Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake ~ #TheCakeSliceBakers

Advice from a pumpkin - be well-rounded, get plenty of sunshine, have thick skin, keep growing, be outstanding in your field, think big, make spiced pumpkin cheesecake.

The Cake Slice Bakers are down to their last few months baking through The Perfect Cake, and what a joy it has been. I can honestly say that each of my cakes have worked out exactly how the book said they would. If you bake a lot of cakes you will understand the chances of that happening every time.  Let's just say some cookbooks are tested more than others, and this one sets you up for success.

As we are now into the Fall baking season our choices this month were centered around the flavors you associate with this time of the year - Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake, Cider-Glazed Apple Bundt Cake, Maple Layer Cake, and Pear-Walnut Upside Down Cake. All of these cakes sounded fantastic and I found it really hard to narrow down my choice. In the end I went with the Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake as I love cheesecake, I love pumpkin spice, and I am usually quite naught and do not bake in a water bath so I wanted to try it out.

This cheesecake is perfection - I can see why it made it into The Perfect Cake - and it's already been selected as our main dessert for Thanksgiving this year. It has all the elements you want in a cheesecake as it is creamy, rich, and light and as the crust is baked prior to the filling being added it so it has that lovely crisp texture that is the perfect foil for the filling.  The spice level is on point, and this is saying a lot from the person who usually adds more spice to all of her baked goods, but this time I put my trust in the recipe with regards to the spices. And best of all there was no crack in the top of the cheesecake as it was baked in a water bath. The only change I made was to add some gingersnap cookies to the graham crackers prior to pulsing them in the food processor as I wanted a slightly thicker crust and I love the taste of them.

America's Test Kitchen has asked us not to publish the recipes for the cakes we bake, and I want to honor that because they have been so amazing to work with, so you can find the recipe for this cake on page 366 of The Perfect Cake. Of course I encourage everyone to run out and purchase the book so that you can have access to all of the amazing recipes, but this recipe is available online if you search for it.

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The Perfect Cake from America's Test Kitchen #atkcake. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes, or visit our blog where the links are updated each month. If you are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

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