Salted Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake

Creamy, just perfectly sweet with notes of warm spices, I am loving every slice of this Salted Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake! The sweet and salty glaze is such a glorious topping!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword coffee cheesecake, Fall Recipes

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 1 10

Chill time 6

Total Time 7 50

Servings

Calories 483kcal

Author sanna

Equipment

8x8 inch baking pan (affiliate link)
hand mixer (affiliate link)
9 x 13 inch pan with lid for storing the baked cheesecake! (Affiliate link)

Ingredients

For the Crust

1½ cup Honey Graham Crumbs
⅓ cup melted butter

For the Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling

3 cups cream cheese, softened 2 blocks
1 cup brown sugar
1½ cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp. whipping cream or heavy cream
1 tbsp. cornstarch
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
pinch of salt
2 large eggs

For the Salted Caramel

½ cup sugar
3 tbsp. butter
½ cup heavy cream
½ tsp salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the Crust

Fully line an 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper (as shown in the photo in the post). Preheat the oven to 350 F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine graham crumbs and melted butter until the crumbs are fully moistened. Pour the mixture to the prepared baking pan.
Using the base of a metal measuring cup or anything suitable, flatten the mixture until they are tightly packed and covering the entire bottom and a little bit of the inner sides of the pan. Bake at 350 ℉ for 12 minutes. Let it cool while you prepare the filling.

Make the Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling

Lower the oven temperature to 325 ℉. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese until it is smooth and fluffy. Beat in the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cornstarch, vanilla, and the pumpkin puree. Beat in the eggs just until combined. The mixture will be thick but flowy.
Set the pan with the graham crust in a larger rimmed baking pan ( a 9x13 is perfect). Pour the filling mixture over the cooled Graham crust.
To make the water bath, pour hot water to the large baking pan until the cheesecake pan is submerged about 1 inch deep. Bake the pumpkin cheesecake at 325℉ for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until the cheesecake is just set. I like to leave no jiggle in the middle for this recipe to make sure you get sturdy cheesecake square slices.
Cool the cheesecake to room temperature, then refrigerate from 6 hours to overnight to fully set.

Make the Salted Caramel and Glaze the Cheesecake

In a medium pot over medium high heat, add the sugar. Allow it to melt, stirring frequently. Once melted and light amber in color (please see notes), add the butter. Do not stand too close to the pan as the butter may bubble and sizzle.
Once the butter melts (this will not take long), pour the heavy cream in a thin, continuous stream while you continue to stir the mixture. The mixture will start to really bubble up. Cook briefly for another 30 seconds or so while stirring, then turn of heat. Stir in the salt. Allow the caramel to cool. It will thicken up as it cools.
Pour the salted caramel glaze over the cheesecake. There will be leftover sauce which you can use for more glaze during serving, or for other purposes like fruit dip etc. Chill the cheesecake for at least 4 hours more.
To serve, slice the cake into bars ( I get nine slices for a perfectly sized square cheesecake). Pour more salted caramel glaze as desired.

Video

Notes

When melting the sugar for the caramel, do not allow the sugar to turn deeper in color. A light, yellowish, gold color is all you want. Too deep of melted sugar color will result in a thick and chewy caramel almost like a chewy candy that is impossible to slice.

The caramel will thicken more as it cools. This will be the perfect consistency for glazing the cake without it being too heavy or thick. It also will sit nicely on top without sliding down.

To store the cake, I used this 9x13 inch pan with a lid! It is perfect when you don't want to ruin a glazed or frosted dessert, or any food that has an important element on top. Keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Nutrition