Spiced Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swiss Roll

Quite a few months ago, I asked J to look through my new cookbook - The Hummingbird Bakery Home Sweet Home and bookmark recipes that he'd like to try. I've never actually gotten round to baking any of them for him so when I felt the urge to bake, I looked through the chosen recipes and decided on this particular recipe for a few reasons. Firstly, my co host Caroline has chosen the letter 'P' for AlphaBakes this month so I thought this would fit nicely. Secondly, as I mentioned in my previous post, I'd recently received goodies from America which includes pumpkin puree. Thirdly, I had all the ingredients to hand and it was a relatively simple recipe to make.

I've only made swiss rolls a handful of times with varying degrees of success. I learned from my last attempt to whisk the eggs and sugar for a long time- much longer than you think and it worked much better this time. This sponge is really fragrant with the ground cinnamon and pumpkin puree. It's filled with a sweet cream cheese filling which complements the sponge perfectly. This is a very autumnal recipe but I just couldn't wait to try it out. J was extremely pleased and gave it his seal of approval. 

As mentioned, I'm entering this to AlphaBakes hosted this month by Caroline from Caroline Makes and co-hosted by myself on alternate months. The letter is P for Pumpkin.

I'm also sending this to Vegetable Palette hosted by Shaheen from A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table. The theme this month is mellow yellows and orange. I always thought pumpkin is a vegetable but it's actually a fruit. It's definitely orange so it fits in with the theme.

As I've had this recipe bookmarked for months, I'm sending it to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes.

Finally, I'm also sending it to Blogger Bakespiration Challenge hosted by Stuck In The Tree.

 beat the eggs and sugar until pale and doubled in volume

 pour into a swiss roll tin - definitely worth investing if you make these frequently 

 rolled, cooled and unrolled cake

 spread cream cheese filling 

 and roll then dust with icing sugar 

Recipe from Hummingbird Bakery Home Sweet Home

 For the sponge
120g plain flour
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3 eggs
175g caster sugar (original recipe states 200g)
120g tinned pumpkin puree

For the filling
170g icing sugar, sifted
60g butter
300g cream cheese (origina recipe states 240g)

• Preheat oven to 170C.
• Whisk the eggs and sugar until pale, fluffy and at least doubled in volume. This will take a good 5 minutes in an electric mixer.
• Fold in the pumpkin puree with a spatula, followed by the sifted dry ingredients.
• Be careful not to overmix and knock out the air in the mixture.
• Pour into a swiss roll tin and spread the mixture evenly - this is important otherwise the cake will cook unevenly.
• Bake for approximately 12-14 minutes or until the sponge is cooked and bounces back slightly when touched. 
• Prepare a large sheet of baking paper with icing sugar on top.
• Place the sponge on top of the baking paper. Make a small slit on the shorter end of the sponge and roll up the sponge with the paper inside. 
• The cake will be very hot from the oven so you may need to use a kitchen towel or oven gloves. 
• Allow to cool in the rolled position.
• Meanwhile, make the filling by beating the icing sugar and butter together and then adding in the cream cheese and continue beating until smooth.
• Unroll the cake and spread the cream cheese filling on to the cake.
• Roll the cake again using the baking paper to help you. 
• Sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.