Pumpkin Basque Cheesecake
In addition to its deeply caramelized crust, charming ragged edges, and velvety smooth mouthfeel, this Pumpkin Basque Cheesecake is also brimming with fall flavor.
Ingredients
- 16 oz (1 lb) cream cheese, room temperature
- Butter for pan
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 302 grams (1⅓ cup) heavy cream
- 226 grams (1 cup) pumpkin, kabocha, or butternut squash purée
- 4 grams (⅔ tsp) fine salt
- 4 grams (1 tsp) vanilla
- 198 grams (1 cup) sugar
- 3 grams (1 tsp) cinnamon
- 1 gram (½ tsp) ground ginger
- 1 gram (¼ tsp) nutmeg
- 47 grams (¼ cup) all purpose flour
Instructions
- Pull out cream cheese and allow to come to room temperature (about 30 minutes).
- Preheat oven to 400° with a rack in the center. Butter an 8-inch springform pan. Line with two overlapping sheets of parchment paper (this cake is meant to have rough edges, so don't worry too much about smoothing out the sides completely).
- In a medium bowl combine eggs, egg yolks, heavy cream, pumpkin purée, salt, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
- In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and mix until evenly combined. Add softened cream cheese and beat together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Gradually add pumpkin mixture to cream cheese mixture on medium-low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add flour. Mix again just until smooth and evenly combined.
- Pour batter into prepared springform pan. Place springform pan on a sheet pan. Bake on the middle rack of oven until deeply browned on top, about 60-70 minutes. This cheesecake will still be quite wobbly when you remove it from the oven.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes then unmold and transfer to a wire rack (its okay to leave it on the base of the springform pan). Cool completely (at least 1 hour) before removing parchment. Serve cool or at room temperature.