My Aunt Pinkie was a great cook.  She always had interesting recipes and brought food when she visited.  When she passed away, her four nieces took care with dividing her recipes.  I received her famous pumpkin log recipe.

This recipe isn’t difficult, but the challenge comes in rolling the cake.   The cake can crack as it is rolled, and it is tricky due to its length.  It is also a tad messy as the powder sugar seems to get everywhere!  The results, however, are well worth the effort!

To make Aunt Pinkie’s Pumpkin Log, you will need:

3 eggs
2/3 c pumpkin
1 c sugar
1 tsp soda
¾ c flour
½ tsp cinnamon
1 ½ c chopped pecans
1 ½ c powdered sugar
2 tbsp butter
8 oz cream cheese
¾ tsp vanilla

Mix first 6 ingredients together well.

Pour on greased wax paper on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with ½ c pecans.

Bake 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Turn out on terry cloth towel, dusted with powdered sugar.  Remove the wax paper, then sprinkle with ½ c powdered sugar and let cool.

Mix 2 tbsp butter with 8 oz cream cheese, ¾ tsp vanilla, 1 c powdered sugar, and 1 c chopped nuts.

Spread over cake top like icing.

Roll like jelly roll.

Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap, then in foil.  Chill at least 2 hours.

Slices into at least 25 serving size sections.

Freezes well. Take out the night before you need it, and let it defrost in the refrigerator.

I usually cut each finished log in half and wrap them for storage separately.  I like to wrap each half in wax paper and then wrap each in foil.

We enjoy this for breakfast as much as dessert!  It is also perfect served at a tea or brunch.  It travels well and makes such a nice presentation.  Since it can be prepared in advance and frozen, it is very convenient.  It really is the perfect holiday treat!

A few notes:

1.  I usually use a half cookie sheet for baking, but this time I used a quarter cookie sheet.  It made the cake thicker, which was part of the reason it split.

2.  While the cake is cooling, I usually “train” the cake, by rolling with the towel attached.  This helps to prevent the cake from splitting once cooled, iced and rolled.

3. The beautiful roll in the first photo is a stock photo…not the roll I made for this post.  The cake I made split, so I wasn’t sure it was lead photo worthy!