Saturday, November 27, 2010

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll and Thanksgiving, 2010

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving again. It's the one holiday that my family spends at our home, instead of joining the extended family. It seems to be the least child-oriented, and we can have an entire feast that is vegan. A few years ago, I changed what I did and started letting my family pick their favorite dishes to be served at this meal. So, sometimes we get a mix of traditional and unorthodox menus. Last year's menu is under my Savory Bulgur Dressing recipe.

This is this year's menu:
Tofurky with Gravy: picked by both GR and SR
Cranberry Sauce: picked by SR
Homemade Fries: picked by SR
Tofu Rice Rolls: picked by GR
Slow Cooked Pinto Beans: picked by G
Squash: picked by G (I baked zucchini and crookneck along with potatoes, red onions, celery and carrots with the Tofurky Roast)
Sparkling Apple Cider: picked by Me
White Cake with White Frosting: picked by JK
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll: picked by Me

Besides JK not understanding why he couldn't have his cake now the day before Thanksgiving, at breakfast on Thanksgiving, for lunch on Thanksgiving, and on his dinner plate on Thanksgiving, things went very well. You can see the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll below, along with my plate and the cake. What follows are pictures for the Roll and the recipe. It's something I've made before and is a hit every time.




Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll


My delicious plate, mm-mmm!


JK's White Cake with White Frosting. I mean our cake, right, JK?


What the beaten Egg Replacer will look like


Rolling up the cake part of the Roll


The Roll cooling inside its towel


The cream cheese filling


A slice of Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll


Okay, who am I kidding? This is what I really ate; I had to move it to a bigger plate to accomodate both pieces.



Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll
Ingredients:

Pumpkin Cake:

1 and 1/2 Tbs. of EnerG Egg Replacer
6 Tbs. of water
1 cup vegan sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup walnuts, ground coarsely (I use the food processor)
1 cup or so of powdered sugar

Cream Cheese Filling:

8 oz. package of vegan cream cheese, room temperature
4 Tbs. vegan margarine room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

For the Pumpkin Cake: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 10 by 15 inch jelly roll pan with an oil spray, or you can use a cookie sheet with a one inch lip all the way around. Cover the pan with a sheet of waxed paper and spray that as well. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat the Egg Replacer with the water for five minutes on medium or medium high speed, until it loses its watery consistency and slightly thickens. Continue beating and slowly pour in the sugar, and beat well. Stir in the pumpkin puree and lemon juice. In another bowl whisk the rest of the cake ingredients together, except for the walnuts and powdered sugar. Stir the dry ingredients in with the wet and pour over waxed paper. Make sure it is evenly spread and reaches all the edges and corners of the covered pan. Sprinkle the nuts over the batter. Bake for 15 minutes. While its baking, lay out a clean dish towel and sprinkle enough powdered sugar to cover the entire towel with a thin layer. Remove cake from oven and quickly flip the pan upside down over the towel. Carefully remove the waxed paper, and starting at the short end, slowly roll up the towel with the cake inside it. Let it cool completely on a cooling rack, with the towel's seam down.

For the Cream Cheese Filling: While the cake is baking and cooling, set your margarine and cream cheese on the counter to get room temperature. When the cake is completely cool, begin to make the filling. In a small bowl, beat all the filling ingredients together at medium speed, until smooth and creamy. Carefully unroll the cake, leaving it on the towel, and spread the filling evenly over the cake. Re-roll the cake, this time leaving the towel on the counter. Place on a serving dish and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. You will have nuts and sugar left over on the towel, so fold it up and either sprinkle in a bowl for some future delight or shake it off in your sink. This is very good and looks decadent, perfect for a holiday meal. Feeds five hungry vegans for a couple of days.

26 comments:

  1. Very impressive meal. I've always wanted to make a rolled cake but I know it will fall apart. I'm not good at delicate baked things.

    Happy Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rolled pumpkin cakes seem to always be a hit ! I think it is the pairing of pumpkin and cream cheese- sort of like a carrot cake in taste but lighter because of the lack of nuts and less oil. You dinner looked delicious !

    ReplyDelete
  3. Andrea, thank you. I'm sure you underestimate yourself, m'dear!

    Di, I've never seen a rolled cake except for mine. Do you like to make them too? Thanks for the compliment. How did your holiday go?

    ReplyDelete
  4. The pumpkin roll is so pretty and impressive. I'm like Andrea, I'm sure it would break if I tried one!

    Your dinner looks fabulous! I love how everyone got to pick a dish or two. I bet the squash was from the garden too!

    I'm interested in those tofu-rice rolls...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rose, of all people, I know you could make this roll! If I can do it, so can you, girl. The squash has been long ago eaten, so these are storebought. And here SR thought she was done with them for a few months, poor girl! Those tofu rice rolls are from the Asian section at our market: the kids just love them. Very simple: just tofu skin with sticky rice in the middle, nothing else. I could probably make them, I guess, but who would want to risk it for Thanksgiving?!

