and drizzle the sugar syrup into the egg white mixture in the mixer in a thin stream while you run the mixer on medium-high speed until the meringue cools down to almost room temperature (This may take up to 20 - 25 minutes.)

-Add the room temperature butter into the running mixer, a small chunk at a time. Continue beating buttercream on medium-high speed until the butter is combined and mixture has reached a silky consistency (10 - 15 minutes.) Add the salt and vanilla and pulse into the mixture.

SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel salt or kosher salt

-Over medium heat, combine butter, sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, and light Karo syrup in a heavy, not stick medium-sized pot. Stirring constantly, cook until mixture comes to a boil.

-Continue cooking over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, to just shy of the softball stage, 232 degrees. Remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon vanilla and salt. Let cool to room temperature.

TO ASSEMBLE CAKE ROLL

-Carefully unroll cool cake and open on work surface. Do not push cake open flat as it will crack. And if it does crack slightly, no problem. A world of cracks can be hidden with strategic frosting!

-Spread the buttercream evenly over the surface of the open cake to within 1 inch of the borders. Spoon a fat strip of caramel sauce about 1 inch wide along the long edge of the cake, 1 1/2 inches in from the edge you will be rolling, to create a stripe of caramel that will show in the center of each slice of cake roll. Then drizzle additional caramel sparingly over the entire surface of the buttercream.

-Starting on one long end for smaller servings and the short end for larger servings, grasp the paper that lines the bottom of the cake and by lifting up and over, roll the cake enclosing the buttercream and caramel sauce, pressing lightly to create the roll. Unroll the paper off of the cake from the bottom as you roll. Set the filled rolled cake, seam side down in the middle of the paper and completely enclose it in the paper to help hold it together. Place in the fridge and chill at least two hours.

-When ready to serve, remove from the fridge, peel off paper and place cake roll in the center of a serving platter. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a star tip with the leftover buttercream and pipe along the top of the cake creating a pattern of your choosing. Sprinkle generously with toffee bits and drizzle more caramel sauce over the cake from side to side. Chill until ready to serve. Remove from fridge 20 minutes before slicing.

-Cut cake roll into 1 to 1 1/2 inch slices and serve with additional caramel sauce on the side. Makes 10 - 12 servings.

Bake pumpkin cake in a 10 X 13 inch baking pan until just done and still tender.

Roll cake lined with paper around a rolling pin and allow to cool completely.

Spread cake with fluffy, luxurious Italian Buttercream to within 1 inch of the edges.

Spoon caramel sauce 1 1/2 inches in from one edge in a fat strip.

Lift the cake by the paper on the bottom and using the paper to help you, lift up and over the filling and roll away from you encasing the filling. Pull the paper off the back of the cake as you roll it.

Pipe extra buttercream on top, drizzle with more salted caramel sauce and garnish with toffee bits. Don’t you want to just jump right in!

Garnish top of cake roll with more piped Italian Buttercream and garnish with additional salted caramel sauce and toffee bits.

Serve 1 inch slices with additional caramel sauce and toffee bits.

PERSNICKETY NOTES:

**Buttercream can be made in advance and extra can be kept at room temperature for up to 2 days and in the fridge for up to 5 days. Buttercream can also be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Allow to thaw completely and then whip well until buttercream is soft and smooth again.

** If you are in a hurry, standard American cream cheese frosting is just fine for this recipe. To make combine 1/2 cup room temperature butter in a medium mixing bowl with 4 ounces softened cream cheese. Beat on high until smooth. Add 3 cups powdered sugar, a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat on low speed until sugar is incorporated then turn to high speed and beat until mixture is very smooth, about 5 minutes. If mixture is too thick to spread easily, add a tablespoon or so of milk.

**Keep cake roll chilled and wrapped lightly for up to 5 days in the fridge. Allow to sit at room temperature about 20 minutes before serving for best texture.

**Purchased salted caramel sauces can be used but many are too runny for this recipe. If using purchased sauce some good choices are Mrs. Richardson’s Salted Caramel sauce or Smucker’s Simply Delight Salted Caramel Sauce as they tend to be thicker than other brands. That is why I usually make my own caramel sauce as I can cook it to just the right thickness for the recipe I am using.