Gluten-Free Pumpkin Roll
This gluten-free pumpkin roll is an easy-to-make must-have addition to your Thanksgiving dinner! Your family won’t even know you used a gluten-free recipe!
What’s awesome about a pumpkin roll is that it looks like you put your heart and soul into it, but it’s actually a very quick sheet cake rolled up with cream cheese icing.
The soft, moist cake has the most delicious, aromatic flavors of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, wrapped around the previously mentioned rich, sweet cream cheese icing, and honestly, it’s to die for.
I think this should be on every Thanksgiving table!
What’s funny is that I was once adamantly opposed to the pumpkin roll though.
We had recently moved to a new area, and made friends with neighbors. Neither of us were able to have Thanksgiving with our extended family that year, so we had it together.
Unfortunately, the neighbor in charge of making pumpkin pie ran out of time, and made a pumpkin roll instead.
I was incensed at not having our traditional pies that year (hey look, I was a child – it was a long time ago). and didn’t appreciate the switch at all.
It’s funny how that one incident left a lasting impression on me. Now, three or more decades later, I look forward to making a gluten-free pumpkin roll filled with creamy filling every fall. I’m not going to say it’s better than a good pie with lots of whipped cream, but it as you can see, tradition means a lot to me, so I would never diss a pumpkin pie.
Ingredients for gluten free pumpkin roll
- Gluten free flour blend. While you can use all purpose flour for this recipe, it’s actually specifically formulated to accommodate the needs of a gluten-free diet. I have used my own homemade gluten-free flour mix, and have had good success with King Arthur Gluten-Free baking mix as well. I know some others have used Pillsbury gluten-free flour successfully as well.
- Xanthan or Guar gum. If your flour blend already incorporates this, skip it. But you do need a binder of some kind, We can’t fully replace gluten in baking, but xanthan gum does let us get enough cohesion to roll our cake.
- Baking powder, baking soda, and salt. These are important for creating a fluffy, soft cake.
- Cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and vanilla. For that delicious pumpkin spice flavor we all adore. You can also substitute pumpkin pie spice for the combined amount of the individual spices.
- Granulated sugar. Sugar not only sweetens, but also acts as a liquid in baking. This is important for creating a soft cake that doesn’t dry out.
- Eggs. These add protein which helps lend structure to the cake, and help create a more cohesive crumb.
- Pumpkin Puree. Apart from being essential for this to be a pumpkin roll, pumpkin adds moisture to your pumpkin roll, keeping it moist as it rests.
- Cream cheese. For the base of the icing. While you could use a traditional buttercream, the cream cheese compliments the pumpkin spice phenomenally.
- Butter. To make your icing rich and creamy
- Powdered sugar. Another essential ingredient in your icing to both sweeten, and create a spreadable, stable texture.
How to make a gluten-free pumpkin roll
- Line a 15×11 inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper, and grease the parchment paper. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375º
- Combine flour, xanthan gum (if you flour mix doesn’t already include it), baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg in a large bowl.
- In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, large eggs, pumpkin, and pure vanilla extract well.
- Add egg mixture to dry ingredients, and combine until just mixed.
- Pour batter into prepared jelly roll pan, and spread evenly.
- Bake in center of oven for 15 minutes.
- When cake is finished baking, turn onto a tea towel, and roll up from the short edge.
- Let cool completely.
- When cake is cool, combine all icing ingredients and beat until smooth.
- Gently unroll cake, and spread with frosting
- Re-roll and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
- It is common for your cake to crack a bit at the more tightly rolled end. Just use both hands to roll, and eep it together as best as you can.
- To store, wrap in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator. Unwrap, and sprinkle with fresh powdered sugar (if desired) before serving.
More Pumpkin Recipes:
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Roll
If you love pumpkin roll this time of year, this gluten-free recipe is a great option!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup gluten-free flour mix
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 cup pure packed pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Icing Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar, for sprinkling
- 1 (8 ounces) package cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2–3 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°
- Grease a 15 x 11 inch jelly roll pan. Line it with parchment paper, then grease again. Sprinkle some extra flour on the greased paper, and tap it around to evenly distribute it. Set the pan aside.
- Mix first seven ingredients together in a large bowl
- In a smaller bowl, whisk eggs, and stir in pumpkin and sugar
- Pour egg mixture over dry ingredients, and mix until well blended.
- Pour into the prepared jelly roll pan
- Tap pan on your counter until batter is evenly distributed.
- Place pan in the center of preheated oven
- Bake 15 minutes
- While the cake is baking, sprinkle 1/4 cup of powdered sugar on a tea towel
- After the cake is finished baking, turn it immediately onto the sugared tea towel.
