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Tuesday 7 August 2012

Pumpkin Cheesecake


This month's  theme in the Crazy Cooking Challenge is "Cheesecake". The posting date was 7 August, which incidentally is today. Leaving my post for the last minute, I was absolutely confident of making my Cheesecake on Monday which would have left me enough time to write, edit and post the recipe on Tuesday, the 7th, dot on time for the challenge. To me, it seemed  perfect, and everything seemed to be going as planned but unfortunately fate was not on my side. My son fell sick with a viral and all my plans were crushed. Highly disappointed, I emailed Tina yesterday, that I would be skipping this month's cooking challenge as my son had fallen sick. But today morning he seemed a little better, so I thought why not give it a try, also I was sure, this would cheer my son up. So, this recipe and post has been done in a tearing hurry just so that I can cross the finishing line.
This recipe is a combination of two recipes found on these respective sites given below:
http://pinchmysalt.com/mini-pumpkin-cheesecakes/ 
http://www.howdoesshe.com/howdoesshe-master-the-art-of-cheesecake
I loved the thought of using a Chocolate Ganache for the topping on the cheesecake adding to the richness and flavor.

Ingredients
For the Crust :
200g Digestive Biscuits
¼ cup Brown Sugar
115g melted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
For the Filling:
3 eggs
500 gms cream cheese
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of ground cloves
For the Ganache :
1/2 cup heavy cream
200 gms dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces

Method
Preheat oven to 170 C.
Mix all the ingredients for the crumb and press the crumbs onto the bottom and about a half inch up the sides of the prepared springform pan. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove pan from oven and let cool.
In a bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin puree on medium-high speed until smooth.  Gradually mix in the sugar and honey. Blend in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the rest of the spices and blend again till well mixed.
Pour filling onto the cooled crust. Bake for 65-75 minutes or until filling is set. 
Turn the oven off & leave the cheesecake in the oven with the door shut for about an hour. 
Cover with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, at least 6 hours or overnight. 
Remove the cheesecake carefully from the pan. Cover the top with the Chocolate Ganache. Refrigerate for an hour or two before serving so the ganache has time to set. Decorate with whipped cream and chocolate curls.
For making the Ganache - in a small heavy sauce pan heat the cream till it starts boiling. Remove from heat and add the chocolate pieces. Whisk until chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth. Cool slightly before pouring over the top of the cheesecake. 



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4 comments:

  1. Pumpkin is such a great choice! With fall right around the corner, this would be perfect. I'd love for you to stop by - I'm #9 in the challenge. :)

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  2. Very tempting, wish could bake it without eggs.

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  3. Thanks Saru! You can make a no-bake cheesecake. Here's the link - http://www.food.com/recipe/no-bake-pumpkin-cheesecake-324006

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  4. I adore pumpkin cheesecake and the ganache on the top is perfect.

    If you haven't already, I'd love for you to check out my CCC entry: #6 Mini Cheesecake Bites.

    Lisa~~
    Cook Lisa Cook

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