Butternut Squash Cheesecake
This roasted Butternut Squash Cheesecake, aka Basque Burnt Cheesecake, is an exquisite delicious fall dessert, ready for your holiday table.
When doing holiday baking, I try to remind myself to not get too overly ambitious when it comes to pies and desserts. Especially when you are hosting, you don’t want to add too much to your plate. I’ve said it for years here, that I’m really not a baker.
Butternut Squash Cheesecake
I enjoy baking, but I don’t think that I’m good at it, like my daughter Abby is.
For Thanksgiving this year, we are sharing an amazing Butternut Squash Cheesecake that is worth the baking experience. It’s so good, each bite melts in your mouth. Here’s another melt-in-your-mouth cake to try: Sour Cream Chocolate Banana Cake.
Basque Burnt Cheesecake
This Basque Burnt Cheesecake, created by Spanish chef Santiago Rivera, eliminates the fussy steps of crust making and baking in water. In fact, the purpose is to develop delicious caramelized flavor on the outside—cracked tops are also welcome. The addition of warm spices and pureed butternut (or pumpkin) put an autumn spin on this classic, simple recipe.
Ingredients for Butternut Cheesecake:
While you use canned pumpkin puree in this recipe, you get a more unique flavor with the roasted butternut squash. Both will have the same consistency though. Here’s another creamy parfait dessert to try: Pumpkin Gingersnap Crunch Parfaits.
- Cream cheese + mascarpone cheese + sour cream
- Maple syrup
- Brown sugar + white sugar
- Whipping cream
- Vanilla extract + almond extract + maple extract
- Eggs
- Roasted butternut squash (or pumpkin puree)
- Flour
- Cinnamon + cloves + allspice + nutmeg + salt
The perfect cheesecake
The perfect cheesecake often has a crust, no cracks, and no browning. To achieve this, the cake has to bake in a water bath and be closely monitored. So follow the directions closely.
After roasting the squash, mash it and place it in a strainer over a bowl and let any excess moisture drain off.
You can also press the mixture with a rubber spatula to make sure you have the right consistency.
You will need 1 1/4 cups of butternut squash puree.
Want to serve a maple whipped cream on top?
Yes, please! Or, you can always serve with vanilla ice cream. Both are amazing.
Here are the easy ingredients:
- Heavy cream
- Powdered sugar
- Maple extract
- Vanilla extract
Room temp ingredients
When making a cheesecake, it is essential to have all the ingredients be room temperature, or the cheeses will clump and leave you with an uneven texture (and we want fluffy, smooth cheesecake!)
Additionally, make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl in-between mixing to ensure you’re not left with unincorporated patches of cream cheese and mascarpone.
TIPS for making the best cheesecake:
- Bring ingredients to room temperature.
- To bring eggs to room temperature, crack into a metal bowl and place over a bowl of warm (not hot) water.
- For cream cheese and mascarpone, microwave on 20-30% for about 10 second intervals until room temperature (be careful not to melt it!).
- For whipping cream, maple syrup, and sour cream, heat on 20-30% in 8-12 second intervals until lukewarm.
How to serve Butternut Squash Cheesecake
Allow the cake to cool to room temperature for at least 4 hours before serving—preferably, allow the cake to chill in the refrigerator overnight.
Serve room temperature, or chilled with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
This season, there are just too many things to be thankful for! No matter what challenges we all face, we don’t want to take our blessings for granted. From good health, to a place we call home—I’m so thankful for friends and family!
I’m also very grateful for my loyal readers, and for all of the love and support for our new book, Big Boards for Families. Wow, I’m just blown away.
I hope you find comfort and inspiration in the recipes I’ll be sharing this week and next, leading up to Thanksgiving. I’ll be posting a roundup of recipes to try this year, too, so stay tuned!
ENJOY!
More delicious desserts to try:
When you’re in a pinch for time: Holiday Chocolate Dessert Board
Get the Recipe:
Butternut Squash Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 16 oz cream cheese, softened
- 8 oz mascarpone cheese, softened
- 8 oz sour cream, room temp
- ½ c maple syrup, room temperature
- ½ c brown sugar
- ¼ c white sugar
- ¾ c whipping cream, room temperature
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract, optional
- ½ heapping tsp maple extract
- 6 eggs, room temperature
- 1 ¼ c roasted butternut squash, pureed (or pumpkin puree)
- 3 Tbsp flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp clove
- ¼ tsp allspice
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg
- 1 ¼ tsp salt
Maple Whipped Cream
- 1 ½ c heavy cream, cold
- ⅓ c powdered sugar
- ½ tsp maple extract
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 10’-12’’ springform pan. Spray with nonstick spray. Prepare two large sheets of parchment, about 16’’x12", large enough for each to line about 2/3 of the pan and overlap in the center. Press down one sheet of parchment to cover two thirds of the bottom, and pleat the sides to fit the inside of the pan—the paper should go about 1 1/2-2’’ around the pan. Repeat with the second sheet, then lightly spray the inside of the parchment. Place on a baking sheet and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the maple syrup, brown sugar, and white sugar. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, clove, allspice, nutmeg, and salt. Set both aside.
- Cream together the cream cheese, mascarpone, and sour cream until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the maple syrup, brown sugar, and white sugar mixture. Mix together on medium speed until sugar begins to dissolve—about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, then add the whipping cream, vanilla, almond, and maple extracts; mix until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on medium speed, until incorporated; wait 15 seconds in between each egg. Scrape down the sides, then add the butternut squash puree. Mix on medium until well combined. Finally, sift in the flour, spices, and salt mixture and mix until combined. Scrape the sides one last time to ensure there are no lumps, then pour the batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pan gently on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles from the bottom.
- Place on the center rack in the oven for 45 minutes, then spin 180 degrees and bake for 15-30 minutes more—there should be a slight jiggle in the center of the cake (a diameter of about 2’’ before you take it out of the oven to cool on a rack).
- Allow the cake to cool to room temperature for at least 4 hours before serving—preferably, allow the cake to chill in the refrigerator overnight. Serve at room temperature, or chilled with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Notes
To bring eggs to room temperature, crack into a metal bowl and place over a bowl of warm (not hot) water.
For cream cheese and mascarpone, microwave on 20-30% for about 10 second intervals until room temperature (be careful not to melt it!).
For whipping cream, maple syrup, and sour cream, heat on 20-30% in 8-12 second intervals until lukewarm.
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