- Roll up the cake in the towel, starting at the narrow end
- Let cool
- While the cake is cooling, beat the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar together until smooth.
- Unroll cooled cake and spread cream cheese icing over it.
- Re-roll and wrap tightly in plastic wrap
- Refrigerate at least one hour
- Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar, slice thickly, and serve
I love roll cakes but have never brave enough to try baking a gluten free one myself. Pinning your recipe so I can try it 🙂
I have always wanted to make a roll cake! So cool!
This looks delicious! I could use some of this right now. 🙂
I have never made a roll cake..but am pumpkin one sounds like a good place to start! And they look so pretty!!
I LOVE pumpkin roll cakes! I tried making one last month. It was an epic fail. The cake layer was way too thin so there was way more frosting than cake. I’ll have to try your recipe!
I adore pumpkin rolls. Thanks for making them gluten free! 🙂
This gluten-free pumpkin roll sounds delightful! Perfect for Thanksgiving.
This gluten-free pumpkin roll sounds amazing! Perfect for Thanksgiving!
This gluten-free pumpkin roll looks absolutely delicious and perfect for fall gatherings! I love how the recipe makes seasonal flavors accessible to everyone. If anyone enjoys a bit of creative fun while baking or waiting for treats to set, fargeleggingssider has some nice coloring pages to check out. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
This gluten-free pumpkin roll looks absolutely delicious and perfect for fall gatherings! I love how the recipe makes seasonal flavors accessible to everyone.
I appreciate the detailed ingredient list and the tips about which gluten-free flour blends work best. Very thorough recipe!
Thank you for including a gluten-free version—recipes like this are especially useful when the texture and rolling technique matter. It also made me think of vintage baking tools and recipe cards passed through families; clear photos of a maker’s mark, construction, and wear can help identify those pieces and preserve their story. Antique Scanner is a helpful first step for that kind of research.
A gluten-free pumpkin roll that the whole family will actually eat is a holiday win – the cream cheese filling is usually what sells it. Good tip about not overbaking so the roll does not crack. Adding this to our Thanksgiving dessert lineup this year!
This looks perfect for our Thanksgiving table — my sister eats gluten-free and dessert is always the trickiest course to get right for her. I love that it’s just a sheet cake rolled up with the filling, so it looks like you spent hours on it without any fussy decorating. The cream cheese filling with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg sounds like exactly the cozy flavor November calls for. Pinning this to try before the holidays — thanks for sharing!
Gluten-free baking that actually rolls without cracking is a win in my book. The cream cheese filling ratio here looks perfect – not too sweet, which is where most pumpkin rolls go wrong for me. Making this for Thanksgiving this year since my sister-in-law is the gluten-free one in the family and she always ends up with the sad dessert. Pinning for November!
A gluten-free pumpkin roll that actually rolls without cracking is pure holiday magic! Swapping in the 1-to-1 flour blend is such a relief for those of us hosting family with celiac disease — no one should have to skip the pumpkin dessert. Saving this for our Thanksgiving table this year!
A gluten-free pumpkin roll that the family can’t tell apart from the original is exactly what I’ve been looking for for Thanksgiving. Cream cheese filling with pumpkin spice sounds like the perfect combo, and I love that the instructions walk through rolling it without cracking — that’s the part that always scares me. Adding this to my holiday baking list!
Pumpkin roll is my favorite kind of holiday dessert — it looks like you fussed all day, but it’s really just a sheet cake rolled around cream cheese icing. Love that this version is gluten-free; my sister eats GF and it’s nice when she gets a real showpiece dessert at Thanksgiving instead of an afterthought. The cinnamon-clove-nutmeg combo is exactly right for the season. Pinning this for our dinner menu!
This pumpkin roll looks wonderful — and gluten-free makes it even better! I love that it looks like you spent all day on it but is actually simple to pull off, and that cream cheese filling with cinnamon and nutmeg sounds made for Thanksgiving. Rolling cakes always intimidated me, so the step-by-step instructions are really helpful. This is going on my holiday baking list!
A pumpkin roll that looks impressive but is secretly just a sheet cake with cream cheese icing rolled up is my kind of recipe — maximum wow, minimum stress. Love that this is gluten-free without tasting like a compromise; the cinnamon, clove and nutmeg combo covers a lot of ground. Your neighbor-Thanksgiving story is exactly how the best dessert traditions start, by the way. I compared what the local bakeries charge for a gluten-free pumpkin roll this year and the Pricing alone decided me on baking my own — this recipe is the winner. Making it for Friendsgiving and nobody will guess it’s gluten-free!