Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake with Ginger-Almond Crust

I made Tish Boyle's Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake with Ginger Pecan Almond Crust twice this month already so it's only fair that I share this gem of a dessert with all of you. The recipe can be found in Tish's book The Cake Book, as well as her blog (yes, I'm a big fan!) :o) One of the first things that stood out for me was the crust. Instead of the traditional graham cracker crust, Tish offers a shortbread crust made with toasted nuts and finely chopped crystallized ginger. The only change I made was substitute almonds for the pecans. The other aspect about this recipe that caught my attention was the use of spices in the filling. Last year, I made my first pumpkin cheesecake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes, which didn't have any spices, yet, it tasted heavenly and pumpkin-y.

For a little extra oomph (and to hide a few craters from accidentally dropping the cheesecake - oops), I decorated the cheesecake with Pumpkin Mousse

HCB - Apple Upside-Down Cake

This week was Free Choice week for the Heavenly Cake Bakers. That means, we either get to pick a recipe that Marie has already baked before the baking group started, or a recipe we skipped or didn't get to. Now that apples are widely available, I knew I wanted to bake something with them, so I chose the Apple Upside-Down Cake. This was an easy, but not a quick, cake to make. I served it Tuesday night at our Eid Celebration dinner and our friends loved it. Hubby did too.

Apple Upside-Down Cake with Cinnamon-Honey Caramel Glaze

Final thoughts/tips:

• Hubby liked this cake a lot. He gave it a 9 out of 10.
• I used McIntosh apples. The caramel flavor in the apples came through beautifully without making the dessert too sweet. The cake was soft, moist, and melt-in-your-mouth tender (which is always the case with Rose's sour cream-based cakes). The warm spices I added to the cake complimented the apples and the caramel nicely.
• Changes: I substituted 1 Tbsp of butter with canola oil, added spices to the cake batter because I like apples + spices, and used salted butter for the caramel as well as the cake batter (omitting salt from the recipe).
• Spices = cinnamon, ginger, grated nutmeg, and a dash of cloves.
• I served the cake with a drizzle of (leftover) cinnamon-honey caramel glaze.

ABC - Pumpkin Ice Cream Profiteroles with Caramel Sauce

Wow, this is my 100th post!!! It's been a little over 2 years since I started this blog. Back in the day I averaged about 1 post a month. But then I joined a couple baking groups and that certainly changed things a little bit :o) I would like to thank all my visitors, especially those who take the time to leave a comment :o) as well as my fellow baking group members for making blogging fun. It's nice to know there are people out there who enjoy reading my posts :o)

Back to baking... from Flo Braker's book, Baking for all Occasions, that is. This month's Avid Baker's Challenge recipe was chosen by Monica of Sweet Bites. Monica and I "met" through the Heavenly Cake Bakers. She's a great cook and baker, so when she decided to join my baking group, I was really excited. Not only did she join, she also assisted in the recruiting efforts and helped this baking group grow. Thanks Monica! How could I *not* ask her to choose a recipe, as a small token of my appreciation?


Her pick for this month, Pumpkin Ice Cream Profiteroles with Caramel Sauce, couldn't have been more seasonal.

Pumpkin Ice Cream Profiterole with Cinnamon-Honey Caramel Sauce

If you're a Flo Braker fan, love to bake or both, feel free to join us in our monthly baking adventures. Just email me at HanaasKitchen [at] live [dot] com. You can find the rules HERE.