A Spooky Pumpkin Cheesecake

Like every year on Halloween, I like to bake something for the occasion. Halloween celebrations are becoming more ingrained within the Spanish cultural landscape and I don't mind it at all! I think it's a fun way to express our dark side in a totally benign manner.  

I have made cookies, cakes, muffins and more for Halloween. This year I went for a cheesecake, my soft spot in the dessert world! What's a pumpkin cheesecake like? Extra creamy and full of the wonderful pumpkin pie spice flavors; you really can't ask for more! 

Like all recipes that have a substantial amount of spices, the flavor is always better the following day, so do take the effort of preparing the cheesecake one day before serving. Let your imagination go wild and surprise your guests, your friends or your family with this perfect end for a gorylicious Halloween dinner party. 

Let´s start baking.

For the crust you need: (18 cm spring-form pan; serves 6-8 people)

• 100 g digestive cookies
• 25 g melted butter
• 1 tsp brown sugar

Place the cookies in a plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin until you have a coarse powder. Place the pulverized cookies in the spring-form pan, add the melted butter and sugar, mix well then press the mixture to cover the bottom and the sides of the pan. Bake in a preheated oven (180 C) for 8 to 10 min. Leave to cool.

For the filling you need:

• 600 g cream-cheese at room temperature
• 3 large eggs at room temperature 
• 100 g sour cream (or thick yogurt,)
• 130 g sugar (70 g brown sugar and 60 g granulated)
• 120 g  pumpkin purée (mine is homemade)
• 1 tbsp flour or cornstarch
• dash of salt
• 1 to 2  tsp of pumpkin spices, adjust the quantity to your liking (I used: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, star anise, allspice, fresh and powdered ginger and a bit of cardamom)
• 1/2 tsp of bourbon (optional)

In the mixer bowl, add the cheese and mix on a low speed with the paddle attachment for 2 to 3 minutes. Then add the sugar, sour cream, spices, salt, pumpkin purée and flour and mix again until well blended and no lumps are visible. Add the eggs one by one and keep mixing on a low speed. Finally add the bourbon mix for a bit. 

Pour the batter in the pan, and bake in a preheated oven (150 to 160 C). 

Usually it's customary to wrap the spring-form pan with aluminum foil and place it in another pan filled with warm water and then bake for the required time; that is one hour to one hour and a half (oven-dependent) for a pan of this size.  This bain-marie method of cooking is needed to bake your cake at a gentler heat to avoid surface cracks.

What I did is different though. I put in the middle layer of the oven a pan and filled it with warm water then placed the cheesecake pan over a cookie sheet and put both over the pan. This created  a steamy environment in my oven and allowed the cheesecake to cook all the way through while retaining a smooth creamy texture and most importantly with no surface cracks whatsoever.

After one hour, turn off your oven, shake the tray, make sure the middle is still wiggly and leave the oven door cracked open for another half an hour to an hour. 

Let it cool completely before you put it in the fridge overnight. 

Before serving decorate the cheesecake to your liking. I added some crushed digestive cookies, and decorated a sugar cookie following this tutorial to resemble a tombstone. I also added some royal icing spiders and pine nuts as maggots for that extra graveyard feel. 

And there you have it: a gory but delicious dessert for your Halloween party!

For other Halloween recipes click here, here, here and here

A Halloween Special: Bloody Cake!

When the fall season setts in, I try to make good use of its wonderful products. Pumpkins and squashes become a staple of mine during this time of the year. I also like to share a recipe or two that feature pumpkins purée as main ingredient. This healthy fruit never ceases to amaze me with its complex flavor that goes so well in both sweet and savory dishes. 

In recent years, the use of pumpkins was popularized with the spread of Halloween celebrations to almost all parts of the world. Now, as a foodie, pumpkins are definitely not mere decoration for me, but they are the front and center of my Halloween  gory cake. Now I call it "gory" as I drew inspiration for the cake's decoration from the traditional "goriness" that surrounds Halloween celebrations and to satisfy "The Walking Dead" fan in me. If you are a fan of the series too and you have seen the season's premiere, you would understand my choice better. Irrespective of how you will decorate the cake, if you follow my recipe you will really love the cake's flavor and texture. 

Besides pumpkin, the other main ingredient of the cake was cranberries. I was not sure of how well these two flavors will combine, but they did and they did so beautifully. The cake was moist, largely due to the use of pumpkin purée, with spicy notes and bound together by the touch of tartness cranberries add. Of course, cranberries put the "bloody" in this special Halloween cake!

Now, it's time to do some baking.

For the cake (6 to 8 persons) you need :

• 3 eggs at room temperature
• 100 g brown sugar
• 100 g granulated sugar
• 150 melted butter 
• 8 g baking powder
• 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 210 g cake flour
• 220 pumpkin purée (bought or homemade)
• 100 g frozen or fresh cranberries
• 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp mixed spices (cloves, star anise, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg)
• dash of salt
• zest of half an orange
• 1/2 tsp of cointreau (optional)

Start by combining the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and spices and set aside.

In your mixing bowl, beat the eggs on a high speed and add the sugar gradually. When the mixture triples in volume, becomes pale and thicker, add the butter at low speed and mix until combined.

With a spatula add the pumpkin purée, mix again, add the orange zest and cointreau and mix. Lastly, fold in the flour mixture and the cranberries.

Pour the batter in three 15 cm pre-prepared pans (or in two 23 cm) and bake in a preheated oven (180 C) for 25 minutes. Remember that the baking time might vary so check on the cake after 20 minutes.

For the frosting you need:

• 250 g soft butter
• 250 g cream cheese at room temperature
• 220 g powdered sugar
• Flavoring: 1/4 tsp mixed spices and few drops of vanilla extract.

Combine all ingredients and beat for about 5 min until creamy and fluffy.

For the cranberry sauce:

• 100 g cranberries, fresh or frozen 
• 75 g sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 strip of orange zest

Combine all ingredients and cook over  a gentle heat for few minutes. Pass the mixture through a sieve to get rid of the pits and skin. Let it cool down.

Assembly:

Smear some frosting on your cake tray or stand. Put the first cake layer and pipe a generous amount of frosting, and splatter a teaspoon or two of the cranberry sauce. Add the second layer and repeat. 

Cover the last layer with the frosting. Now all you need is to splatter the rest of the cranberry sauce over the cake and to add some pine nuts that will mimic the appearance of maggots for that extra touch of goriness!

Happy Halloween!

(For extra recipes featuring pumpkins, click here and here.)