Pumpkin Spice Cake Roll Cake with Brown Butter Bourbon Frosting and Salted Caramel Pecans is the perfect dessert pairing for any Fall holiday celebration.
Well, I may not have had a successful inlay roll cake but I do have a successful, delicious, beautiful roll cake. If you’ve been following along with my baking bucket list and roll cake issues, you know that I had a small misstep earlier this week and debating on whether or not I’d pursue another roll cake.
I chose to make another roll cake, without the inlay, simply because I had leftover frosting for the filling. Making a roll cake itself (without the inlay) is actually quite easy and the hands-on time is minimal, making it quick to whip up.
Plus, the flavor combination for this Pumpkin Spice Roll Cake with Brown Butter Bourbon Frosting was just too good not to remake, photograph and post about.
I love love love this flavor combination.
Although there’s pumpkin involved, it’s minimal and really just adds moisture to the cake. The spice flavor is heavy on the cinnamon and light on the pie spice. All together with the frosting and salted caramel pecans, the cake is a wonderful combination of fall flavors that leaves me doing a happy dance after every bite!
While the pumpkin is subtle, the brown butter bourbon frosting, however, has a real kick to it! Often times when it comes to bourbon frosting, the taste is so subtle that I’m found wondering if there was even bourbon in the recipe. But not with mine! It has a heavy splash of bourbon which is balanced with the brown butter and cream cheese I’ve added to the frosting.
Finally, for some crunch, I whipped up some quick salted caramel pecans, cheating a tad by using salted caramel syrup. You only require 3 tablespoons, so making the caramel from scratch is a huge lift for such a small amount. However, if you have a favorite salted caramel recipe you make and the time to do it, go for it!
Let’s just bake!
Rather than spare you the fluff of additional cake details and how-to guides, today, I’m just going to dive straight into the recipe for my Pumpkin Spice Cake with Brown Butter Bourbon Frosting and Salted Caramel Pecans. My only advice, read the recipe all the way through before starting and time cake steps 7 and 8 appropriately.
Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 3 eggs, whisked
- ⅔ cup pure pumpkin puree
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup granular sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup confectioner's sugar for rolling plus more for serving
- 1½ -2 cups Brown Butter Bourbon Frosting, recipe follows
- Salted Caramel Pecans, recipe follows
- Preheat the over to 350F.
- Prepare an 11x15 inch jellyroll pan by greasing it lightly, lining it with parchment paper, and then greasing the parchment paper itself (we really don't want the cake to stick!). Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spice).
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree, sugars, and vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet into the dry and mix until well combined.
- Evenly pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 15-17 minutes.
- While the cake is baking, prepare your space to dry-roll the cake by laying a clean kitchen towel on your counter. Sprinkle it thoroughly with confectioner's sugar, rubbing it into the towel. Flip the towel over and repeat this process on the opposite side.
- When the cake is done, remove it from the oven, run a knife around the edges of the pan and immediately (while it's still piping hot!) flip it onto your prepared kitchen towel.
- Starting at the short end, roll the cake tightly around itself (and the kitchen towel) into a log.
- Place the kitchen towel & cake onto the jellyroll pan and place it in the fridge for 2-hours to chill.
- Once chilled, gently unroll the cake, spread the Brown Butter Bourbon frosting onto the cake, leaving about a 1-inch bare around the edges. Sprinkle salted caramel pecans on top of the filling, gently pressing them into the frosting.
- Now complete your final roll by again, starting at the short end and rolling the cake around itself (this time without the kitchen towel).
- Gently move the cake onto your serving dish and chill the cake for another 30-minute prior to serving.
- To serve, dust the cake with confectioner's sugar, slice and serve.
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, separated
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3 ounces bourbon of choice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 5 cup confectioner's sugar
- 2 tablespoon meringue powder, optional
- 2 tablespoon heavy cream
- Place ¼ cup of butter in a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until the butter begins to brown (about 10-15 minutes). Allow the butter to cool completely then using a fine sieve, strain the brown bits out of the brown butter. Discard the brown bits and save the strained butter for the frosting.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and remaining ½ cup butter for 5-6 minutes until fully creamed and no bits of butter or cream cheese are left.
- Pour in the cooled brown butter and vanilla extract and beat again.
- Add in 3 cups of confectioner's sugar and 1 tablespoon of heavy cream.
- Beat until fully combined.
- Add in the remaining 2 cups of confectioner's sugar until a medium-thick frosting is created. If you need to loosen the frosting some, add in the additional 1 tablespoon of heavy cream. The frosting should be creamy enough to evenly spread onto the cake without pulling up the cake but stiff enough to not 'ooze' out of the cake
- ¾ cup chopped pecans
- 3-4 tablespoons salted caramel sauce of choice
- ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a small bowl, stir together the salted caramel sauce and pecans.
- Spread the nut mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, sprinkle with the coarse sea salt and bake for 10 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
- Remove from oven and allow the nuts to cool completely before using.
