Easy Gluten-free Sugar-free Pumpkin Roll (vegan and keto option)

This Sugar-free Gluten-free Pumpkin Roll is going to be the hit of your Holiday gatherings–soft pumpkin cake filled with a sweet creamy filling, and dusted with powdered sweetener.

It’s made with a low-carb sweetener and it’s dairy-free, so it should work for almost anyone in your family (or on your guest list), no matter what their dietary needs.

Bonus, I’ve included lots of helpful tips to make this an easier healthy pumpkin roll to make than some on the internet–and to help it not crack.

And since delicious pumpkin roll should be enjoyed by everyone, I’ve included vegan and keto options too.

Equipment Needed

• Jelly Roll Cake Pan (or other larger pan–see recipe notes)
• Parchment Paper
• Plastic Wrap (optional but helpful)
• Aluminum Foil (optional but helpful)
• Offset Spatula (also optional but truly helpful)

Ingredients

For the Cake

• pumpkin puree
• gluten-free flour (or almond flour)
• coconut flour (if making keto option)
• eggs or aquafaba (or other egg substitute)
• baking powder
• pumpkin pie spice
• low-carb sweetener
• xanthan gum (optional)
• vanilla (optional)
• salt

For the Filling

• dairy-free whipped cream
• dairy-free cream cheese
• low-carb sweetener
• powdered sweetener (optional, for garnish)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 375°F.

Add all ingredients to a bowl and beat lightly to combine.

Alternatively, combine wets first and then combine dry ingredients in another bowl–then add dries to wets and beat lightly to combine. (Photo 2)

Pour and spread batter onto a 10”x15” tray lined with greased parchment. Bake until cake springs back to light touch. Cover with aluminum foil and set aside to cool. (Photos 3 & 4)

Beat whipped cream and sweetener lightly. Add cream cheese and mix until well combined. (Photo 5)

After the cake is cooled spread the cream cheese filling evenly on the cake and roll it from the short side tightly – wrapping in plastic wrap, if desired. (Photo 6)

Chill for at least an hour.

Remove from the refrigerator and unwrap. Cut into slices with a sharp knife and dust with powdered sweetener (optional).

Recipe Notes and Tips

Following are tips for making this gluten-free pumpkin roll into a smashing success.

Mixing Order: You can either mix the wet and dry ingredients separately or mix them all together at once. For best results, mix them separately, but if you’re in a pinch you can cut corners there.

Tin Foil Hat Rolling Tip: While many recipes on the web call for rolling the cake right away or at least early on in the cooling process and then unrolling it (or even rolling the cake in a kitchen towel first), or removing the cake from the pan in order to roll it, you can make the whole thing much much MUCH easier by covering the freshly with tin foil until cool. This tip was mentioned in this post and holds the moisture into the cake so it rolls easily and without cracking.

Much better to do all your rolling and filling in the baking pan to prevent breakage.

Pumpkin Puree or Pumpkin Pie Filling? Do NOT (I repeat do NOT) use pumpkin pie filling instead of pumpkin puree for this recipe or any other recipe on this site. Pumpkin pie filling has added sweeteners and spices and the recipe will be too sweet if you use that instead.

Can You Use Other Pan Sizes for This Cake? A jelly roll pan will work best, but you can use another similarly shaped pan for this recipe. Keep in mind the baking time will be different. I’ve tried this in a 9×13 pan a number of times and it’s worked out just fine, but it took a bit longer to bake.

What’s an Offset Spatula and Why Is It Helpful for This Recipe?: An offset spatula is a spatula (yeah I know I just broke the rule of using the term in the definition) with a long narrow flexible blade (that’s typically metal) with a rounded end, and a handle. The long blade makes it easy to smooth cake batter into baking pans and also loosen cakes from the sides of pans after they bake.

For this cake, an offset spatula works great for the smoothing of the batter and the cream cheese filling. You can use another spatula, but the offset one works great.

Special Diet Options

Low-carb / Keto: To make this recipe low-carb / keto, use 1 cup almond flour and 1/8 – 1/4 cup coconut flour, increase the baking powder to 1 1/2 teaspoons and increase optional xanthan gum to 1 tsp and possibly one more egg. I haven’t tried a keto version with aquafaba but I think it would work pretty well.

Bake the keto version of this cake at 350. I haven’t tried the aluminum foil method with a keto cake yet, but what I did do is roll the cake loosely when it wasn’t too hot to roll, then let it cool, and unroll for filling.

Sweetener options: I’ve made this recipe using both an erythritol / monk fruit blend and also xylitol. Allulose would work great as well. If you’re not avoiding sugar / carbs you can use white sugar as well (ack! Just kidding, but….) or use coconut sugar for a midpoint between the sugar-free options and “regular” sugar.

Storage: You can store this Pumpkin Roll for 3-4 days in the refrigerator, tightly covered. It can also be frozen for up to 6 months in a freezer safe container and can either be eaten frozen (yummy!) or defrosted whole in the fridge before serving, or individual slices can be frozen and defrosted before serving.

Vegan: To make this pumpkin roll vegan, simply use an egg substitute. Aquafaba gives the best results. This Egg Replacer works fairly well. I haven’t tried it with other egg alternatives but I think applesauce and banana should work pretty well. However, I think aquafaba is the best choice in addition to the xanthan gum.

Other Healthy Pumpkin Recipes

Try these other delicious healthy pumpkin recipes too—

• Healthy Pumpkin Custard – an easy way to have pumpkin pie taste all year round (special enough for holidays too!)
• White Pumpkin Truffles – delicious sugar-free white chocolate enrobed balls of pumpkin-ey cream cheesy goodness
• Pumpkin Spice Creamer – fill your cuppa with this delicious healthy easy creamer
• Pumpkin Hummus – a great nutritious dip or spread
• Pumpkin Chia Pudding – start your day the pumpkin way with this yummy chia pudding
• Healthy Pumpkin Recipes – for all the true pumpkin lovers who need even more recipes