Light and airy, this low carb pumpkin cake roll is a delicious fall dessert. With only 3g net carbs per serving, it’s a perfect grain-free, keto treat!
There’s a growing consciousness about where our food comes from, and how it’s grown and raised and brought to market, and I find myself thinking more and more about these things all the time. This consciousness took a while to dawn on me, which is strange considering I spent the first seven years of my life on a small farm in Ontario. We raised beef cattle, so I never fell into that trap of thinking that our food, our meat and eggs and produce, sprang fully formed from grocery store shelves. But as a society, we have distanced ourselves for many years from our food production and it can be hard to remember where our food actually comes from. Now there seems to be a profound shift in this thinking, and it is without question a shift for the better. Supporting small scale, humane farming practices benefits not only the farmers, but also the animals and the environment. I now try to be as mindful as possible when I shop for food, be it at the grocery store or the farmer’s market. I check out my labelling a lot more carefully, looking for the brands that support small farmers and healthier, more ethical farming practices such as cage-free and grassfed. I have often purchased Nellie’s Cage-Free Eggs, as well as their organic sister brand, Pete & Gerry’s, because they fit both these bills. You can read more about the Nellie’s story here (there really was a Nellie, and she was a hen!), but they were the first certified humane egg farm in the country. 
As someone who follows a low carb diet and loves to bake, I go through a lot of eggs. And by a lot of eggs, I really mean a LOT of eggs. Low carb, gluten-free baking typically takes more eggs than conventional recipes do, often two or three times as many. I also have a family of five to feed and we often eat eggs for breakfast. Or dinner. Scrambled, fried, or cooked up in a frittata, they make an easy, healthy meal. We probably go through an average of 3 dozen eggs a week. Given our high egg consumption, I like knowing that I am making choices that are healthier, more ethical and that support small farmers. I also love that their eggs are packed in recycled material. “This package used to be a plastic bottle”. 
This low carb, gluten-free pumpkin roll has been on my to-make list for a while and of course, it takes a number of eggs. I modelled the cake part after conventional pumpkin roll recipes, which have you whip the egg whites and fold them into a batter that doesn’t contain a lot of flour (or almond flour, in my case). This makes it lighter and airier, and a lot less cake-y. It also makes it a bit tricky to work with and prone to cracking, especially in the absence of gluten. I also did away with the heavy cream cheese filling and opted for a lightly sweetened whipped cream with a little coffee flavour. But OH MY, it was divine. It was so light and airy that it was rather like biting into a pumpkin-flavoured cloud. Or maybe a pumpkin latte flavoured cloud.
Pumpkin Roll with Coffee Cream
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup almond flour
- 3 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs separated
- ¾ cup Swerve Sweetener divided
- ¾ cup canned pumpkin puree
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling:
- 1 ¼ cups whipping cream
- ⅓ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 ½ teaspoon instant coffee
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- More powdered Swerve Sweetener for dusting
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F and line an 11x17 inch baking sheet with parchment paper. Grease the paper very well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks on high with ¼ cup of the sweetener, until they become pale yellow and thickened. Beat in pumpkin puree and vanilla extract.
- In large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Slowly add remaining sweetener, beating until stiff peaks form.
- Fold egg yolk mixture into egg white mixture, then gently fold in the almond almond flour mixture until well combined. Spread into prepared baking pan and bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until cake just springs back when touched.
- Remove and let cool 10 to 15 minutes, then cover with another sheet of parchment and a large cutting board or another large baking sheet. Flip everything upside down and remove the top baking sheet. Very gently peel off the parchment paper on which the cake was baked.
- Keep the cake covered with parchment and a tea towel to keep in moisture as it cools. Let cool but don't leave too long before filling and rolling (should just be barely warm still, to avoid cracking, but too warm and it will melt the filling).
Filling:
- Whip cream with powdered sweetener, instant coffee and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat.
