Paleo Pumpkin Roll (AIP)
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This paleo pumpkin roll cake is the perfect pumpkin dessert! It’s much easier to make than it looks, and it’s also AIP compliant.
What is a Pumpkin Roll?
Pumpkin roll cakes are by far the most beautiful pumpkin dessert out there! They’re made with a thin pumpkin cake made in a jelly roll pan which is then rolled to hold it’s shape while it cools, and then unrolled, topped with white frosting, and rolled back up and sliced.
These cake are gorgeous, and I always wanted to make one! However, I thought it was entirely too complicated to make. Here’s the thing… it’s really not. It’s actually quite easy when it’s done right! I’m going to show you how you can make this beautiful dessert with ease that’s still gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, and AIP-compliant!
The Ingredients You’ll Need
- Coconut flour & tapioca starch. The coconut flour helps to absorb excess moisture from the pumpkin. I have not tried to make this coconut free and cannot recommend a swap that would yield the same results. The tapioca starch helps to make it more malleable. I haven’t tried it with arrowroot starch, but it may work.
- Pumpkin puree. I used canned pumpkin puree.
- Gelatin . This is used as a binder. Collagen will not work as a swap.
- Maple syrup & coconut sugar. These are the sweetener for the cake!
- Coconut cream & palm shortening. These are the main ingredients for the frosting. You can also use a premade frosting as a shortcut, but keep in mind that it will make the cake a lot sweeter.
The Tools for the Pumpkin Roll Cake
- Jelly Roll Pan. This is the jelly roll pan I used to bake the cake.
- Parchment paper. You’ll use parchment to bake the cake as well as to roll it up to hold it’s shape. Some recipe use a towel as well, but it worked just fine for me with parchment alone.
- An angled icing spatula (optional). This icing spatula is optional, but it really helps for spreading the frosting.
How to make a Paleo Pumpkin Roll Cake
- Prep and bake the dough: Combine the ingredients for the dough.
- Bake the dough. Add the dough to the jelly roll pan and spread evenly to cover the whole pan. Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 14-15 minutes.
- Roll the cake: Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes. Place a large sheet of parchment paper on a clean countertop and very carefully flip the cake onto the parchment paper, having the side that faced the burner facing down on the parchment. Begin to carefully and slowly roll up the cake in the parchment paper until you have a tight roll. Place the parchment roll in the fridge to cool.
- Make the frosting & frost! Remove the cake from the fridge and very carefully unroll it. Use a rubber spatula or an angled icing spatula to frost the inside of the cake evenly. Carefully roll it back up. Slice into 6-7 even slices and top with shredded coconut.
Tips & Tricks to a Beautiful Pumpkin Roll
- Don’t skip the pre-rolling step! Seriously, don’t. The cake is easy to roll while it’s still warm, but will easily break if it’s already cooled. This is the number one secret to a pumpkin roll.
- Don’t sweat any little tears in the cake. If you still have a little tear in the cake, don’t worry! You’ll still have a beautiful cake! These cakes are actually quite forgiving and tears can be covered with frosting. or you can easily turn the cake to hide them.
- Use the right-sized pan. To get the perfect shape, you have to use the perfect pan. A jelly roll pan is the magic tool you need!
- Use a shortcut with premade icing. I love the simple mills vanilla frosting (it’s not AIP, but it’s great!) and this is a great shortcut to save time. Keep in mind premade icing will likely be a lot sweeter so use sparingly.
Can you make this cake ahead of time?
Yes, it keeps great in the fridge if you’d like to make it the night before!
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Paleo Pumpkin Roll (AIP)
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
This paleo pumpkin roll cake is the perfect pumpkin dessert! It’s much easier to make than it looks, and it’s also AIP compliant.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1 tbsp gelatin powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
For the frosting & topping
- 1/2 cup palm shortening
- 1/2 cup coconut cream (see notes)
- 2–3 tsp maple syrup
- 1– 2 tbsp shredded coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F and line a 10×15″ jelly roll pan with parchment paper that’s lightly coated with coconut oil.
- Sift together the coconut flour, tapioca starch, gelatin powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and coconut sugar and mix well.
- Fold in the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, and coconut oil and mix well until a firm dough forms.
- Add the dough to the jelly roll pan and spread evenly to cover the whole pan. Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 14-15 minutes. The cake should spring back when touched.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes. Place a large sheet of parchment paper on a clean countertop and very carefully flip the cake onto the parchment paper, having the side that faced the burner facing down on the parchment. Begin to carefully and slowly roll up the cake in the parchment paper until you have a tight roll. Place the parchment roll on a plate and place in the fridge to cool (making sure the cake isn’t too hot to go in the fridge). Allow to cool for an hour.
- Right before the cake is ready to come out of the fridge, make the frosting by creaming together the coconut cream, palm shortening, and maple syrup. Thoroughly break up the coconut cream and stir until a soft and creamy frosting is formed. Sweeten more to taste.
- Remove the cake from the fridge and very carefully unroll it. Use a rubber spatula or an angled icing spatula to frost the inside of the cake evenly. Carefully roll it back up.
- Slice into 6-7 even slices and top with shredded coconut. This cake is best served immediately as the frosting will harden in the fridge. If storing for later, allow to sit at room temperature for a bit to allow the frosting to soften.
Notes
For the coconut cream, you can easily set a can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight and use the coconut cream that hardens on top.
All nutritional information are estimations and will vary. Estimations do not include optional ingredients.
- Prep Time: 70
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 339
- Fat: 23.5g
- Carbohydrates: 21.6g
- Fiber: 3.6g
- Protein: 3.1g
Keywords: pumpkin roll, paleo pumpkin roll cake, aip pumpkin roll
This post was published in 2019 and updated in 2022.
AIP
Low Carb
Paleo
Whole30
Looks delish! Is there an equal substitute for palm shortening?
I haven’t tried a palm shortening free frosting, but I’m sure there are options out there 🙂 I would just search paleo/AIP frosting recipes to find an alternative.
Awwwww this looks amazing!!!! Something to make at Thanksgiving this year!
IMO, this cake is astonishing — for having such a pleasing texture and for not tasting basically like every other damn AIP dessert recipe out there. I’m not totally enamored of the filling –it’s fine, but I don’t love shortening in frostings — and am going to experiment with ghee-based buttercream frosting. (Yay for ghee not making me flare!) Thank you so much for creating and sharing this recipe.
★★★★
Thank you so much, Jeff!!!
Hi! Just curious if you were able to make up your ghee-based frosting. If so, how was it?
Thank you!!
I have not tried this yet, but i have been paleo for years and recently became egg intolerant…This will be the best thing since sliced bread! this will MAKE my holiday! boom, so excited to try it!
Just finished testing out this recipe! I actually used arrowroot starch/flour instead of tapioca because it was the only thing I had on hand. I’m sure that definitely altered the recipe a bit… unfortunately, rolling the pumpkin roll didn’t not go as successfully as I would have liked. It was pretty crumbly. I’m going to try out the recipe again once I get my hands on tapioca starch.
★★★★
Let us know how it goes!
This recipe looks amazing!!
I am intolerant to maple syrup. Any chance I can substitute it for honey or coconut sugar?
I made this and it really was pretty easy. The icing was a bit challenging for me to whip with a whisk but eventually it worked. I’m a little unsure the texture of the cake part was right (little chewy and not “cakey” like I expected. Does that sound right? Also, my icing was more yellow in texture than yours appears in the photo. What palm shorting do you use?
★★★★★
It’s not super cakey since its pretty thin and egg free. I use spectrum shortening!