Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Cheesecake #TheCakeSliceBakers

Ahhh, Fall. 

Like any good, basic millennial woman, I love me some pumpkin spice. 

And caramel. 

And cheesecake.

So of course I chose to make this Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Cheesecake. DUH.

Check out the links at the bottom of this post to see what the other bakers chose!

Cheesecakes are famous for being kind of finicky (the water baths, and all). I was surprised to see that this recipe DOESN'T call for a water bath. You simply fill a skillet with some water, crank the oven temp to 400, and the steam works its magic.

Rebecca Firth emphasizes the importance of room temp ingredients. I left my cream cheese and sour cream out for an hour or so to warm up. 

Unfortunately, while the ingredients were coming to room temp, I forgot that I had 2 whole blocks (16 oz) of cream cheese in the mixing bowl instead of the 14oz it called for. Oh well. It was extra cream cheesy.

Cheesecakes are also famous for cracking... which mine did. But it was probably because of my inattention to cream cheese ounce-age.

Don’t be sad, little cheesecake!

There, that's better!

But a healthy dollop of dulce de leche hid the unsightly crevice. 

The recipe has directions for homemade dulce de leche, which I made for the I Love Argentina Alfajores Cake. But it took an hour of stirring at the stove, and I didn't care for the flavor. 

So canned dulce it was. And (honestly) I don't think you can beat the storebought stuff.

I really enjoyed the cheesecake! It was not too sweet, filled with warming spices, and a great Fall dessert. Next time, I think I'll cut back on the salt-- maybe to 1/2 tsp instead of 1. But it was quite tasty nonetheless.

So give this Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Cheesecake a try! I think you'll like it, even if you aren't a basic millennial woman :)

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

From The Cake Book by Rebecca Firth

To Start:

1-15oz can pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

Crust:

12 whole graham crackers

3 T light brown sugar

5 T unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake Mix: 

14oz room temp cream cheese

1 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp sea salt

4 large eggs, room temp

8oz room temp sour cream

1 T orange juice

2 tsp vanilla

*1 can store-bought dulce de leche 

First:

Drain the pumpkin on several paper towels to absorb water. You may need to change the towels several times to soak up the water.

Crust:

Heat the oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment.

Pulse the graham crackers with the brown sugar in a food processor. Add the melted butter and mix until it resembles wet sand. Press into the bottom of the springform pan, and bake for 10 minutes (or until lightly golden). Let cool completely.

Cheesecake:

Turn the oven up to 400F. Boil four cups of water in a saucepan while you're mixing the batter.

In a stand mixer bowl, use the paddle attachment to mix the cream cheese, sugar, spices, and salt on low. You don't want to add air to the mix. Mix on low for 2 minutes or until it's totally smooth, scraping down the bowl and paddle.

In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs and stream into the cream cheese mix. Mix two minutes (still on low). Add in the pumpkin, sour cream, OJ, and vanilla, and mix two more minutes. Smash any chunks of cream cheese with the back of a spatula. Pour the mix into the prepared crust.

Put a skillet on the bottom rack of the oven, and carefully pour the boiling water into the skillet.

Put the springform pan into the oven (above the skillet) and quickly close the door. Bake for 15 minutes, then drop the temp to 250F. Bake for 45 minutes. The cheesecake should be set around the edges, but a little jiggly in the middle. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake sit in the oven with the door open for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool to room temp. 

Wrap the cooled cheesecake (still in the pan) with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours. Run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake, and remove from pan. Top with dulce de leche

Enjoy :)

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving by Rebecca Firth. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

It is a new year and a new book - The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving - and our choices for October 2024 were ~

Muscovado Gingerbread Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream

• All That's Left Are The Crumbs

Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Cheesecake

• Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Amandie Bakes

Chocolate Stout Cake with Champagne Buttercream

• No one from the group choose this cake to bake