(Music)
Gemma's Bigger Bolder Baking Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pecan Praline Sauce
Hi Bold Bakers! We're at the time of year where pumpkin recipes are high on your request
list. And because I always listen to my viewers, this week we are making a baked cheesecake
with a pecan praline sauce. It is so BIG & BOLD that you guys are going to love it! So let's get baking.
We're going to start out by making the base for our cheesecake, which involves cookie
crumbs. So I crumbed graham crackers but you can use digestive biscuits or whatever cookie
you like in baked cheesecakes.
In a bowl, melt your butter and then add in your cookie crumbs.
And then simply stir together.
I think the cookie base is sometimes my favorite part of pies and cheesecake.
I bake my cheesecake in a springform tin and I want to show you a little trick about how
to use them well.
Take the base of your tin and you flip it over so that when you build your cheesecake
on here it will come sliding right off
and there's no ridges to stop it.
And then just simply snap it on that way.
It's perfect!
I've shown you how to do this before in Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cheesecake and if you love
cheesecake, I recommend you check out that video.
Before we put in the cookies, I like to butter the tin.
Now just pour in your cookies and then simply get in there with your hands and push it into
the tin.
Using your hands is also a good way to know if it's level.
This looks perfect. We're going to pop it into the fridge and get started on our pumpkin cheesecake filling.
To make baked cheesecakes, it's really easy. All you need to do is beat all of your ingredients together and that's it.
For our filling in a stand mixer or a hand mixer, we're going to beat our room temperature
cream cheese.
It's important to beat the cream cheese on its own first because you want to make sure
there are no lumps before you add in the rest of the ingredients.
The cream cheese has been beating for around 4 minutes
so it's nice and soft. So now we can go ahead in and add the rest of our ingredients.
Turn the machine back on to medium speed and we're slowly going to add in our eggs.
Add your beaten eggs in slowly bit by bit.
And then follow by your sugar.
Go in with your spatula and scrape around the bowl to make sure there are no lumps of
cream cheese anywhere hiding out.
Now we're going to add in our pumpkin puree
our pumpkin pie spice
and vanilla.
I love using pumpkin pie spice around the holidays but I know in a lot of countries
you actually can't find it, Ireland included. So I'm going to put a recipe in the description
box below of how you can make your own. And if you don't want to make your own, you can
always use cinnamon.
Turn the machine back on to medium speed and let these beat together until you start to
see it thicken.
That's how easy baked cheesecakes are all you have to do is beat all the ingredients together.
So it's been beating for around 3 or 4 minutes,
you can see it's nice and thickened and that's exactly the way you want it. And I'm going
to taste it just to make sure it's delicious. Oh yeah, it's delicious! It tastes just like
pumpkin pie but with cheesecake.
Pour your lovely cheesecake filling into your prepared tin.
Something I like to do with cheesecakes before I bake them
is put tinfoil around the bottom of the pan.
This is just in case anything spills out.
Now I know what you're thinking that this looks like a giant cheesecake and it might
overflow. But don't worry, it will stay the exact same during the entire cooking time.
Bake your cheesecake at 425 degrees for the first 15 minutes then turn it down to 350
degrees for 55-60 minutes.
While my cheesecake is baking, I'm going to make my pecan praline sauce for the top.
In a heavy bottom sauce pan, we're going to add in our butter
brown sugar
cream
and pecans.
And we're going to heat it on a low heat until the sugar and butter dissolves.
And then we're going to turn it up and simmer on low for 5 minutes.
I also like to add a pinch of salt to bring out the rest of the flavors and ingredients.
I really like this sauce because you can put it on ice cream, you can put it on bread pudding.
It's a really good staple to have in your fridge especially around the holidays.
Our sauce has been simmering for 5 minutes. It has thickened. It smells gorgeous. We're
going to turn it off the heat. Set it aside to cool down a little bit and we're going
to wait for our cheesecake to be done.
The recipe and measurements for my videos can always be found in the description box
below, and if you're new to my channel welcome and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE.
Our timer has gone off so let's check on our cheesecake.
Ta da! Big giant pumpkin cheesecake!
And as you can see it's a little bit jiggly and that's what you want. You never want it
to be stiff. You want it to be just like this because when it cools it sets and it's a beautiful
creamy texture inside.
We're going to set this guy aside. It's going to sink a little bit. It's best to put it
in the fridge for a few hours because it makes for much better eating.
Now let's decorate our cake so we can eat our cake.
I made this cake yesterday so it had time to set overnight.
Now generously pour over your pecan praline sauce.
Spread it around so you can get bits of pecans in every bite.
And then pipe whipped cream around the edges.
I think it's a really good idea to serve whipped cream with cheesecake
because sometimes it can be a whole lot of cake so you need something creamy to cut that.
This cheesecake looks gorgeous! Now we're going to put the finishing touch
of some toasted pecans on top.
What I love about this dessert is that it's all the flavors of fall
but in not just a pie or a tart.
so it's BIG & BOLD!
This cheesecake is a really soft cheesecake and it's not very dense so with the praline
and the cream it's just gorgeous.
It's really gorgeous.
I really hope you enjoyed my first pumpkin recipe of the fall. There are loads more to
come. Thanks so much for watching and don't forge to subscribe to my channel. I'll see
you back here again next Thursday for more Bigger Bolder Baking.