Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gooey Caramel Pecans

September 29, 2013 By sweet_raw In cake 0 Comments

Last Fall I was on a super roll with the pumpkin desserts. I posted a lot of them on my other blog, Food and Yoga for Life (since they are "semi-raw" recipes) including my recipe for a nut free Pumpkin Cheesecake with a White Chocolate Buckwheat Crunch on top. Last week I was baking a lot of muffins, some of which used pumpkin and I was left with some pumpkin puree. After careful consideration on what tasty dessert I should make, I settled on a version of last season's cheesecake that I made and shared photos of in this post. The caramel pecan topping is my favourite way to enjoy the cake. And I made it even more decadent with a drizzle of raw chocolate sauce. You see why I keep a jar of this sauce in my fridge all the time?! It can dress up a dessert in a matter of seconds.

This time I used a regular date, nut and coconut crust. You can check out the original post HERE if you want the completely nut free version including the buckwheat crunch.

I topped the cake with a mixture of my favourite raw caramel sauce tossed with pecans. You could even call this a turtle pumpkin cheesecake!

Note that you can use canned pumpkin (which is what I used) OR baked and pureed pumpkin however fresh pumpkin will be much more watery and the cake will be a little softer.

This cake holds up very well. It's firm enough to keep out on the table for hours for guests to oooh and awww over 😉 And it will still be nicely sliceable.

Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake

Semi Raw, Nut Free

This recipe makes a thick 6" cake. Simply double the recipe for a 10 or 12" cheesecake.

Crust

3/4 cup almonds

1/2 cup raisins

4 tablespoons shredded coconut

1 teaspoon vanilla or water, or more

Grind the almonds into a flour in a food processor.

Add the raisins and coconut and continue grinding until broken down.

Add the vanilla or water. Grind again until the mixture comes together like a dough.

Add a

nother 1/2 - 1 teaspoon water if needed to keep the mixture held together when pressed in your hand.

Press evenly into the bottom of a 6" spring form pan.

Filling

1 1/3 cup cooked pumpkin puree (canned or baked)

1/2 cup full fat coconut milk

1/2 cup coconut sugar

4 tablespoons melted coconut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

10 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Blend all but the coconut oil in a high speed blender until smooth.

Add the coconut oil and blend briefly to incorporate. Add another 1 tablespoon coconut sugar if you want it a bit sweeter.

Pour over the crust.

Chill in the fridge for at least 6 hours or in the freezer for less time.

Caramel Pecan Topping

Caramel sauce # 2 from Just Desserts
Pecans

Toss the pecans (either whole or chopped) with as much caramel sauce as you desire.
Spoon over the top of the chilled cake.

I've been in the moutanins visiting my mom and today it has poured all day long. The perfect afternoon to whip up some raw brownies! Here are a few of the pics I posted on Instagram.