Cream Filled Pumpkin Roll

I washed a lot of dishes to get this pumpkin roll made. It's not that it's a hard recipe really, or even all that time consuming, but I don't have a hand-held mixer, only my stand mixer, and I hate whisking egg whites and cream by hand to stiff peaks -- which means moving the contents of the stand mixer to another bowl, washing it, drying it, and then beating the egg whites/heavy cream to stiff peaks before folding them into the other mixtures. Since you have to get the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold that into the cake batter, and then later whip heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks before folding that into the cream cheese filling -- I had to wash a lot of dishes.

All that work is probably what has prevented me from making this recipe before because I have seen it in my Pastry Queen book dozens of times and every Fall I have thought to myself "I should make that this year" but I never have before. I think part of it is that it looks difficult to make -- but it's really not. The book version has the cake topped with caramel, white chocolate, dark chocolate and whipped cream -- but I simply topped mine with some store bought caramel I had in the fridge. I know it's blasphemous, but I wanted to use that stuff up and I was tired of washing dishes by that point.

If I was going to present this as a dessert at a party I would probably have dressed it up a bit more with the home-made caramel and chocolate drizzle, but it's just going to go to work with Chris tomorrow and get eaten by his coworkers throughout the day so I figured it wasn't worth all that. Besides, it's damn tasty just like it is so why mess with good? (of course to answer my own question: because you can elevate good to great, great to sublime, and sublime to OMG-this-is-the-best-thing-I- have-eaten-and-if-you-don't-back-off-I-will-stab-you-my-fork.) but today "good" was good enough for me. chalk it up to the dishes.


Ingredients:
4 large eggs separated
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground all spice
1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree (canned is fine)
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Filling:
2 (3.5 oz) packages cream cheese at room temp
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 generous tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Caramel Sauce
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unslated butter
3/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons dark rum

Garnish
2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup toasted pecan or walnut halves
2 oz dark chocolate (for garnish)
2 oz white chocolate (for garnish)

To make the cake: preheat oven to 350. Cover the bottom of a 12 x 17 inch rimmed baking pan with parchment paper and lightly coat with cooking spray. Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks in a large bowl on medium-high speed about 2 minutes, until thick and frothy. Add the brown sugar and mix on medium speed for 1 minute longer. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the egg yolk mixture, one third at a time, beating on medium speed between each addition until incorporated. Add the pumpkin and mix on low speed until combined.

Pour the egg whites into a clean, large bowl. Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip them on high speed 1 to 2 minutes, until soft peaks form. Add the granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high speed after each addition until incorporated. Fold the egg whites gently into the batter. Spoon the batter evenly into the pan and smooth carefully: it will not even out as the cake bakes. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the cake is golden brown and springs back when touched lightly. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes.

To make the filling: using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until creamy. Add the mascarpone and beat until incorporated. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, all spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; beat on medium high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Stir in the nuts. In a separate large bowl, whip the cream using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment on high speed about 1 to 2 minutes, until soft peaks form. Fold the whipped cream gently into the cream cheese mixture.

Remove the cake from the pan without peeling off the parchment paper. Top the cake with the filling. Begin peeling the cake away from the parchment paper as you roll it up, starting with the short end closest to you. When the cake is completely rolled up, set it on a rectangular serving plate or wrap it well and refrigerat it for up to 2 days.

To make the caramel sauce: Heat the sugar over medium heat in a heavy duty sauce pan utnil it is completely melted and turns amber in color, about 5 minutes. Decrease the heat to low, add the butter all at once, and stir to combine. (it will bubble up) Add the cream, a couple of tablespoons at a time, stirring to combine between each addition. Adding the cream slowly keeps the caramel from clumping. Continue stirring until the caramel sauce is melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the rum. You'll have about 1 1/2 cups sauce. It can be stored in a covered glass container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. Reheat in the microwave.

To make the topping. Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beta the cream on medium high speed until it is thick with medium soft peaks forming. Beat in the powdered sugar. For a fancy flari, partially fill a pastry bag fitted with a start tip with the whipped cream and pite a fat line down the middle of the roll. Arrange the nuts in a line on top of the whipped cream.

Place the dark and white chocolate in separate bowls and melt in a microwave on medium high power, about 45 seconds. Stir and return to the microwave for 15 seconds more if not fully melted. Using a spoon for each, drizzle the melted dark and white chocolate over the top of the cake in a zigzag patter.

To serve, cut the roll with a searrated knife and serve with the caramel on the side.