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
Jackie says
Hi Carolyn!
If I wanted to swap the coffee with a flavored sugar free syrup, would you suggest using the same amount as the coffee or less? Maybe start small and taste test?
Katrina says
I just made your Gingerbread Roll and I was wondering if you have an update to this pumpkin roll recipe that uses gelatin to make it easier to roll? Also this pumpkin roll recipe doesn’t use cream of tartar or salt when whipping egg whites.
Carolyn says
I don’t but maybe I will revisit it in the fall!
Linda says
I made this last night. It tastes wonderful and I LOVE the coffee flavoring. I now have a learning curve for my next one. Thank you for pumpkin rolls!!
Carolyn says
Hooray!
Morgan Gray says
This is delicious! I’m actually making another one to take to a get together tonight! Thanks for sharing it!
Jeanne Wagner says
I am making this now, so I should have asked this question days ago. I will probably figure this out after I make it but I’m going to ask anyway. Your recipe says to use an 11” x 17“ pan. Are you supposed to spread the cake mixture out to the edges? With the amount of product that will be created it seems that will be extremely thin thickness when spread that far. First time ever making a roll of any sort.
Carolyn says
You want it to be thin as it will rise. This measurements are correct for that pan size.
Evy Delano says
LOVE this recipe! Hard to roll, but that doesn’t matter-taste is superb and the cake is great!
Vanessa says
I have a question about this pumpkin cake roll. It calls for instant coffee but we are not coffee drinkers so I don’t want to go out and buy it just for this receipe. Is there a good substitute or can I just leave it out? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Carolyn says
Just leave it out.
David Pearson says
Your recipe calls for “3/4 cup Swerve Sweetener, divided”. What do you mean by ‘Divided’? Is that the same as “Sifted”? I’ve done that with Flour, but not with granulated sweetener, at least net yet.
David
Carolyn says
Hi David. No, “divided” means you use some of it in one part of the recipe and some in another. Read the instructions and you will see how the amount of Swerve is divided up.
Jill Bywaters says
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