How to Make Sweet Potato Cheesecake
Surprise your dinner guests with not your ordinary sweet potato pie.
Nov 29, 2008
Here's an indulgent dessert you can make with leftover baked or mashed sweet potatoes, but it's scrummy enough that you will want to bake a few just to make this cheesecake. This recipe calls for baking this using a simple water bath method (a.k.a. bain marie) that assures a constant temperature that is key to a beautifully baked cheesecake.
Sweet Potato Cheesecake with Pecan-Crumb Topping
You will need:
- a 10-inch springform pan, plus another baking dish large enough for the the springform pan to sit down inside it. (This will hold your water bath.)
Crust Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 egg yolk
Filling Ingredients A:
- 3 medium sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
- 1 Tbsp butter, melted
- 1 tsp each ground cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla
Filling Ingredients B:
- 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup granualted sugar
- 3 eggs
Crumb Topping Ingredients:
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 6 Tbsp butter, softened
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Method:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium bowl, stir together the crust ingredients until the mixture hangs together in a ball.
- Pat about 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the springform pan (with the side removed) to make a bottom crust about 1/8 inch thick. Bake until the crust begins to brown at the edges, about 8 to 10 minutes. Attach the sides to the springform pan and pat the remaining dough evenly up the sides. It should be about an inch high all around.
- In a medium bowl, beat together the sweet potatoes with the rest of the “Filling Ingredients A” using an electric mixer on low speed until well blended.
- In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minutes. Beat in the sweet potato mixture on low speed until blended, about another minute. One at a time, beat in the eggs. Spoon the batter evenly over the crust in the springform pan.
- Put the springform pan inside the larger pan. Pull the oven shelf out and place the pan on the shelf. Carefully pour enough very hot water into the larger pan so that it comes about 1/3 up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until center is set, about 1 hour 30 minutes, adding more very hot water occasionally, as needed.
- While the cheesecake bakes, stir together crumb topping ingredients in a small bowl until crumbly.
- When the center of the cheesecake is set, sprinkle on the crumb topping. Return to the oven and bake until the topping is set, about 30 minutes longer. At that point, remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool it on a rack for 30 minutes. Loosen and remove the springform sides. Refrigerate the cheesecake, uncovered, until well chilled, 3 to 4 hours. Store covered in the refrigerator.
About Bain Marie:
The technique used in this recipe is a baked bain-marie. A double boiler is the other primary bain-marie method. Both are extremely useful in a variety of recipes. The physics behind it is simple: water boils at 212 degrees F (100 degrees C). Above that temperature, it escapes as steam. As a consequence, the dish in contact with the water stays at a consistent temperature. The steam is also useful for keeping a hard skin from forming on custards and cheesecakes before the interior is cooked.
The method originated with ancient alchemists who needed gentle heating to imitate what they supposed to be the process the earth uses to create precious metals. “Bain-marie” is named for “Mary the Jewess” an alchemist whom some equate with either Mary Magdalene or Miriam the sister of Moses.
Note on Sweet Potatoes vs. Yams:
The two terms are often used interchangeably, but they are quite different. Regardless of sometimes inaccurate labeling, most of what you see in US markets are sweet potatoes, although yams are slowly becoming more common in certain areas.
Popular in the American South, sweet potatoes are elongated yellow or orange tubers with ends that taper to a point. There are of two dominant types. The darker-skinned variety (which is most often called "yam" in error) has a thicker, dark orange to reddish skin with a vivid orange, sweet flesh and a moist texture. The paler-skinned sweet potato has a thin, light yellow skin with pale yellow flesh which is not sweet and has a dry, crumbly texture similar to a white baking potato.
The true yam, on the other hand, is the tuber of a tropical vine not related to the sweet potato. This tuber can grow over seven feet in length. The yam tuber has a brown or black skin resembling the bark of a tree and, depending on the variety, flesh that may be off-white, purple or red.
Shop for firm, unbruised sweet potatoes. They do not store well, and bruised ones rapidly deteriorate. Plan on using within one week of purchase and do not refrigerate. Unlike common baking potatoes, when sweet potatoes begin to go bad, you cannot just cut away the bad part, since the damage will be reflected in the flavor of the entire potato.
One baked sweet potato has double the RDA for vitamin A, 42% of the RDA for vitamin C, 10% of the RDA for iron and a good source of fiber and beta carotene.
For more sweet potato fun, try:
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