- Spread cake evenly with filling, leaving a ½ inch border. Gently roll from a short side, using the bottom parchment to lift the cake to avoid cracking as much as possible.
- Cover and freeze until firm. Remove from freezer 15 minutes prior to serving. Dust with powdered sweetener. Return any leftover cake to the freezer.
Notes
Saturated fatty acids: 8.18g
Total fat: 18.08g
Calories from fat: 162
Cholesterol: 115mg
Carbohydrate: 5.17g
Total dietary fiber: 2.10g
Protein: 5.87g
Sodium: 150mg
Leila says
I made this delicious dessert for Christmas dinner with the family. It was a hit! Nobody believed that it was low carb dessert when I told them. Thank you for another great recipe!
Wendy Wong says
Major cracking when rolling. I wish the tablespoon of gelatin was in the recipe itself. I read & reread to follow all tips & tricks but I totally forgot about the gelatin. I also made this with flour the day before and had cracking after over an hour and a half of cooling, which was probably too long. Not nearly as much cracking as keto recipe though.
Silvia says
would using Dandy Blend ok instead of instant coffee?
Carolyn says
I have no idea what that is, sorry.
Zigrid says
My cake took almost 30 minutes to bake, cracked some when rolling but hoping it comes out of the freezer ok.I will try adding the gelatin next time. Like he touchof coffee in the cream. Thank you for this recipe.
Eli says
I’m new to Keto baking. This recipe looked good and boy is it ever. The cake came out beautiful. It cracked but only after it settled once it was rolled. Thank you for sharing.
Carolyn says
So glad you tried it!
Marilyn says
Do you have a substitute for the coffee in the filling?
Carolyn says
You should be able to just skip it!
Kathy Venne says
I have made this twice and it was really yummy both times. It broke when I rolled it, but I just wrapped parchment paper around till serving time and no one noticed! It makes a lot…
Can I freeze slices?
Thanks, Kathy
Cid says
I made this exactly to the letter of the recipe, and it turned out horrible. Although the ingredients were gently folded, the batter turned out super thick and the cake was dense and flavorless – not really pumpkin at all. The best part was the whipping cream.
Carolyn says
Well something went wrong because the batter should not be super thick. I can’t say what went wrong without being in your kitchen but the batter should be spreadable.
Coreen says
I combined this cake recipe with a keto cream cheese filling from another recipe… it was delicious!!!! Mine did break, but I just saw your comment below that says to add some gelatin! Will try that next time! Still so yummy! No guilt in eating this! Thank you!!
Marilyn says
What cream cheese filling did you use. I am looking for something without coffee.
Mercy says
Do we roll this in the towel like a regular cake roll?
Carolyn says
Do the instructions say to do so? Nope! I would be clear if that was part of it. But with keto cakes, you risk cracking them even more if you roll, unroll, and roll again.
Kristil says
I made this today for our Thanksgiving dessert. It is SO good. I’m not sure whether I prefer the cake or the cream. Thankfully, I don’t have to decide!
Sarah says
This is by far the best low carb dessert that I have made!! So delicious!!
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it!
Megan says
My daughter made this recipe a couple days ago, and oh my goodness… It was amazing! The filling was outstanding! We added brewed coffee instead of instant coffee and it was delicious! It cracked slightly when we rolled it, but nothing major. Needless to say, we will be making this recipe again!
Carolyn says
I want to try updating this recipe with a spoonful of gelatin in the dry mixture. In my experience, it can help make things a bit more flexible. I just haven’t had time yet!
Sandy says
Oh my, this is absolutely amazing! I made this for the first time ever and it was a hit. Mine definitely didn’t look like yours …I had a hard time rolling it and it broke. I’m gonna try again. I gotta get it right so I can bring this to gatherings.
Carolyn says
I’ve found a new trick that helps! Try adding 1 tablespoon of gelatin into the dry ingredients before you mix in the wet ingredients. It makes it more flexible.