• Preheat the oven to 375℉. Lightly grease and flour a 10"x15" jelly roll pan with vegetable shortening and line it with parchment paper that is about an inch or two longer on the two short sides (This is optional but will give you something to grab onto as you lift out the baked cake.)
• Dry Mixture: Combine the flour, salt, spices, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium sized bowl. Whisk until well combined and set aside.
• Wet mixture: combine the eggs, vanilla extract, and granulated sugar in a large bowl. Mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until lightened in color. (If you prefer a whisk, you can use that. We used a hand mixer.)
• Add the canned pumpkin to the wet mixture and mix with hand mixer (or whisk) once again until smooth.
• Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture, mixing with your spatula or large spoon just until combined and smooth.
• Carefully pour the pumpkin batter into your prepared jelly roll pan or baking sheet and use a spatula or back of a spoon to spread it out evenly. Bake for 13-15 minutes. The cake is done when it springs back when lightly touched, or when a toothpick can be inserted and comes out clean (or with just a few crumbs attached.)
• Dust a clean baking towel (that is longer and wider than the cake) liberally with powdered sugar as the cake is baking. This is going to prevent the baked cake from sticking to it.
• When the cake has finished baking lift it out of the pan and flip it onto the sugared towel.
• Peel back the parchment paper. Roll up the cake in the towel tightly. Then place the rolled cake on a wire rack to cool completely. If working in advance, you can wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

• Add the softened butter to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is smooth.
• Cut the softened cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated. If you are using a hand mixer you may need to soften the cream cheese a bit more.
• Add the vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing on low speed until blended.
• Slightly increase the mixing speed until frosting is well combined. If making the frosting in advance, it should be stored in the refrigerator until closer to the time of assembling the cake.
• If the frosting becomes overly soft while you are working with it, pop it in the refrigerator or 10-15 minutes to thicken the consistency.

Assembling the Pumpkin Roll

• Slowly unroll the cooled pumpkin cake on your counter. Spread the top with cream cheese frosting, leaving about a half inch unfrosted on the long sides of the cake as well as the short side that will be on the end as you roll the cake. (The filling will spread a bit as you roll and so this step will eliminate some cleanup.)

  As a general guideline, if making the full amount of cream cheese frosting, you will use about half for filling and the other half for frosting and decorating.
• After spreading the top with frosting, roll the cake back up and transfer to a long platter or your cake base of choice. Then wrap the cake in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour so the frosting can set up.
• Cake rolls are often unfrosted but we wanted to add frosting for decoration and also because it helps to keep them moist and fresh. If not frosting, a dusting of powdered sugar (though a fine mesh strainer) makes for a pretty presentation! You could also pipe on buttercream pumpkins as we did if you'd like.
• After chilling the cake, we frosted it (leaving the ends "naked") with cream cheese frosting. I added a shell border on each end, and piped frosting pumpkins with an 8B piping tip and leaves with a tip 352. The steps are just little chocolate jimmies that we had on hand. (You could also use buttercream piped with a round piping tip.)
• Because of the cream cheese frosting, this cake should be chilled. However, for best flavor and texture, remove the cake roll from the refrigerator a couple of hours before serving. This will allow plenty of time for it to warm and soften.