Even though this is supposed to be a “copycat recipe” of The Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake, it’s superior in many ways because you choose where the ingredients come from, and you know they’re the fresh and the real thing.
It’s really hard to properly enjoy a dessert like this after a full meal. That’s why they hope you’ll spend 6-8 bucks on a slice, or better yet take home a whole cake. But you can make it at home for a fraction of the cost, and you can be assured that your ingredients are the freshest and healthiest too.
Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake Copycat Recipe
Ingredients:
- 12 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
- 2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 2 3/4 cups sugar
- Salt
- 2 pounds room temperature cream cheese
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
- 6 large room temperature, lightly beaten eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger, ground
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves, ground
- 2 cups whipped cream, sweetened
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped, toasted pecans
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- 12 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
- 2½ cups graham cracker crumbs
- 2¾ cups sugar
- Salt
- 2 pounds room temperature cream cheese
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
- 6 large room temperature, lightly beaten eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger, ground
- ¼ teaspoon cloves, ground
- 2 cups whipped cream, sweetened
- ⅓ cup roughly chopped, toasted pecans
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit with rack in the center position.
- Using some of the butter, coat a 10-inch springform pan.
- In a bowl, mix the rest of the butter with the graham cracker crumbs, ¼ cup of the sugar and a pinch of salt.
- Packing it tightly and evenly, press the crumb mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.
- After cooling on a rack, wrap the outside of the springform pan with aluminum foil.
- Place the wrapped pan into a roasting pan.
- In a medium pot, bring water to a boil.
- While waiting for water to boil, using a mixer; beat the cream cheese until smooth.
- Add the rest of the sugar and beat until just light. Scrape down bowl sides and beaters as needed.
- Whip in the sour cream.
- Add the pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, 1 teaspoon salt and the spices.
- Whip until just mixed and once done, pour into the cooled crust.
- Without pulling the rack out, gently place the roasting pan in the oven.
- Pour the boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes about halfway up the side of the springform pan.
- Bake the cake about 1 hour 45 minutes, or until the outside of the cheesecake sets but the center is still loose.
- Turning off the oven; open the door briefly to let out some heat.
- After leaving the cheesecake in the oven for 1 more hour, carefully remove the springform pan from the roasting pan.
- Cool on a rack for at least an hour.
- Run a knife around the edges to loosen it somewhat, and then cover pan and place in refrigerator for at least 8 hours or even overnight.
- minutes before serving, bring the cheesecake to room temperature.
- Unlock and remove the springform ring.
- Place a spoonful of the whipped cream on each slice.
- Top with a sprinkle of the toasted pecans.
Oh my goodness. This combines so many of my favorite things. I’m pinning this, and I’m actually going to try making it.
Hee hee. Your family will thank you. This cheesecake really is quite delicious. Have fun making it and be sure to come back and tell me how you liked it 🙂
Followed directions exactly…. cake is not cooked through?! ?
I would definitely check your oven settings… cheesecake it very finicky. If your oven isn’t getting to the set temperature, it makes a big difference. (We had an oven that was consistently about 10 degrees cooler than what we were setting it for….)
I am having the same issue. My oven is brand new and electric. Could it be because electric isn’t as hot as a gas oven? At 1 45 minutes it looks like my whole cake is set but when I cut into it its not done. Should I leave it in longer?
cant wait to try this
Please do! And be sure to let me know how you liked it 🙂
Cheesecake? Pecans? SWOOON!
Thanks for sharing on Creative K Kids’ Tasty Tuesdays link up. Hope to see you back next week.
Ha! It is a fabulous combination…. and the holidays are the perfect time to indulge 😀
Hi Jenny! Wow! The cheesecake looks delicious! I sure wished my family liked pumpkin! I need to find someone who will help me eat this so I can make it! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!
They don’t like pumpkin! Oh that is a tragedy. I guess you’ll just have to eat the whole darn thing yourself 😉
I love the Cheesecake Factory! Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty – hope to see you again next week.
Thanks for sharing at the Inspiration Spotlight party. Shared. Have a great rest of your week.
This looks great. However I’m not a fan of cloves. Any substitutes? Thanks
I can’t really say there’s any substitute for cloves. But I did see on a couple of recipe message boards that people skip the cloves sometimes and their pumpkin recipes still turn out tasty.
You can use Nutmeg instead of or with Cloves I usually use both.I have not had any complaints so far ..
Great tip. Folks always have their own stylized taste.
Can this be frozen?
I don’t see why not! Just be sure to leave enough time for de-thawing. There’s nothing like cutting into the cheesecake and discovering the center is still frozen. ha!
I don’t have a 10 inch Springform pan.. can I Bake this in a 9 inch? If so how long do I bake this for? Thanks in advance!
I don’t know why you couldn’t bake this is a 9-inch springform… but I don’t know the exact baking timing. I would try it and watch carefully to make sure it doesn’t get overdone.
I work at the cheesecake factory in the bakery and I have to say this is very very close to our pumpkin cheesecake!
Hahah! Thanks for letting me know my recipe is so close!
Hello,
I have always made my cheesecakes in a 3 inch round cake pan…never had any issues….do you see any reason this cheesecake would not work in the cake pan?
