Pumpkin cheesecake with salted caramel, a decadent recipe perfect for autumn. The PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE WITH SALTED CARAMEL is a reinterpretation of my traditional pumpkin cheesecake, a seasonal dessert inspired by the classic New York Cheesecake but with a distinctly Italian character as a baked cheesecake made with ricotta and cream. A dessert to melt into with every single creamy, enveloping bite. A golden, tasty base of buttery scented cookies and a soft, creamy filling of ricotta and pumpkin, wrapped by a salted caramel topping, give us a triumph of flavors and moments of pure indulgence! Perfect as a breakfast, snack, or after-dinner dessert, the pumpkin cheesecake with salted caramel is the ideal autumn dessert and warms the heart from the very first simple, comforting bite. Are you ready to make it with me? Let’s go to the kitchen and prepare it together, but first I remind you that if you want to stay updated on my recipes, you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here) and that here you will also find a collection dedicated to easy cheesecake recipes.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Rest time: 4 Hours
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 12
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Autumn, Winter
Ingredients to make the pumpkin cheesecake with caramel
- 2 1/2 cups cookies
- 7 tbsp butter
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 1/2 cups Delica pumpkin (cooked and already cleaned)
- 1 1/2 cups ricotta (dry and well drained)
- 1 egg (medium or large)
- 3/4 cup heavy cream (liquid)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- to taste ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- to taste lemon zest
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 9 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup heavy cream (liquid)
- as needed peanuts (for finishing)
Tools
- Springform pan springform pan 8 2/3 in (22 cm)
- Oven
- Parchment paper
- Saucepan
- Microwave oven
- Whisk
- Blender
Preparation
To make the pumpkin cheesecake with salted caramel, use a pumpkin with firm, dry flesh such as Delica pumpkin; you will obtain a dessert that is nicely structured and creamy.
Rinse the pumpkin, starting from about 800 g, remove the seeds, cut it into medium pieces and place it in a bowl. Cover with microwave-safe plastic wrap and cook in the microwave for 20 minutes at 750 W, or steam for 20 minutes. Alternatively, wrap in parchment and then in foil and bake at 392°F for 35-40 minutes or until very soft. Meanwhile, blend the cookies with the butter and a pinch of salt until you obtain a mixture similar to wet sand.
Cover a springform pan (8 2/3 in) with parchment paper and pour in the cookie mixture, then shape and press it with the back of a spoon and your hands to also cover the sides of the pan up to about 3 cm (about 1 1/4 in) high.
Take the cooked pumpkin, remove the skin, measure out 350 g of flesh into a bowl and mash well with a fork, then add the ricotta and mix.
Add the cream, the egg, the sugar and blend,
then add the cinnamon, the lemon zest, the vanilla extract or vanilla sugar and the cornstarch.
Pour the mixture over the cookie base, level it and bake in a conventional oven at 356°F for 1 hour. Before removing from the oven, do the skewer test and check that no raw mixture comes out from the hole. Then remove from the oven and let cool at least two hours at room temperature and two hours in the refrigerator before unmolding.
For the salted caramel sauce, pour the sugar into a heavy-bottomed pan and, stirring from time to time, let the sugar melt over low heat, but be careful not to burn it as it would taste bitter. At this stage you will already have the classic caramel with its amber color, which when cold will tend to solidify.
Stirring constantly, now add the butter and the salt and once melted, also add the very hot (but not boiling) cream. Continue cooking the sauce for 5-6 minutes, stirring continuously with a whisk or spatula and when it begins to boil vigorously, move the sauce to a bowl. (To evaluate the consistency of the sauce, before turning off the heat, put a little on a plate and once cool consider whether to continue cooking for a few more minutes).
Pour the still-warm salted caramel sauce over the cheesecake and level it, then decorate with peanuts or whatever you prefer.
Our pumpkin cheesecake with caramel is ready to be enjoyed.
Store in the refrigerator, well covered in a suitable container, for three days.
Notes
Chances are you will have some salted caramel sauce left over; in that case the caramel sauce will keep in the refrigerator for about ten days. For long-term preserves, even months, proceed like a normal jam or marmalade, sterilizing the jars both before filling and afterwards to create a vacuum seal.
