This is not a healthy recipe, but it sure is delicious. I saw sweet potato cheesecake at a restaurant the other week and wanted to try it. I didn't order it, instead I thought I'd just make my own. Well, I searched and searched for recipes until I came across one that I liked.
This sweet potato cheesecake was, by far, the best cheesecake I've ever made. It was incredibly creamy and rich...plus it tasted like fall! If you're ever in the mood for a special treat, or if you have a big group of people coming over, make this!
Sweet Potato Cheesecake
Crust:
2 cups gingersnap
crumbs
1/2 cup finely ground
pecans
8 tablespoons salted
butter, melted
Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages
of cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups cooked, mashed
sweet potatoes
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground
cinnamon
Some nutmeg (I never measure spices anymore)
Some ginger (why not?)
2 tablespoons
all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
extract
Optional garnish:
whipped cream, candied pecans, caramel sauce
PREHEAT oven to 550
degrees.
COMBINE gingersnap
crumbs and pecans. Add melted butter.
Press crust into bottom and sides of springform pan.
BEAT cream cheese
until smooth. Add sweet potatoes, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar, cinnamon,
flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.
POUR cream cheese
mixture into crust. Spread out evenly and place in oven for 10-12 minutes,
until cake begins to puff. Lower
temperature to 250 and bake until cake is set.
It should still jiggle in the middle.
Turn off the oven and prop open the door and allow the cake to cool
until you forget about it. At some
point, remember that you have a cake in the oven and put it into the fridge.
I made a caramel pecan sauce to serve with this, which I didn't end up using. Most people ate it with the sauce, but I found the cake to be sweet enough without it. Also I didn't want the caramel to over-power the other flavors.
If you are going to bake it using this method, you really have to watch in the beginning. You don't want it to burn, which can happen quickly at 550.
Alright, I'm going to go eat some leftovers :-).
Molly
Thanks for posting this, Molly! I made this recipe on Friday night to welcome Aleks back from a week of travel, and we had it after steak sandwiches for Saturday dinner (and after leftover for lunch today, and after burritos for dinner tonight...) It's delish! I got mashed sweet potato from some roasted sweet potatoes. By the time you add them to three packs of cream cheese this cake is huge! Mine filled the entire cheesecake pan to the top. Smooth and yummy, with a really nice cutting texture (as in, it's super easy to cut, doesn't stick to the knife too much, makes perfect-looking slices). Aleks said he felt a little healthier after eating this that he normally does after eating cheesecake.
ReplyDeleteI used 1 cup of sugar, which was enough. The cake wasn't under-sweet, but it also didn't just taste like sugar.
The gingersnap crust is the highlight of this recipe. I made mine with roasted almonds, since pecans have sadly moved outside my price range. It was a perfect compliment to the cake filling.