Good for your soul

I saw the photo of this cake and knew I had to try it! It has an Oreo crust – YUM – and two layers of cheese cake, one plain and one pumpkin. Then you top it with ganache and whipped cream! How could I not try this?

I used my food processor and put 24 Oreos in – with filling and all!

Then you mix it with melted butter.

To prepare your springform pan, you need an 8 or 9 inch pan. Spray with PAM and then line the bottom with parchment .

Then you need to wrap the bottom with foil very securely because you will bake the cheesecake in another pan with water in it and you don’t want the water to get in the cheesecake.

Press the crust into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Then you mix the cheesecake batter. Use an electric mixer to mix the cream cheese and sugar until it is smooth. Then you add the eggs one at a time and then the sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice.

You spread 1 1/2 cups of this on to the Oreo crust. Smooth it out and stick in the freezer for 10 -15 minutes.

To the remaining cheesecake batter, add pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and mix well. Spread over plain cheesecake.

Place the pan in a roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with water about 1/4 of the way up. Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes (Although mine took about 1 1/2 hours) You know it’s finished when the sides pull away and the center is set. Remove pan from water bath and let cool. Remove foil and put in fridge overnight or for at least 5 hours. When it’s cool, run a knife around the edges and remove the sides of the pan.

Then you beat the whipping cream with powdered sugar and frost the top of the cake. Put in the freezer for 20 minutes.

While the cake is in the freezer, make the ganache. The directions say to melt the chocolate and add the whipping cream but I’ve always heated the whipping cream and added the chocolate. The biggest thing here is the ganache has to be totally cooled or it will melt the whipped cream.

When ganache is cool, frost the top of the cake.

I added the chocolate chips too. Then you stick it back in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes. Reheat the ganache so you can pour it around the sides to have it drip over the edge. Let it cool completely to set and decorate with whipped cream.

It was time consuming but not hard at all! I can’t wait to share with my family on Thanksgiving! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Oreo Crust

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Oreo Crust