Pumpkin is an extremely rewarding vegetable that is not only beautiful in colour, but can be prepared equally well in savoury or sweet dishes. This cheesecake is full of Christmas flavours and in fact my guests were raving and had no idea that it was a pumpkin cheesecake.
Ingredients:
- 150g buttered Christmas crackers (anyone who doesn’t have them can use regular crackers and season with
- 1tsb gingerbread spice)
- 80g room temperature butter
- 500g pumpkin (butternut or hokkaido)
- 4 eggs
- 250g mascarpone
- 200ml sour cream
- 1 packet vanilla custard powder
- 80g Sugar
- 200ml whipped cream
- 200g dark chocolate
Preparing:
- Cut the pumpkin into cubes and place in a saucepan with a little (2-3Pl) water. I personally don’t peel the pumpkin in this dish, as the peel will add extra colour to the cheesecake later on.
- Cook the pumpkin covered for 15 minutes until soft, then drain the water and let it cool.
- Puree with a blender.
- Put the biscuits in a bag and break them into crumbs using a rolling pin. Put them in a bowl and mix them with the butter. Put the mixture into a greased cake tin and press it into the base of the tin.
- In a bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, mascarpone and cream. Add the custard powder and pumpkin puree, mix everything well.
- Pour the mixture on the biscuit base and bake at 160°C approx. 50 minutes until set. Leave to cool.
- For the topping, heat the whipped cream, remove from the heat and add the finely chopped chocolate. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.
- Pour the frosting over the cheesecake and let it set in the refrigerator for an hour.
- Garnish with shredded coconut and small fruit (I used cranberries).
