Irresistibly creamy pumpkin cheesecake, sweetened with maple syrup and smeared with maple pumpkin whipped cream frosting. It’s your next favorite fall dessert!
My goodness, I have quite a treat for you today! Hope you’re not sick of everything pumpkin yet. Because this maple pumpkin cheesecake needs to happen in your kitchen. Period!
Adapted from my stunning carrot cheesecake, this pumpkin version is sweetened with maple syrup and topped with pumpkin maple whipped cream.
The cheesecake filling is super creamy and soft. With generous amount of pure pumpkin puree, it has unmistakeable pumpkin flavor, enhanced with warm spices, like cinnamon and nutmeg (preferably freshly grated). And as if it lacks any more pumpkin, I’m topping it with more pumpkin-flavored whipped cream. If you’re going for a pumpkin treat, might as well go overboard with it, right?
And let’s not forget about that beautiful crust! It’s nutty, buttery, sweet and cinnamon-y. Absolutely the best compliment to creamy cheesecake filling.
This is not just pumpkin cheesecake, my friend, this is MAPLE pumpkin cheesecake. So let’s take a moment to talk about maple syrup.
We’re talking about 100% pure maple syrup. No maple-flavored, artificial crap syrup here! When shopping, read the labels carefully, as there are different grades of maple syrup out there. What you’re looking for is pure maple syrup, Grade A, Medium or Dark Amber. Rule of thumb, the darker the syrup, more robust maple flavor it has. That being said, ideally we want Grade B maple syrup for baking , but it’s more for commercial use.
Grade A Medium or Dark Amber is the most common varieties, and it’s perfect to serve on the table with your pancakes and waffles.
In my testing, I found maple syrup alone doesn’t add enough sweetness, so I used a combination of sugar and maple syrup. The cheesecake is sweet enough with slight caramelized maple hint.
By now, you probably noticed that I like my cheesecakes nice and tall. Can’t get enough of the thick, creamy goodness!
During cooling, the cheesecake might crack. Don’t sweat about it though, cuz we’ll smear a layer of fluffy whipped cream all over it. Besides, who is gonna complain about a small blemish, when it tastes like heaven! NO ONE!!
Add this to your weekend to-bake list now! And let me know how it turned out for you. I’m looking forward to your feedback.
As always, thanks for reading!
Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ingredients
For crust:
- 8 full sheets 140gr graham crackers
- 1 cup 100gr chopped pecans
- 1/3 cup 75gr unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
For filling:
- 24 oz 700gr cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup 100gr sugar
- ½ cup 120ml pure maple syrup (Grade A, Medium or Dark Amber)
- 1 cup 225gr pure pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg preferably freshly grated
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
For frosting:
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup Grade A, Medium or Dark Amber
- 1 tablespoon pure pumpkin puree
Instructions
- To make the crust, in a food processor, pulse the graham crackers and pecans until fine crumbs. Add brown sugar, cinnamon and melted butter and pulse until combined. Press the mixture evenly onto the bottom and slightly up the sides of an ungreased 9-inch spring form pan. Refrigerate while preparing the filling.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- To make the filling, in the large mixing bowl with paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until fluffy on medium speed, about a minute. (Or you can also use electric hand mixer.) Add sugar and maple syrup and continue to beat for another minute. Stir in the pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix until well combined, about 1 minute, scraping the sides half way. Beat in the eggs one at a time and mix just until combined on low speed. (Don’t beat the mixture too long and too fast after you add the eggs. Otherwise too much air will incorporate to the batter, which might cause a crack in the cooked cheesecake.) Pour the batter into the prepared crust.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the edges of the cheesecake is set, but the center is slightly wobbly. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of the pan to loosen; cool for another hour. Then refrigerate for at least an hour to cool completely.
- To make the frosting beat the whipped cream in a mixing bowl with whisk attachment, until hard peaks form. Add pumpkin puree and maple syrup and mix until smooth.
- Once the cheesecake is completely cooled, remove springform sides of the pan. Spread the frosting evenly and serve.
Tips & Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published on October 14th, 2015.
Followed your receipt line by line and it came out exquisite. The only thing I did different was add two dashes of cinnamon to the icing to give it more of a kick. Thank you for sharing your awesome work though. My family absolutely loved it.
AWESOME! So glad you tried and loved it, James. Thank you so much for your feedback!
I just made this and it’s absolutely wonderful. 5 stars *****
Thank you so much, Adrea! So glad you tried and liked the recipe. Thank you for your feedback.
I made this for Thanksgiving and was pleased with how it turned out. I liked that the recipe didn’t require a water bath (even though that meant the cheesecake cracked — I didn’t care) and that it only needed to bake for an hour. The cream cheese part of the final cake was light and smooth from all the whipping. The pumpkin flavor really came through, and I appreciate that it wasn’t overwhelmed by the cinnamon or by any cloves. However, I would’ve liked more maple flavor. I used dark amber maple syrup but still wasn’t able to taste it in the final product. I made a whiskey whipped cream instead of the one in the recipe, and it came out great. I’m keeping this recipe in my back pocket for holiday potlucks.
I want some right now! This looks so good! Pinned and tweeted. Thank you for being a part of our party! I hope to see you on Monday at 7 pm. We love partying with you! Lou Lou Girls
Thank you!!
This looks both beautiful and tasty! I love the idea of using maple. Can’t wait to try it. I’ll have to try it when we have company over the holidays. I’m not much of a baker so I need the pressure of making for guests. 😉
Thank you, Denise! Your guests will love it. 🙂
This recipe looks so delicious! Hi, I’m Anita visiting from Foodie Fridiy.