By far, the most popular recipe on this site is my Black and White Chocolate Cheesecake Supreme. I actually made it for the first time for Thanksgiving last year and I decided it would be our new Thanksgiving tradition to have cheesecake instead of pie. I’ll take cheesecake over pie any day!
But this year, after discovering my love for all things pumpkin flavored, I decided I wanted to attempt a pumpkin cheesecake. But of course, I didn’t want to use any other recipes because Brandon and I both think that my Cheesecake Supreme recipe is the best cheesecake we’ve ever had (other commenters agree, I’ve had a bunch of people come back after they made it and tell me how much they loved it). I also really like the concept of the black and white chocolate version and wanted to do something like that instead of having just a plain pumpkin cheesecake. In the end, I took my black and white chocolate cheesecake recipe and substituted pumpkin and caramel for the white and dark chocolates, then I topped the whole thing with extra caramel.
It was a gamble, but it totally paid off. In fact, I think this cheesecake is better than the other version. Brandon agreed. If you can believe it, he wasn’t as big a fan of the chocolate version since he’s not a chocoholic like me, but he loved this pumpkin version even though he doesn’t really like anything else with pumpkin in it. He especially loved that this uses gingersnaps instead of graham crackers. (He ate ALL the crust. He NEVER eats all the crust.) I’ve seen other pumpkin cheesecake recipes that use gingersnaps and I thought that was a great idea. After eating it, I think the gingersnaps really enhance the pumpkin and caramel flavors. Plus, it’s given me all sorts of ideas to use gingersnaps in other desserts, too.
I was hoping this would have the same kind of look of the chocolate version, where you can see the globs of dark chocolate throughout, but caramel and pumpkin are pretty much the same color, so it doesn’t have that effect. You can kind of see it if you look at the top of the cheesecake, the caramel batter turned a slightly darker color and you can see the cinnamon mixed in with the lighter pumpkin batter around the edge. But that effect is only on the top, the inside of the cheesecake looks uniform. But that’s ok, it may not be as pretty as the other version but the taste of the pumpkin and caramel together is wonderful. I think this cheesecake is my new new Thanksgiving tradition. Maybe I’ll save the black and white chocolate version of Christmas…
UPDATE: If you like this cheesecake recipe also check out these variations:
- Cherry-topped Cheesecake Supreme
- Peppermint Bark Cheesecake Supreme Cheesecake Supreme
- Oreo Cheesecake Supreme
- Red Velvet Cheesecake Supreme
Swirled Caramel and Pumpkin Cheesecake Supreme
from Back to the Cutting Board
Dessert | Servings: 1 9″ cheesecake pie (10 servings)
Prep time: 45 min | Cook time: 3 hour 15 min | Total time: 5 hours
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups crushed gingersnaps
- 6 tbsp. butter
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/8 tsp. salt
Caramel
- 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, room temperature
- 5 eggs, room temperature
- 2 egg yolks, room temperature
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/8 cup flour
- 1/4 cup heavy cream, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. allspice
Process
- Get out cream cheese, eggs and cream ahead of time and let come to room temperature. If your cream cheese is really cold this can take 6+ hours. When you’re ready to start baking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F).
- 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 9″ or 10″ springform pan.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Take out and cool completely. Turn off the oven.
- 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.
- Boil mixture until it turns a deep golden caramel, about 10 minutes. DO NOT STIR. EVER.
- Remove from heat and carefully pour the cream and vanilla down the side of the pan. Be careful, the mixture will bubble and steam.
- Turn burner to low and place pot back on. Stir carefully until the caramel is smooth. Remove from heat and let cool.
- In a mixer bowl with the whisk attachment, whisk together cream cheese, eggs, egg yolks and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until smooth, about 3-5 minutes. (It’s okay if you still have some very small lumps.)
- Add in the sugar, flour and heavy cream and mix on low speed until fully incorporated, about 1-2 minutes. Do not over-mix as this will create more air bubbles which can contribute to your cake cracking.
- 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.
- Add the pumpkin and spices into the remaining 2/3 of the batter.
- 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). 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. Gently tap the pan against your counter a few times to help get any possible air bubbles out of the batter.
