The amazing Emily over at Back to the Cutting Board posted this fabulous looking cheesecake on her blog just before Thanksgiving. I immediately bookmarked it and made it right afterward. Her cheesecake came out much prettier than mine, and my crust was a little difficult to deal with, but overall it was a fabulous addition to our favorite dessert list!
Emily created this recipe based off of her equally tantalizing recipe for Black and White Chocolate Cheesecake Supreme. I’ve also added that yumminess to my bookmarks. It actually looks similar to my Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake, which now that I think about it, I really must make again, it was so good!
Anyway, on with this recipe. It’s a little time consuming, however the results are worth it. The flavor is marvelous, I just wish I knew why my crust ended up so difficult to cut. it was chewy, but hard to get a knife through.
Here’s Emily’s recipe, be sure to visit her blog and subscribe, she offers lots of fabulous goodies! I followed her recipe pretty much to the T, and I cannot find my notes anywhere (why do I do this to myself all the time??) so I’ve just jotted down what I remember. :-p
Swirled Caramel and Pumpkin Cheesecake Supreme
adapted from Back to the Cutting Board
Crust:
2 cups crushed gingersnaps
6 tbsp. of butter
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
Caramel:
Note: You can buy premade caramel sauce if you don’t want to make this from scratch.
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Cheesecake:
5 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sugar
1/8 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin (I used my frozen pureed pumpkin I made this fall)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
The Process
1. Get out your cream cheese, eggs and cream and let sit while making the crust so that they are at or close to room temp by the time you need them. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix gingersnaps, sugar, salt and butter in a bowl until combined and press into the bottom and about an inch or two up the sides of a 10″ springform pan. (this seemed perfect when I put it in)
3. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Take out to cool. Turn off the oven. (the crust seemed a bit too hard when I took it out. The crust had also pulled away from the pan, so I did my best to press it back up against the sides while it was still warm so that the cheesecake filling wouldn’t end up all down the sides)
4. While the crust is baking, make the caramel: Cook sugar, corn syrup, water and a pinch of salt in a heavy bottomed, 3 quart saucepan over medium heat. Stir only until sugar is dissolved, then let the mixture come to a boil.
5. Boil mixture until it turns a deep golden caramel, about 10 minutes. DO NOT STIR. EVER. (mine took longer, just watch the color)
6. Remove from heat and carefully pour the cream and vanilla down the side of the pan. Be careful, the mixture will bubble and steam.
7. Turn burner to low and place pot back on. Stir carefully until the caramel is smooth. Remove from heat and let cool.
8. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, eggs, egg yolks and vanilla; mix until smooth. Add in the sugar, flour and heavy cream and blend until smooth. Do not over-mix as this will create more air bubbles which can contribute to your cake cracking.
9. Pour 1/3 of the batter into a separate bowl. Add 1/2 cup caramel (if it has hardened too much, heat it up until it’s easier to pour). Mix until combined.
10. Add the pumpkin and spices into the remaining 2/3 of the batter.
11. Pour 1/3 of the pumpkin batter into the prepared crust. Drop in spoonfuls of the caramel batter on top. Pour in another 1/3 of the pumpkin batter and repeat the spoonfuls of the caramel batter. Pour in the rest of the pumpkin batter, it should be over 3/4 full, but not completely to the top (you may have some batter left over, it’s great for making mini-cheesecakes in mini muffin tins) <<– (I definitely had some leftover, enough for 4 ramekins). Then drop in spoonfuls of the remaining caramel batter (cover the top, but don’t overfill). Finally, drizzle the caramel (again you may need to heat up a little) over the top and swirl it all around with a knife, but don’t overmix. Had lots of caramel left over too
12. Place in the oven and turn it on to 400 degrees (F). It should NOT be preheated. Bake for 10 minutes and then turn it down to 200 degrees (F). Bake for 3 hours. Turn the oven off, prop open the door slightly and let cool for 1 hour. Finally, place in your refrigerator and chill for a full 24 hours before removing the springform pan’s side and serving. My oven never even reached the 400 mark by the time it was time to turn it down to 200. I think mine would have benefited from a longer time at 400 as it was set, but still pretty loose
Overall, 2 thumbs up fabulous!
Amazing dessert!
I remember when Emily posted that too… and it was gorgeous. Yours looks fabulous as well. I heart cheesecake recipes!
Impresionante. Gracias.
Yay, I'm glad you liked it! Yours looks beautiful. :)
Your crust looks like it's a lot thicker than mine, so maybe that's why it was hard to cut? Or maybe it has something to do with the brand of gingersnaps or crumb size? I don't have a food processor, so I grinded them up in a blender and I think I may have gone a bit overboard, they may have been more of a powder than crumbs.
Such a gorgeous cheesecake! I love the flavours in there =D.
It's absolutely gorgeous! I love the swirl!
This looks delicious! The flavors sound amazing too. Now I need a slice :)
This is supremely gorgeous Amanda. How right & indulgent for the season! WOW…the first picture islike a canvas! Drooooool!!
This looks amazing…I need to make one of these soon as I've been craving cheese cake. YUM!
Wow!!! Not only does it sound delicious.. but it looks gorgeous!
Gosh! Who eats all this?
This looks amazing! I have been relegated to making a layered pumpkin cheesecake for Christmas Eve. i would make this instead but my SIL said if it doesn't have layers don't bother showing up. Ok not really but kinda… she scares me!
Scrumptious!
Enjoy!
I can just taste that cheesecake right now! It looks so good and you maded it look beautiful! Merry Christmas!
You have got to be kidding me. I made some gingersnaps today that I don't think are the greatest and decided they would be great for a crust for a cheesecake and told my husband I have some pumpkin to use up and I could make a gingersnap crust pumpkin cheesecake. Lo and behold, I decided to open some of my emails and lookie here! You rock, Amanda!
Oh and the dough for those cranberry spirals is chillin'.
oh wow this is amazing and your pictures beautiful will check out her blog
Well done! This is beautiful and it sounds yummy too.
Gorgeous cheesecake!
I saw the original post by Emily at the time, and thought it looked wonderful. And now to have your added confirmation is great!
I know I'll get it made one of these days.
Looking forward to it!
Fabulous cake! And I think your photo looks terrific! Copying now for next year!
Looks like one delicious cake!
Thanks everyone! A definite winner ;)
Emily, not sure what happened with the crust, but it was delicious anyway!
WOW…2 great flavors swirled together. This cheesecake is outstanding!!!
This really is a fabulous looking cheesecake! The flavors sound fabulous as well!
Looks fantastic, great job!
Looks yummy, I love pumpkin cheesecake. I make mine with chocolate swirled through.
Looks good Amanda. Glad I checked out the posts I missed this month. I'm off to check out those white chocolate pecan blondies. You know I heart blondies. :)
~ingrid
Thank you everyone! It's definitely a winner recipe :)