Pumpkin Cheesecake Cake
Amycakes Bakes | amycakesbakes.com
Pumpkin cheesecake cake is part cheesecake, part ultra-moist pumpkin cake, all filled and frosted with pumpkin cheesecake mousse an whipped cream!
Ingredients
Cheesecake Ingredients
- 16 ounces (2 8-oz blocks) cream cheese
- 142 grams (½ cup + 3 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon) sugar
- 1 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 60 grams (¼ cup) heavy cream
Pumpkin Cake Dry Ingredients
- 117 grams (¾ cup plus 2 Tablespoons) All-Purpose Flour I use Gold Medal
- ¾ teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 8 grams (1 Tablespoon) Instant Clearjel l A bakery ingredient you can use at home--see Notes section. Please make sure your clearjel is labeled as "Instant"
- ¾ teaspoons ground Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground Nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground Ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground Cloves
- 127 grams (½ cup packed+ 1 packed Tablespoon) Brown Sugar
Pumpin Cake Wet Ingredients
- 1 large Egg(s)
- 127 grams (½ cup) Canned Pumpkin make sure it's 100% pumpkin
- 121 grams (½ cup) Buttermilk
- 62 grams (¼ cup + 1 Tablespoon) Vegetable Oil
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Pumpkin Mousse Base Ingredients
- 128 grams (1 cup + 2 Tablespoons ) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons instant Clearjel See Notes section for details
- 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
- 8 ounces Cream Cheese at room temperature
- 85 grams (¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons ) canned pumpkin puree 100% pumpkin
- 1 Taplespoon vanilla extract
Whipped Cream Ingredients
- 84 grams (¾ cup) Powdered Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Instant Clearjel
- 720 grams (3 cups) Heavy Whipping Cream
- 2 ¼ teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
Decorations
- 1x batch Super Easy Caramel Drizzle optional
Instructions
Prepare for a Cheesecake with water bath
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place an 8" circle of parchment paper inside an 8" cake pan, then cut 1.5-2" tall strips of parchment to curve around the sides of the pan. You will need an additional 2" tall baking pan that is wider than your round pan for a water bath, like a 9x13.
- A few minutes before it's time to bake the cheesecake, bring a few cups of water to a boil (you'll need enough water to fill 1" tall around your cake pan within the larger cake pan).
Make the Cheesecake batter
- Using a stand mixer (preferred) or a handheld mixer, blend the room temperature cream cheese and sugar until it's smooth and creamy with no lumps. Scrape down the sides often to prevent lumps.
- Whisk the egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and heavy cream together until well blended. Slowly pour this mixture into the cream cheese mixture while the mixer is on low. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Blend until the cheesecake filling is smooth.
- Pour the cheesecake mixture into the prepared 8” pan.
- Place the cheesecake pan within the larger baking pan. Pour boiling water into the larger pan until it comes up to 1" along the sides of the springform pan. Carefully place the cheesecake and water bath in the preheated oven.
- Bake for 40 minutes, or until the outside edges of the cheesecake are set and the middle of the cheesecake is only slightly jiggly. Then turn the oven OFF and prop the oven door slightly (open around 4 inches), leaving the cheesecake within the oven. Set a timer for another 20 minutes with the oven door propped. This helps prevent cracks on the cheesecake.
- After the 20 minute timer, remove the cheesecake from the oven and allow to cool completely. Wrap the cake pan and refrigerate overnight or freeze before layering the cake.
Make the Pumpkin Spice Cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place two 8" circles of parchment paper inside two 8" cake pans, then cut 1.5-2" tall strips of parchment to curve inside the sides of the pans.
- Using a sifter or fine mesh strainer, sift the Dry Ingredients minus the brown sugar into a large bowl. Add the brown sugar to the sifted ingredients and whisk until well blended. If you see any brown sugar clumps, break them up and blend them in with your fingers.
- Combine Wet Ingredients in a separate large bowl and whisk until smooth and well-blended.
- Pour Wet Ingredients into Dry Ingredients and whisk until smooth.
- Divide the pumpkin cake batter into the two 8" prepared cake pans (it should be around 308 grams of batter per pan), and spread out the batter until flat and even (I use an offset spatula for this).
- Bake in the middle or top rack (avoid bottom rack) of a preheated 325-degree oven for 14-18 minutes minutes. The pumpkin cake is done when a toothpick or small paring knife comes out clean when quickly stuck in the cake. A couple of moist crumbs on your knife are fine, but they shouldn't look wet.
- Brush the cake lightly with simple syrup.*see notes section. Once the cakes are cool, refrigerate or freeze your pumpkin cakes before layering the pumpkin cheesecake cake.
Make the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Mousse Base
- Whisk the powdered sugar, Instant Clearjel, and Cinnamon together. Instant Clearjel should always be whisked thoroughly with dry ingredients before being added to liquid to avoid clumping.
- With a stand mixer (preferred), handheld mixer, or a whisk, beat the softened Cream Cheese until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar mixture while the mixer is on low, scraping the sides often until there are no lumps. Add the pumpkin puree and the vanilla extract and beat until light and creamy with no lumps. Set it aside while you make the whipped cream.
Make the Stabilized Whipped Cream
- Whisk the Powdered Sugar and Instant Clearjel together.
- In a clean bowl, using a whip attachment and a stand mixer (preferred) or handheld mixer, whip the Heavy Cream and Pure Vanilla until stiff peaks form.
- Turn the mixer on low, and slowly add in the Powdered Sugar/ Instant Clearjel mixture until incorporated. The Instant Clearjel will thicken the whipped cream instantly, which is why we want to make sure the whipped cream is nicely whipped and fluffy before we add in our thickener. Reserve 260 grams of the whipped cream (that's ⅓ of the whipped cream) for the pumpkin mousse, and save the rest to decorate the cheesecake.
Finish the Pumpkin Mousse
- One half at a time, fold the reserved 260 grams whipped cream into the pumpkin mousse using large, round strokes until no white streaks remain.
Layer the Pumpkin Cheesecake Cake.
- The cheesecake components should be cold before assembling, after being refrigerated or frozen overnight.
- Be sure to remove the parchment circle on the the bottom of each cake and cheesecake before layering. Place one pumpkin cake layer pan side down on a cake board or serving plate. Place ½ of the pumpkin mousse on top of the cake and spread evenly (or pipe it in between the layers for a naked look). Add the cheesecake layer on top of the mousse layer, pan side up. Add the remaining pumpkin mousse. Top with the final pumpkin cake layer, pan side up.
- Use the remaining whipped cream to frost the outside of the cheesecake. I do mine in a light, naked-style outer coat. Use the remaining whipped cream to decorate the edges using a 1M star tip and pastry bag. Let the finished cheesecake set up in the fridge at least 2 hours or overnight. (If layering the cake from frozen, allow it to thaw overnight after layering).
- Drizzle the cake with easy caramel drizzle before serving, if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
Simple Syrup Instructions: While the cake cools, make a simple syrup by combining 1 tablespoon water and 1 tablespoon sugar in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until the sugar is dissolved after whisking, about 20-30 seconds. You can also make a larger batch of this (1 part sugar to 1 part water) and keep it in the fridge if you're doing a lot of cake baking.
Instant Clearjel: Read my article Instant Clearjel: a Magical Little-Known Bakery Ingredient to see why I think this ingredient is worth having in your pantry. Instant Clearjel must always be whisked thoroughly with other dry ingredients before being added to wet ingredients to avoid clumping.