Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake

I’m sad. My favourite drink at Starbucks has been and gone for the year. Those pesky red cups have replaced my Pumpkin Spice Latte with Christmas-inspired drinks all too soon.

I love pumpkin spice lattes. They only introduced them in the UK a couple of years ago, after an on-line campaign proved successful. They were an instant hit and were even brought out a month early this year so we could savour them for longer. Still not long-enough in my opinion!

It was cake-club time a couple of weeks ago and I stumbled across a recipe for a Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake on the Kraft website. I loved the idea. My favourite drink in edible form! I knew this would prove a hit at the club – the theme being ‘Favourites’.

The original recipe used a cookie dough type base, but for me a cheesecake is not a cheesecake without a base made from crushed digestives (or graham crackers depending where you are) and butter. So I tweaked it a little to suit.

I still had some tinned pumpkin languishing at the bottom of the fridge and used this, plus for some added authenticity, a sachet of Starbucks Via for the coffee element.

The result was a deliciously rich cheesecake. Pumpkin spices, a little bit of coffee and a crumbly buttery base. Just like my favourite drink, it was so good I made it again to take to my cousins for dinner. And my family lapped it up too.

Here’s my version, tweaked from Kraft.

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Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake

by Stuart Vettese November-10-2014

#PSL in a Cheesecake!

Ingredients

• 250 grams digestive biscuits/graham crackers
• 125 grams unsalted butter
• 750 grams full-fat cream cheese
• 225 grams granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 medium eggs
• 225 grams pumpkin puree
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• half teaspoon ground ginger
• 3g sachet Starbucks Via instant coffee (I used Colombian)
• 150 ml double cream

Instructions

Line the base of a 9” spring-form tin with foil. Crush the biscuits either in a food processor or in a bag and whack with a rolling pin. Melt the butter and pour into the biscuits. Place into the prepared tin and press down firmly to an even-layer. Chill in the fridge for two hours. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the softened cream cheese with the sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla and eggs. Beat until combined. Place 400ml of this mix into a separate bowl. With the remaining mix, add the pumpkin and spices and beat until combined. Pour onto the chilled biscuit base. Add the instant coffee to the 400ml of cream cheese mix and stir until dissolved. Slowly pour this over the pumpkin cream cheese, so it is an even layer. Place the tin in a large roasting pan and pour boiling water into the roasting pan, about 1 inch high. (Double wrap the bottom of the cheesecake tin with foil, to ensure water doesn’t get in). Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. The cheesecake will puff and jiggle. It will also darken on top. The centre will almost look set. Allow to cool fully then refrigerate for several hours or overnight. When ready to serve, whip the cream until thick and spoon over the top of the cooled cheesecake. Sprinkle more of the spices on top for decoration. Slice and enjoy!.

Details

Prep time: Several hours Cook time: 45-60 mins Total time: Several hours (including chill time) Yield: 1 9” cheesecake