Pecan Cake Roll -- A Festive Bake for the Holiday Tin

December arrived with proper authority this year — three inches of snow on Saturday the second, enough to cover the ground cleanly and change the quality of the light in the way that only new snow can, everything brighter and quieter at once. I stood on the porch with my coffee before seven in the morning and watched the birches go white. There is a particular shade of gray-blue that the sky has in Vermont at dawn after snow, a color you cannot describe to someone who has not seen it, and I have been trying to describe it in this blog for five years with mixed success.

The Christmas cookie baking began this week on schedule. I start in the first week of December and work through the tin list over three Saturdays. The first Saturday is the shortbreads — Helen's family recipe, a Scottish formula with rice flour for the crumb that she brought into our kitchen in 1978 and that I have not changed by a gram since. They bake low and slow and come out pale and slightly sandy in the best possible way. I make three dozen and send half to Carol in Stowe, package some for Bill in Maine with a note, and keep the rest for the tin that sits on the hall table through Christmas.

The wreath went up on the front door Saturday afternoon, balsam fir from the same stand of trees at the edge of the woodlot I have been cutting for thirty years. The stand regenerates faster than I take from it; I am careful about that. The smell of fresh balsam in the cold is one of the clearest sensory memories I have associated with December — it predates Helen, predates Vermont, goes back to childhood winters in the northeastern part of the state where we lived until I was eight. Some smells are older than everything else you carry.

I spoke with Carol about the holiday schedule. She will come down to the farm for the week between Christmas and New Year's, the same as last year, and we will have our own quiet celebration in addition to whatever Sarah's family can manage. Sarah confirmed they are coming Christmas Eve and staying through the twenty-eighth, which means a full house for five days, which is exactly right. I have started the list of what to bake and stock and prepare, which is itself a form of pleasure — the planning is half the gift.

The tin on the hall table has always had room for more than shortbread, and this year I added a pecan cake roll to the second Saturday’s baking — something that would travel well to Maine in a flat box, hold up through the week between Christmas and New Year’s when Carol comes down, and give Sarah’s family something a little more celebratory to slice into on Christmas Eve. There is something about a rolled cake, the spiral of filling visible when you cut it, that feels genuinely festive without being fussy, which is exactly the register I want in a house that will be full for five days.

Pecan Cake Roll

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes (plus chilling) | Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans, divided
• Powdered sugar, for rolling
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (for filling)

Instructions

1. Preheat and prepare. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 15x10-inch jelly roll pan, line with parchment paper, and grease the parchment. Set aside.
2. Mix dry ingredients. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl.
3. Beat eggs and sugar. In a large bowl, beat eggs on high speed for 3 minutes until thick and pale. Add granulated sugar and beat until combined. Mix in vanilla and milk.
4. Combine and add pecans. Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture until just combined. Stir in 3/4 cup of the chopped pecans. Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan.
5. Bake. Bake 12–15 minutes, until the cake springs back when lightly touched and the edges are just beginning to pull from the pan.
6. Roll while warm. Immediately turn the hot cake out onto a clean kitchen towel dusted generously with powdered sugar. Peel off parchment, then roll the cake up tightly in the towel from the short end. Cool completely on a wire rack, seam-side down, about 1 hour.
7. Make the filling. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla together until smooth and fluffy.
8. Fill and re-roll. Gently unroll the cooled cake. Spread the cream cheese filling evenly over the surface, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup pecans over the filling. Re-roll the cake without the towel and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
9. Chill and serve. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before slicing. Dust with additional powdered sugar before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 340 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 19g | Carbs: 40g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 180mg