You could make it in a cake pan; it’s more about getting the cheesecake out when you’re done. Springforms are just that much easier to get your cake or cheesecake out.
Looks pretty spot-on to the slice that my bestie & I shared @ lunch, today …. about the only thing I’d do differently is to use gingersnaps (instead of graham crackers), for the crust – thank you for posting this!
Ooo. Using gingersnaps would taste awesome!
Gingersnaps are wonderful for this particular type of cheesecake – I also do this, for pumpkin pie (throw in some chopped crystallized ginger, for added chew and zing!)
We wound up using some gluten-free gingersnaps (from Trader Joe’s, which already have chunks of crystallized ginger; for non gluten-free crust, go ahead and use their ‘triple-ginger’ gingersnaps *or any decent gingersnap cookie, really!*) and they worked fine.
My only issue, here, is that this recipe called for WAAAAAY too much butter, for the crust! Next time, I think I will cut the butter down to 3 or 4 tbsp! Otherwise, the cheesecake, itself, was pretty much spot-on! 😀
I just saw on Pinterest that someone used your picture – the pumpkin slice photograph with your site name across the bottom – she cut off your words, but it’s clearly your image.
Do you happen to have the Pin URL? Thanks.
After cooking for the 1 hour 45mins and turning off the oven, can I just leave the cheesecake in the oven over night or do you think it’s best to take it out and put it in the fridge?
I definitely wouldn’t keep cheesecake in the oven overnight… personally I’d wait until I had to remove it from the oven (before bed) and then move it to the counter to cool down.
Is 1 tsp salt right? I just made the filling and it tastes awfully salty. It doesn’t specify in the ingredients list, but the instructions say 1 tsp. Thanks
It is 1 tsp. in the filling… but make sure you’re using unsalted butter for the filling as well.
This recipe turned out so well! Made it into cheesecake cupcakes and baked it for 30-35min. Will definitely make this again!
What a fun idea and new twist! Happy eating 🙂
Are you actually baking this essentially in water? or do you leave the roasting rack in the pan as Well?
Yes, you are basically baking this in the water… the springform goes in the roasting pan… and the water comes about halfway up the side of the springform pan.
How much water do you use, doesn’t say!
For the recipe, you pour the boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes about halfway up the side of the springform pan.
How long would this last in the fridge? I want to make it on Wednesday morning for Saturday afternoon. Thanks and can’t wait to try this!!
Food generally lasts 3-4 days in the fridge, so you should be okay. But if you can make it closer to the date you’re serving it, the fresher it will be. Enjoy the recipe!
Can I substitute gluten free graham crackers in the crust using all the other same ingredients?
I’ve never really worked with gluten free graham crackers and don’t know their consistency. If you do try it, let us know how it turns out!
Has anyone else reading these reviews used the gluten free graham crackers?
I am making it with a gf crust right now. I will let you know how it turns out.
Would this recipe work with a gluten free pre-made graham cracker pie crust? I’m sure I can cut the ingredients so there’s pie filling left over, but I wasn’t sure if the consistency would work still in a normal crust…?
Thanks in advance!
I have looked up other cheesecake recipes and haven’t seen the water thing … what is the purpose of that?
Hi, Melissa!
Some folx use a ‘water bath’ to keep the top of the cheesecake from cracking, on top. I’ve had mixed results, using such, plus you can always make a semi-sweet sour cream topping, or whipped cream, to disguise any cracks, if need be – it’s going to taste great, regardless! 😀
This is in the oven now, used a 10″ spring form pan, I had way too much filling, had to make another small one. What went wrong? 2lbs would be 4-8oz blocks right? Hoping this turns out.
What size springform pan should be used?
Can extra cheesecake filling be stored in the refrigerator? Or does it all have to be used right away?
Would this freeze well? Would like to make it ahead of time for Thanksgiving, but keep it fresh. 6 days away!
I want to make mini cheesecakes in a muffin pan. How would long would I have to cook them? And how many do you think I would get from your recipe?
Trying this tonight! Question: What is the point of the roasting pan and boiling water?
Do you put the springform pan inside the water bath?
I made this cheesecake this past weekend for a mid thanksgiving dinner. We were finally able to enjoy it last night. It was AMAZING!!!! It even made my teenage daughters snapchat story so it must have been a win! I felt it was a bit undercooked but I’ll adjust a few temperature things and it will be perfect next time!
That’s awesome! Yeah 😀
Do you put the springform pan in the water?
I seem to be the only one around here that likes cheesecake (crazy right?) so I halved the recipe. Do you know about how long I would bake it for? Thanks!
I’m making this now & just realized I only used 1lb of cream cheese. ? I don’t know how I spaced that. Is it ruined? Or can I just bake it longer?
12 tbsp of butter for the crust? Is that right?? I had butter pooling and dripping everywhere… eek!
Amazing!!
Can’t watt to try this. Do you think a chocolate ganache would work?
Honestly I have no idea! But if you try it, let me know 🙂
This is the most perfect pumpkin cheese cake ever. Love all of the spices in it. Followed the directions exactly and it turned out perfect. Thank you so much!