This Dairy-Free Pumpkin Roll Takes the Cake!

I’ve always loved Swiss Roll desserts but have been hesitant to make one myself. They look so complicated and easy to mess up. Even the bakers on The Great British Baking Show have problems with their cakes cracking as they try to unroll and reroll them! But when Alisa said that readers were requesting a Dairy-Free Pumpkin Roll recipe, I thought it was time to conquer my fear.

I started with Libby’s Pumpkin Roll recipe, adapted to be dairy free, and I was pleased with how well it turned out. Everyone in my family loved the Dairy-Free Pumpkin Roll, even the dairy eaters and the chocolate dessert lover. What was next? Maybe a dairy-free Buche de Noel?!

What About a Vegan Pumpkin Roll?

Flush with success, I decided to tackle an egg free and dairy free version. Well, I quickly learned that it is tricky to substitute eggs in such an egg-heavy recipe. It tasted delicious, but the cake didn’t rise as much as the egg version, and it cracked in several places when I was unrolling and rerolling it. It was also more moist and stuck to the dishtowel a bit. (I suggest using more powdered sugar on the towel in the egg-free recipe.)

I served it anyway, covered with a blanket of powdered sugar, and people liked it. If you do decide to try the egg free version, know that the chances are good that the cake will crack, but it tastes great! One tester even liked that there was a higher filling-to-cake ratio since the cake was flatter. And the leftovers stayed more moist, which everyone liked.

Substituting the Eggs

The egg-free version that I tested involved the following:

• Omit the eggs
• Add 1/4 cup aquafaba and 3 tablespoons oil
• Increase the baking powder to 3/4 teaspoon
• Increase the pumpkin puree to 3/4 cup

To lighten it up a little, next time I would replace the eggs with 1/2 cup aquafaba and 1 tablespoon of oil. And I would increase the baking powder to 1 teaspoon. I wouldn’t increase the pumpkin – this did make it very moist. For more options, see Alisa’s Egg Substitute Guide.

Special Diet Notes: Dairy-Free Pumpkin Roll

By ingredients this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, nut-free, peanut-free, optionally soy-free, and vegetarian.

For an egg-free pumpkin roll, see my Vegan Pumpkin Roll notes above.

For a gluten-free and dairy-free pumpkin roll, you can substitute your favorite all-purpose gluten-free flour blend for the flour, but I would use the eggs. The cake roll might be a little more fragile.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Dairy-Free Pumpkin Roll

 

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Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

This recipe is adapted ever so slightly from the Libby's Pumpkin Roll recipe. The cake itself is naturally dairy-free, but the filling requires some swaps.

Author: Sarah Hatfield

Serves: 14 servings

Ingredients

• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs (see post above for Vegan option)
• 1 cup sugar
• ⅔ cup pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup + 1 cup powdered sugar, divided, plus additional for serving
• 1 (8-ounce) tub dairy-free cream cheese alternative, at room temperature (I used Aldi Earth Grown Vegan Cream Cheese)
• 6 tablespoons dairy-free buttery spread or sticks, softened (I used Earth Balance sticks)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 375ºF and grease a 15x10-inch jelly roll pan. Line the pan with parchment paper, and grease and flour the paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
3. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar with a hand mixer until thick. Add the pumpkin and mix to combine. Stir in the flour mixture.
4. Spread the batter evenly into your prepared pan.
5. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until the top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking the cake at 11 minutes.)
6. While the cake is baking, spread a clean, thin, cotton towel on the counter. (I used an Ikea Tekla dishtowel.) Sprinkle the ¼ cup powdered sugar evenly over the towel.
7. When the cake is finished baking, immediately loosen and turn the cake onto the prepared towel. Carefully peel off the paper.
8. Roll up the cake and the towel together, starting with narrow end of the cake.
9. Cool the cake, still in the towel, on a wire rack.
10. While the cake cools, prepare the filling.
11. Put the dairy-free cream cheese alternative, buttery spread, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Sift in the remaining 1 cup powdered sugar. Beat the mixture with a hand mixer until smooth.
12. When the cake is cool, carefully unroll it.
13. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the entire cake.
14. Reroll the cake, not in the towel.
15. Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least one hour.
16. Carefully remove the plastic wrap and place the cake on a serving plate.
17. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

3.5.3229

Key Pantry Supplies: Dairy-Free Pumpkin Roll

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