Cracked / broken pumpkin roll.


 
Arun L.

Arun L.

TVWBB All-Star
I've always had trouble making this. It almost always breaks, when I try to roll the pumpkin cake together.

The last time I made this, which was in 2017, was the only time I was able to roll it with minimal breaking.

However, today, yet again, it falls apart. Today, the problem seemed to be after I finished cooking it, was removing it from the wax paper.

It started breaking it as I was removing it from the wax paper.

How do I avoid this? I have tried letting it cool for 20 - 30 minutes after I remove it from the oven, before I remove it. That seems to help some.

But today, was a mess.

Can someone provide steps, or is there a video, on what to do, from the time I remove it from the oven?

Is it possible that today's was undercooked, and I needed to cook it longer?

Here's the 2017 attempt, my only time I've gotten a roll shape:

https://imgur.com/garThxn

Here is today's:

P1041108.JPG
 
Arun, try this.


I know when I worked in a bakery years ago we flipped it over on a cotton cloth when it was hot and peeled the wax paper off. Make sure you peel the paper sideways and not straight up or it could pull pieces of the cake up. We did not roll it to cool like in this video but give it a try. The recipe needs to be for a rolled type cake so it will stretch enough when rolled. I have had people try to use just any cake recipe, make it thin and think it will roll. It usually does not work. Good luck next time.
 
Thanks, I will watch this.

The recipe I use is supposed to be for a rolled cake. I've been using it for 11 years. I've just always had trouble with the roll, except for one time in 2017.

www.allrecipes.com

Pumpkin Roll III

Pumpkin puree is baked into a spiced cake which is filled with cream cheese frosting in this dessert made completely from scratch.
www.allrecipes.com www.allrecipes.com

Ok, you suggest to take the wax paper off when it's hot. I'll make sure I do that. The advice I was given before was to wait until it was cool, and that seemed to work for a while (a few tries). But it didn't work at all this time, so I want to try something different next time.

One more question, do you think if it was undercooked, that could have contributed to my problems? I did do it on the high end of the time range, 18 minutes.
 
Also, should I put the frosting on right when I take it out from the oven?

Or should I take it out from the oven, roll it, wait for some time to cool, then unroll it, put the frosting on, and roll it back up?
 
I would not put the frosting on until it cooled because if it has oil or milk in it the heat could cause it to separate. Like in the video. When we made jelly roll we could put the jam on when it was hot and it was fine.
 
Remove from oven and imeaditaly flip on to a four sack type towel. Carefully remove the parchment paper and roll up the cake with the towel and allow to cool. Once cool carefully unroll and frost/ fill. Less is more with the fillin as too much will make a gooey mess and may cause the cake to crack again.

This shows a step by step:
www.tasteofhome.com

How to Roll a Cake (Without It Breaking)

We love pretty spiraled cake rolls, but they can seem pretty daunting to make. Find out how to roll a cake without breaking it so you can serve up a picture-perfect dessert.
www.tasteofhome.com www.tasteofhome.com
 
Is parchment paper preferred, or wax paper?

Because the recipe I had been using said to use wax paper.
 
Richard in NS said:
Arun, try this.


I know when I worked in a bakery years ago we flipped it over on a cotton cloth when it was hot and peeled the wax paper off. Make sure you peel the paper sideways and not straight up or it could pull pieces of the cake up. We did not roll it to cool like in this video but give it a try. The recipe needs to be for a rolled type cake so it will stretch enough when rolled. I have had people try to use just any cake recipe, make it thin and think it will roll. It usually does not work. Good luck next time.
Click to expand...
Ok, I watched the video now.

A few things I learned:

* When removing the cake from the oven pan, and placing it on the towel, I should be able to remove it from the pan, without the cake breaking.
* Put a new wax paper on the towel, and also dust it with powdered sugar.

I'll do these tips soon.
 
Richard in NS said:
I look forward to your first try. Good Luck! 🤞🏻
Click to expand...
Here's the latest attempt:

I was able to remove it from the oven, put it on new dusted wax paper, and roll it with the towel.

I was able to unroll it without cracking.

After applying frosting, it cracked in the middle as I was rolling it.

I then cut it into pieces.

https://imgur.com/BP6pqPN

Here's the last pic, which shows the crack in the middle of the front pieces. You can follow the crack, from one of the middle pieces, as the crack goes towards the left, on the front few pieces.

Here's the whole album:

https://imgur.com/a/MUv7V1F
 
Arun L. said:
Here's the latest attempt:

I was able to remove it from the oven, put it on new dusted wax paper, and roll it with the towel.

I was able to unroll it without cracking.

After applying frosting, it cracked in the middle as I was rolling it.

I then cut it into pieces.

https://imgur.com/BP6pqPN

Here's the last pic, which shows the crack in the middle of the front pieces. You can follow the crack, from one of the middle pieces, as the crack goes towards the left, on the front few pieces.

Here's the whole album:

https://imgur.com/a/MUv7V1F
Click to expand...
Arun, I feel for you man! I have no more ideas. Hopefully someone else does. 🙁
 
Thanks. I think I learned some things from your video, and have at least held off on the cracking until after applying the frosting.
 
From what I see you are using either a smaller amount of batter than you should or a far bigger jelly roll pan.
Your problem here is partly that you have a uneven thickness of cake, which means that the cake itself is most likely dry in spots which will make it crack. In the video, the cake is an even thickness in your pictures it’s clearly not. What size pan are you using? It looks to me like your pan is a “half sheet” size, try a “quarter sheet” and see if that helps.
 
Good suggestion.

I was using an 18" cookie sheet pan.

Next time, I will try one of my 9.5 - 11" pans.

Yes, because I was using a larger pan, I was spreading it out more.

A smaller pan will prevent that, and make it thicker.
 
15" x 18" pan.

I think you are probably right though that the batter is spreading too thin, so I like your suggestion to use a smaller pan.
 
Last edited:
Maybe you should use the right pan and make the batter fill the whole bottom smoothly not as your picture seems to show. If the recipe says 15x18 I’d follow the directions. Directions are there for a reason, I’d imagine that the recipe says “...spread smoothly in the pan...” so, there is mistake #1.
 
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