[This post is sponsored by my friends at Bob’s Red Mill! We’re using their Organic All-Purpose Flour (affiliate link) for this Vegan Pumpkin Roll.]
My life has been a parade of pumpkin rolls for the past month.
Not that I’m complaining. Just stating a fact about the way my life has been rollin’ these past few weeks.
Pun totally intended.
I am grinning from ear-to-ear right now. Like a freakin’ pumpkin-obsessed Cheshire cat.
It’s VEGAN PUMPKIN ROLL time, friends. I’m flipping.
Pretty sure “pumpkin roll” and “fall” are the most synonymous terms in my life. Always have been, and now, always will be.
I have loved pumpkin roll for years; it has constantly been at the center of my fall-lovin’ life. More so than even pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice lattes, or other pumpkin-y delights.
Pumpkin roll is king. Perfectly spiced cake, tangy cream cheese frosting, a mesmerizing swirl…it’s just so fun and festive and flavorful.
And after many trials (like, omg, many), we’ve taken it one step further.
This is Vegan Pumpkin Roll nirvana, friends. Welcome to the pumpkin party.
It looks impressive, right? And it is. A dense, pumpkiny cake, a creamy, dreamy frosting, a sprinkling of powdered sugar…it’s such a good time.
But would you believe me that it’s actually pretty simple to make? It’s true! Especially if you follow these five tips:
Tips for Vegan Pumpkin Roll Success:
- Relax. After making this recipe approximately 8 bajillion times, I’m convinced that pumpkin roll knows when you’re nervous / stressed / anxious about the recipe. Don’t let it smell the fear. You are awesome, and you can do this. Deep breath, young grasshopper.
- Read. Along those same lines, read the directions before starting. Pumpkin Roll requires rolling (surprise!!), so the process is a bit different from your traditional cake. Not necessarily harder, just different.
- Chill overnight. A slight bummer, I know. But if you’re wanting to spare yourself the agony of a split, cracked pumpkin roll (haaaaa I almost cried multiple times), you need to chill this cake overnight. Just trust me on this. It’s not a big deal, and it can actually be weirdly fun. “There’s a towel in the fridge” has become my family’s little code phrase for “it’s almost pumpkin roll time.”
- Use the best. For as fancy af as this pumpkin roll looks, it requires a surprisingly small amount of ingredients. That’s awesome because that means that we can make sure those few ingredients are the very best they can be. For a recipe that has such a big spot in my heart, I couldn’t imagine using any other flour than Bob’s Red Mill Organic All-Purpose Flour (affiliate link). This recipe means way too much to me to use a sub-par flour. Treat yo’self to the good stuff, friend. You deserve it.
- Use the right frosting. Remember last week when we made [arguably…but like, not really] The World’s Best Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting? Yeah, we’re using that here. We have to. It’s the perfect tangy-meets-sweet-meets-creamy frosting for our dense, spiced cake.
It really is that simple! After eating pumpkin roll for dessert (and, okay, maybe for breakfast here and there) for the past few weeks, you can trust me when I say that this recipe is slightly life-changing.
To me, Pumpkin Roll IS fall, and now, it’s totally, 100% vegan.
PrintVegan Pumpkin Roll
A heavenly, vegan take on the classic pumpkin roll! The perfect dessert recipe for fall, it’s perfectly spiced and loaded with vegan cream cheese frosting.
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 1 roll
- Category: dessert
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
CAKE:
3/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill Organic All-Purpose Flour
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
pinch salt
3/4 cup non-dairy yogurt*
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
TOPPING / FROSTING:
2/3 cup powdered sugar
~1 batch Dreamy Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
- CAKE: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10×15 cake pan, then lay a piece of parchment paper on top, making sure the parchment sticks. Then grease the parchment paper and up the sides of the pan. Stickage is the enemy here, friend!
- Whisk your flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix yogurt, pumpkin, brown sugar, and granulated sugar well. Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients, and mix until just combined (don’t overmix unless you want it to get tough!).
- Spread the batter into your prepared baking pan (it’ll be thick, so you can use an offset spatula to make sure it gets spread evenly), and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cake with spring back after being lightly touched.
- While the cake is baking, take a tea towel and sprinkle the 2/3 cup of powdered sugar on top. As soon as the cake is done cooking, carefully flip the cake onto your powdered sugar tea towel and peel off the parchment paper. Carefully roll the cake, starting at the small side, into a spiral (remembering that it will be warm).
- Place in the fridge overnight, or at least 6-8 hours.
- NEXT MORNING: Carefully unroll your pumpkin roll, making sure that your towel doesn’t have any wrinkles. Frost the entire top of your cake with cream cheese frosting (I had about 3/4 cup left over), and carefully roll it back up, peeling the cake away from the towel. Top with additional powdered sugar if desired and serve!
Notes
*I used both vanilla yogurt and unsweetened yogurt here! I liked the vanilla one best, but either one works just fine.
Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
First of all, THESE PHOTOS <3 Stunning! I can't get over all the action shots. Secondly, I think you need to come visit and bring this when you come ;)
Hi! This recipe looks AMAZING! I can NOT have gluten or cow dairy. So, what about the flour? You’re recommending Bob’s Red Mill flour which is great, what about their gluten free option? :-)
I can’t wait to hear back from you!
Love their GF option!
Any high altitude adjustments for cake ingredients, baking time, or temperature? Thank you!
I’m super unfamiliar with high-altitude adjustments :/ Sorry about that.
Looks scrumptious! I make a lot of cake rolls and I skip the towel and just roll them up in the parchment I baked them on. If I have not overbaked the cake (so easy to do with such a thin cake) it won’t crack once it cools and I unroll it to add the filling and then re-roll it. Thanks for a great vegan recipe!
Love it! great tips.
Made itbbut added a little less than a teaspoon of ginger. And for the frosting I used Daiya cream cheese and half a teaspoon of vanilla extracts with a little extra powdered sugar than this recipe does for and it came out perfectly. I would definitely recommend going this route than making your own cream cheese frosting. But other than that this is hands down the best vegan recipe.
YES! Glad to hear it :)
Can the roll be made ahead of time and frozen?
Ooh! I haven’t tried. I’m guessing it would get a little too gooey when it defrosted, unfortunately. It might work a bit better to sub the yogurt for Bob’s Red Mill’s egg replacer (the equivalent of 3 eggs).