    ReplyDelete
  6. thank you times TEN for showing what your egg replacer looks like!!! i always think mines to watery so i add more powder...i need to stop using my bitty brain and start following directions!! i ruined so much(baked treats) this year!!

    we had a tofurky too! wasnt it good! i really liked the gravy, kinda salty and i dont watn to look at the ingredietns! i love your eclectic menu choices! i would have really enjoyed that when i was little!! i was at a fam friends house and they made enchiladas and fry bread in addition to the turkey..so you arent alone on the non-traditional stuff:)

    the frosting on your cake is so snowy white and pretty!!did you make it two layers? is there any left....

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi, Michelle - you're welcome! Sometimes it dawns on me to do stuff like that because there was a time that I didn't know, so I figure not everyone knows it all. An enchilada Thanksgiving sounds great! Thanks for the compliment on the cake, and yes, it was two layers. JK can get more frosting that way. :-) None left, though.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ahhhh, a yummy great pumpkin/cream cheese roll...delicioso.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yum...your plate looks delish! And that pumpkin roll sounds so good. I've never tried making any kind of roll like that. I'm sure it's not near as easy as you make it seem. :o)
    I've used egg replacer once but wasn't too sure about it. I've always used the flax seed mixture in place of eggs. I'll have to give the egg replacer another try though. It could have been me or just the muffin recipe, but it tasted a little funny. It was a new recipe so I guess it would be pretty hard to tell.
    I'm glad you had a great Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  10. That cream cheese roll looks incredible but I want details on the white cake!!! Was that vegan and can you share the recipe if so. Nom nom nom.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  12. i would have really enjoyed that when i was little!"
    i meant that i would have enjoyed choosing what i wanted when i was little...sounds kinda rude what i wrote.... also i somehow missed the last picture of what the cake looks like inside:) i see now:) this was a good Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you, Millie! :-)

    Michelle at LLV, I've never had a problem with Egg Replacer, although I've heard others have. My stuff turns out great, and there's no weird taste. Who knows? - maybe the powder wasn't mixed thoroughly or something, you never can tell. I've also done the flax seed and water mix, and it turns out very well, too. And, there's an added health benefit. I guess I just like the time element with Egg Replacer, but I still like the flax seed mix. I say, if it's working for you, keep doing it, and be healthy too! Yay!

    Girl on Raw, Great now I've forgotten your name temporarily, until I slap my forehead when I go to your site: anyways, yes the cake is vegan! I can definitely share the recipe in an upcoming post, you bet!

    Michelle at DD: silly girl, I didn't take anything you said the wrong way! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love the way rolled desserts look. I want to try this one!!! And I think I'll only need to buy cream cheese first. Thanks for sharing your menu and how it came to be. I love those details. I like white cakes, too; good choice, JK.

    ReplyDelete
  15. That looks delicious! We have a similar recipe - but yours looks healthier!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm happy to hear you had a great Thanksgiving. :)

    All the food looks good, but the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll sounds unbelievably delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, good, Jenny! I hope you like it. You can leave it to JK to always pick a dessert when he has a chance. :-)

    Hi, Diane, how do you make yours? Hope you had a good holiday!

    Seglare, thank you! It was a nice time. Do you have a day of thanks in Denmark?

    ReplyDelete
  18. This is how it should always be instead of forcing kids to eat 'traditional' things that they may not enjoy. I recall sitting and crying at the T'giving table as a child because I thought the food was so gross.

    Guess I'm gonna have to go find a clean dish towel now to make this dessert.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Your pumpkin roll looks delish! I had a nice Thanksgiving as well! I made a new dessert with vegan cherry jello and cherry pie filling, it was super good! I also made a orange vegan jello with carrot!! Wish I had a slice of your cake right now!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I've never done a roll before. I would love to try this. With your added pictures, it doesn't look that hard. I don't know why I let rolls intimidate me so much : ]

    ReplyDelete
  21. That pumpkin cream cheese roll looks so cool!!! The whole meal looks yummy, and that cake! Very tempting! :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. What a sad memory, S.V. I hope Thanksgiving is better for you nowadays. Go do some laundry and make this dessert!

    Your desserts sound delicious, Brandi! Are you going to post the recipes?

    Jacklyn, I know that you can make this. You are so talented, this would be a cinch for you.

    Thanks, Heidi! Hope you had a great holiday. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Oh, I so want some of that roll. I've never made a rolled cake before, but this just might make me give it a try! Thanks for the recipe and instructions! :)
    Everything looks so tasty!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks, Penny! If you do, let me know how it turns out.

    ReplyDelete
  25. the pumpkin roll looks so good. now that i've made my first 2 vegan pumpkin pies, i am ready to try another pumpkin dessert recipe. do you think i could sub the white flour for wheat flour?

    sorry for lack og punctuation. chip is on my lap so i am typing one handed.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Fruitfulwords, you could give it a try. The taste may change somewhat. Let me know how it turns out.

    ReplyDelete