Gluten Free Pumpkin Roll

Our Gluten Free Pumpkin Roll recipe tastes very much like our regular pumpkin roll. It is filled with cream cheese frosting too! I decided to make my pumpkin roll gluten free so I could take it to our Thanksgiving feast this year.

My four year-old grandson was diagnosed with celiac a couple of years ago so we haven’t had a pumpkin roll the last couple of years. We didn’t even get together two years ago because of the pandemic. We did get together last year and had a yummy gluten free pumpkin pie my daughter made. But this year we will have pumpkin roll again!

We were so happy with the way it turned out. I am sure my grandson is going to love it as much as I do.

Also, do not be intimidated by this recipe. It is actually easier than you might think. It looks difficult but it really isn’t. And your friends and family are going to be so impressed! My regular pumpkin roll and my gluten free version came out great the first time I made them.

Ingredients

See recipe card for exact measurements.

Ingredient Notes

Gluten Free Flour – we use Great Value gluten-free flour blend. It is a brown rice flour that has starches, sorghum and xanthan gum already in it. These are very important elements of the flour so we like to buy the flour that already has them so we don’t have to buy those components separately. There are other brands that have these things in them such as Bob’s Red Mill.

Ground Cinnamon – goes perfectly with pumpkin and has such great flavor.

Pumpkin Pie Spice – this is a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and allspice. We like the flavor it gives our pumpkin roll. This is something we changed from our original recipe.

Pumpkin Puree – we buy the canned variety. You can use homemade if you like.

How to Make Our Gluten-Free Pumpkin Roll Cake

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Prepare 10 inch X 15 inch X 1 inch jelly roll pan; grease sides, line with waxed paper then sprinkle waxed paper and sides of pan with flour, shake off excess.
2. In a small bowl , combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat sugar and eggs until thick. Add pumpkin, beat until combined. Combine wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into prepared pan; evenly spread batter with a spatula. Bake for 13-15 minutes. (Check after 10 or 11 minutes if using a dark pan.)
4. While the cake is in the oven dust a kitchen towel with powdered sugar. (To do this I put the powdered sugar in a mesh strainer and tap it as I move it over the towel.)
5. Remove cake from oven and immediately turn out onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off waxed paper. Starting at narrow end, roll up cake and towel together; let cool completely.
6. In a large bowl beat cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth. Unroll cake carefully, spread cream cheese filling over cake. Re-roll and refrigerate for at least an hour (I refrigerate mine overnight).

Tips & Tricks

• We like wax paper to line our pan. I have tried using parchment paper and it didn’t work as well for me.
• The eggs, butter and cream cheese should be at room temperature.
• Dust the towel liberally with powdered sugar. I would say I use at least 1/4 cup or more of powdered sugar. The one time I skimped on this my pumpkin roll stuck a bit and it didn’t look as pretty. I was taking it to work and needed more than one so making another one wasn’t really an option. So I dusted the outside of it with powdered sugar.
• Sprinkle the pumpkin roll with powdered sugar to hide any imperfections. This works well for this gluten free version because it cracked more than the original one.
• I let my rolled cake cool on a wire rack because it will cool faster than laying it out right on the counter.
• We use a clean kitchen towel, the kind that doesn’t have lint.
• I use a hand mixer to mix the cake batter and a stand mixer to make the filling. I used to use a hand mixer for both before I had a stand mixer.

Storage

I wrap our pumpkin roll in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil to keep it wrapped up well. Store in the refrigerator for 3-5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Special Notes

If you want the perfect gluten-free pumpkin roll then leave it in the refrigerator overnight before cutting it. The cream cheese filling will set up more and the cake will be firm so when you cut it it will be cleaner looking. For comparison, I let my regular pumpkin roll set up overnight and it is cleaner looking. I only let this pumpkin roll set up for just over 2 hours and you can see from the photos that my regular one looks prettier. The important part is that they both taste amazing!

The first few times I moved my pumpkin roll, after filling it, from the towel to the plastic wrap it totally made me very nervous. Now I just make sure I put one hand under each end and pick it up and move it. It is more difficult to move before it has been refrigerated. You get more comfortable with it the more you do it.

Don’t have the exact size jelly roll pan? No problem, just use a rimmed baking sheet that is similar in size and adjust the baking time as needed. You will know the cake is done when it is brown on the edges and a little on the top. It also get these sparkles on top, almost like glitter.

Why This Recipe Works

For this recipe we made it just like our regular pumpkin roll. The only difference is that we used gluten free flour. We were able to swap the flour using the exact same amount because there is a relatively small amount of flour in it when you consider there are three eggs and one cup of sugar, and only three-fourths of a cup of flour. My daughter bakes all the time using gluten free flour and it results in more dense baked goods. Our gluten free version of this recipe results in a spongier cake than the regular version.

Naturally Gluten-Free Recipes Perfect For Holiday Meals:

Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows

Pan Fried Green Beans

Triple Berry Cheesecake Salad

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Recipe adapted from Very Best Baking.