- Place in the oven and turn it on to 400 degrees (F). It should NOT be preheated. Bake for 15 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, cover the top with plastic wrap, place in your refrigerator and chill for a full 24 hours before removing the springform pan’s side and serving.
O M G
I can’t wait to make this! This will be on our Christmas table as Thanksgiving is already full 🙁 This looks so good I want to lick the screen!
.-= Amanda´s last blog ..Cherie’s Snickers Peanut Butter Cookies =-.
Oh WOW! This looks amazing. I love the Cheesecake Supreme recipe, too.
I was wondering if I made this cheesecake tonight for Thanksgiving afternoon, that should fine? It looks so very good I need to make it!!
Yeah, it would be fine for Thanksgiving, you could even wait to make it until tomorrow. It definitely needs to chill for awhile, but I’ve skimped on the full 24 hours before. Anything over 12 hours would probably be fine, though I usually try to wait at least 18.
Hi – I tried to make this cheesecake and it never set up. I did use store bought caramel. It baked beautifully, and it looked like it set up when I took it out of the fridge. But when I cut into to it, it looked like a cheesecake that has been sitting out too long. It was almost like the caramel part did not bake up. Any thoughts. My husband said that it tasted great. Just not cheesecake texture.
Hmm, assuming you cooked it for full 3+ hours, I can only think it must have had something to do with the store bought caramel? Maybe it was too creamy or something? I found this cheesecake to be a bit softer than the plain cheesecake that I based the recipe off of, but it was definitely set up.
I’ve made an all pumpkin cheesecake without the caramel parts and I don’t believe it was as soft, so if may wind up working better to do that and just save the store bought caramel for drizzling on top instead of mixing it into the cheesecake.
looks GREAT! i’m gonna have to try it!
.-= shaz´s last blog ..Kids in separation and divorce =-.
I only have an 8 and a 9 inch springform pan, and I know that this recipe will definitely overflow them. Could you tell me how much I should change the caramel if I drop it down to 3 packages of cream cheese? I desperately want to make it today for Thanksgiving! The recipe and photos look amazing, and I’m excited to try the original cheesecake supreme as well.
I don’t think I’d reduce it too much. I’d probably use 1/3 cup instead of 1/2 cup. Initially, I had used 1/4 cup but didn’t think it tasted caramel-y enough, so I added another 1/4. So you could always start with 1/4 or 1/3 cup and increase it a little at a time until you’re happy with it.
And you might want to go ahead and still make the full amount of caramel anyway. It makes about a cup, and it keeps in the fridge for a few weeks so you could use it on ice cream or if you wanted to drizzle extra caramel on the cheesecake when you serve it. It’s yummy!
This is most definitely cooling in my oven right now!
I just put this in the fridge. Can’t wait to try it tomorrow!
.-= Amanda´s last blog ..Cranberry Orange Spiral Cookies =-.
oh my goodness. this is the best cheesecake i’ve ever made! (thats saying a lot!) every single person whose tried it has said it was the most amazing thing they’ve ever tasted!
This looks absolutely wonderful. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful cheesecakes with us. Happy holidays!
.-= Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets´s last blog ..Apple Cherry Pie =-.
I just want to let you know that I made this cheesecake for thanksgiving and it was fabulous! I do a lot of baking but I have never attempted a cheesecake. My husband(who is in the restaurant business and very difficult to please) said it was the best hed ever had and that hed sell it in his restaurant! It’s more time consuming than other recipes I’ve seen….but sooooo worth it. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
Beautiful cheesecake and awesome pics!
.-= Julie´s last blog ..Emeril’s Cabbage Rolls and Chocolate Pecan Pie =-.
Made this for the past weekend…. DELISH! Creamy and rich and perfect. I was a little worried the caramel would be too hard on the top and 200 degrees didn’t seem hot enough, but I followed directions exactly and it was perfect. Everyone loved it and asked for the recipe 🙂 THANKS for a great recipe!!!
This was the best cheesecake I have ever made! I did the mini’s. The only thing I changed was not pouring all of the caramel over the top. I thought it was getting too full and I didn’t want an overflow. So I drizzled some caramel before baking and then saved the rest, heated it up and drizzled it over the top when serving. Delicious and a big hit for our dinner party!