Let the good times roulade: pumpkin roulade with mascarpone and ginger filling

Ragazzi, just about a week ago, Annalena posted a cookie recipe "for next year," because she was SURE all of you had your Christmas baking done.

Well, it has turned out to be one of her most popular recipes.  Braciole still outpolls everything, by about an 8:1 margin (Annalena has NO idea why this is the case.  Any thoughts?). 

But.. rather than begin digressing,  she thought that, given this situation, and that some of you will be entertaining for New Year's , she would share one of her Christmas desserts with you.  This one comes courtesy of one of her goddesses, Ina Garten. 

Annalena first made this recipe about six years ago, maybe longer.  And it was SO good... she has no idea why she didn't make it again.  Perhaps because there was a very good chance she would eat the whole thing.  Indeed, she loves everything that is in this dish, and as the evidence supplied, so did her and the Guyman's dinner guests.  Annalena's persimmon pudding was barely touched.  Her blueberry cranberry pie was left to serve as leftovers, but the roulade..... 

Oh well... who knows?  But this is a good recipe to have, and there are some really good, important techniques to be learned here, for making "roulade," which is also essentially "jelly roll."  You remember those, don't you?  So bad for you, and so good.  AH.... if she weren't eating Mexican food tonight

OOPS.   Digressing again.  Ok, here we go.  Please pay heed to the directions in this recipe.  They are important.  Your technique will matter, as will organization.

First, let's get the dry ingredients for our cake together.  You need 3/4 cup of flour, and combine it with half a teaspoon each of baking powder and soda, and  full teaspoons of ginger and cinnamon.  Add a touch of nutmeg, and a pinch of salt.  Put that all together.

Now, put to the side a clean dish towel, laid flat on a surface.  And sprinkle a hefty quarter cup of powdered sugar all over it.  We're going to come back to this, and it's ridiculously important.

Back to our cake.  Measure out a scant cup of pumpkin puree , either homemade or canned (it's half of a can.  So you have an excuse to make two of these),  and put it aside.  Measure a cup of granulated sugar, also to the side for now.  And, finally, put 3 extra large, or four large eggs, in a mixing bowl equipped with your paddle.  Put in the sugar.

Start beating the eggs and sugar  at a high speed, and let them go for a good five minutes.  What you are doing here, is essentially making the start of a genoise.  Your egg yolks are going to carry the air that meringue usually does.  And wait till you see how t his fluffs up, thick and yellow and gorgeous.  And while it's working, preheat your oven to 375.

Now, get a full sized cookie sheet (the one you normally use, NOT a jelly roll pan), and grease it.  Put down a sheet of parchment, and grease it too, and flour it.  NORMALLY , Annalena doesn't do this.  Do  it here.  You will be sorry if you don't.

Now, take those beaten eggs off of the mixer, and fold in the flour mixer with a spatula.  Work carefully, because it's not so easy to combine these.  Make sure you do not have unmixed powder in the bowl before you proceed (the eggs are so light that the flour does tend to settle to the bottom).

Pour and spoon this out onto your baking sheet, and spread it out as far as you can.  There isn't a lot of batter here, and you may not get to the corners.  It's fine.  Just get it spread as far as you can.

Put this in the oven, and bake for just twelve minutes.  Check after ten.  If you see the edges browning, stop the baking. 

Now, the part that is most challenging here.    If the cake is sticking to the edges of your sheet, loosen it with a small knife. Protect your hands,  and invert the thing over that dish towel.  Be brave ragazzi.  Tentativeness will not serve you, and it WILL come out (remember all that greasing?).    Remove the paper carefully.  Ok, now something fun.  Take the edges of the dish towel, and use them to roll the cake on itself.  Don't use your hands.  The cake is more than warm: it's HOT.  If you wait too long, this will crack horrifically (and if that happens,  you can use this cake to make trifle.  We will address this below).   You'll get four or five rolls in all.  Move this to a rack, and let it cool  completely.

Now for our filling.  You can use other ones, but Annalena DOES like the original, which calls for a pint of mascarpone (Italian cream cheese, so to speak, or as one writer put it, the tough New Jersey cousin of the Parisian creme fraiche.  Annalena does not accept that, but so what.  ), which you mix with a hefty cup of confectioner's sugar.  Again, the mixer and a CLEAN paddle will help.   When it's all incorporated, stir in a quarter to a third cup of candied ginger. 

Now, when the cake is cool, unroll it  on the baking sheet, or some other flat surface and spread the filling over it.  Get it as even as possible.  Roll it up again.  Here, you may use your fingers. 

It will be beautiful.  Except the edges will be ragged.  Cook's prize here, ragazzi.  Cut those pieces off and enjoy them.  Now refrigerate your cake.    And serve it forth.  A beautiful contrast, in orange brown, and  creamy white.

Now, if for some reason, you didn't get your cake right, cut it into small pieces.  Moisten it with some liquor, like amaretto, or some other spicy/nutty flavor you like, or ginger liqueur if you have it, and layer it in a bowl, alernately with that mascarpone filling.  A nice little trifle if you will.

You will see recipes like this one occasionally.  They have unfortunately fallen out of favor, but they are SO good.  So, look for them.  Key word:  roulade.  Put this one in your toy chest as "sponge cake training wheels," and thank Ina and Annalena for the new dessert.   Make it more than once