Pumpkin cheesecake has become a fall and winter dessert classic for good reason. The lively, familiar spices of classic pumpkin pie are balanced by the cool and creamy goodness of a New York-style cheesecake.
The combination makes each bite memorably delicious and worthy of any celebration. This recipe was designed to work for the novice baker and the seasoned cook.
There are a few built-in techniques that make this cheesecake successful, and a few ingredients that ensure a great result every time.
Five Keys for Pumpkin Cheesecake Success
Use sour cream for flavor and texture: This cheesecake is designed to have a fluffy, but not airy, texture. For texture, sour cream does the job better when it comes to cheesecake, and for taste, it is a necessity to balance the sweetness of the batter. If you love using heavy cream, keep the proportion the same and add two to three more tablespoons of cornstarch.
Mix the cream cheese and sugar until smooth and fluffy: The cream cheese, sugar, and cornstarch mixture needs to be mixed until it is very, very smooth, pale, and fluffy. Make sure to scrape the bottom and side of the bowl and watch out for cream cheese that seems to stick toward the top of the bowl. This ensures the final cheesecake is silky, fluffy, and creamy.
Bake the cheesecake in a water bath for consistent, creamy results: A water bath, or bain marie, is a classic French baking technique, and it is used for baked custards of all sorts to ensure that the heat of baking is gentle and consistent (read: eggs do not curdle, and custards set beautifully). Cheesecake at its core is a type of custard, and using a water bath ensures the best and most consistent result.
Cool the cheesecake slowly in the oven: If you have never made a cheesecake, this is a peculiar direction, but it is very important. Turn off the oven but leave the cheesecake in to cool down slowly for one hour. Some bakers believe that you can prevent the top of cheesecakes from cracking if you slow down the cooling process. It allows for the filling to slowly finish cooking, so it remains delicate in texture and does not sink in at all.
Make it ahead:
To ripen a cheesecake means to make it a day or so in advance. This step is a part of the cooking process that cannot be skipped. Some argue that it allows the flavors to meld together better, some believe the long chill lets the cake firm up long enough to cut with ease, and some do it out of tradition. With a pumpkin cheesecake, which is extra-moist, one day is plenty. Three days is a bit too much and will lead to a soggy bottom. This make-ahead requirement also just happens to makes serving cheesecake at events that require a ton of cooking an easy and always-welcome treat.
To quicken the process and cut down the ingredient list, swap in pumpkin pie spice for the individual spices. If you prefer the original recipe, use 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg in place of the pumpkin pie spice.