This Ube Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe features ube (purple sweet potato) and pumpkin swirled together in this fluffy, creamy cheesecake with a brown sugar graham cracker crust.
This is my final Halloween-inspired dessert of 2022! I was inspired by the pumpkin swirl desserts I have been seeing all over. I wanted to add another traditional Halloween color to the mix though and landed on purple ube when I remembered that I have ube flavoring on hand that I have never used before.
I also just love a swirl or feather cheesecake, like my Blueberry Cheesecake. These are both baked cheesecakes. If you want a no-bake cheesecake, check out my other Halloween dessert, Chocolate Spider Web Halloween Tarts, which have a pumpkin no-bake cheesecake filling.
Ingredients
This recipe calls for a few special ingredients:
- graham crackers
- brown sugar
- salt
- unsalted butter
- cream cheese
- eggs
- granulated sugar
- vanilla extract
- sour cream
- maple syrup
- purple sweet potato (ube)
- ube flavoring
- pumpkin puree
- Orange and purple food coloring
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Here’s how to make the inside swirl and feathered top:
Using ¾ of the ube and pumpkin cheesecake batters, randomly pipe blobs in the mostly cooled graham cracker crust.
Swirl a few times with a butter knife.
Using the last ¼ of the batters, pipe thick, alternating lines of ube and pumpkin cheesecake batter on top.
Use a clean butter knife to drag lines up and down.
Good to know: If your cheesecake batter looks split/curdled after adding the sweet potato and pumpkin, don’t worry. Mine did this, but baked just fine.
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Variations
Here’s some flavor and decoration variation ideas:
- Not a pumpkin fan? — Use orange sweet potato instead.
- Layer instead of swirl — Try layering the orange and purple batters on top of one another to create a layered look when sliced into, instead of a swirl.
- No brown sugar? — The brown sugar in the crust can be swapped with granulated sugar.
Do you have any other variation suggestions? Let me know in the comments!
Equipment
I used a 9-inch springform pan with a removable bottom. If you don’t care about removing the cheesecake from the pan for serving you could also bake this in a 9x9 baking dish without a removable bottom.
For layering the batter I used piping bags, but you could also just spoon it in. I used a closed star pastry tip to pipe my whipped cream.
Storage
Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
Wrapped tightly, the baked cheesecake can be frozen for 3-4 months.
Top tip
Do not skip the water bath and gradual cooling if you want to prevent cracks in the cheesecake.
Lastly, if you make this Ube Pumpkin Cheesecake be sure to leave a comment or give this recipe a rating. I love to see when people make my recipes, so please tag me @youthsweets on Instagram if you post!
📖 Recipe
Ube Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ingredients
Graham cracker crust
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs from about 18 graham cracker sheets (250g)
- ⅓ cup brown sugar* (75g)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 7 tablespoon unsalted butter
Cheesecake
- 16 oz cream cheese softened (2, 8-oz packages)
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150g)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 oz sour cream room temperature (171g)
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup (75g)
- ½ cup ube halaya jam (125g)
- 1 ½ teaspoon ube flavoring
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree (175g)
- Orange and purple food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick spray.
- Whisk together the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar and salt. Add the melted butter and stir until thoroughly combined.
- Pat the mixture into the springform pan and up the sides. I like to use a wood tamper.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool.
Make the cheesecake base
- Whip the cream cheese in a medium bowl with beaters or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 3-4 minutes, until fluffy and no lumps remain.
- Add eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, sour cream and maple syrup. Beat until fully incorporated.
- Split the cheesecake batter evenly between two medium bowls. I like to use my kitchen scale for this.
Make the ube batter
- In one of the batter bowls, add the pureed purple sweet potato, ube flavoring and purple food coloring, if desired.
- Beat until thoroughly combined. Add more flavoring and food coloring, as needed. Set aside.
Make the pumpkin batter
- In the other batter bowl, add the pumpkin and orange food coloring.
- Beat until thoroughly combined. Add more coloring, as needed.
Layer the batter
- Lower the oven temperature to 325°F.
- Using piping bags or spoons, place blobs of the batter randomly in the mostly cooled graham cracker crust, layering the different batters until you have used about ¾ of each batter. Reserve the remaining batters.
- Drag a butter knife through the cheesecake a few times to create the swirl.
- To create the feathered top design, use the remaining batters to create thick, alternating lines on top of the swirled batter underneath. Drag the cleaned butter knife or a toothpick through the lines of batter up and down.
Bake in a water bath
- Create a bain-marie, or water bath, to prevent cracks in the cheesecake.
- There are two ways to do this. The easiest is by placing the cheesecake inside of a larger pan and placing that into an even larger pan. Fill the largest pan with boiling water at least half way up, but not so much that you risk water getting into the springform pan. I placed my cheesecake into a 10-inch round cake pan and placed that into a 12-inch round cake pan and then filled the 12-inch pan with boiling water.
- If you do not have pans that will work for this you can simply cut large pieces of foil to cover the bottom of the springform pan to ensure no water will get inside of the springform pan when placed into a larger dish filled with boiling water.
- Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour. The cheesecake is ready when it barely jiggles when gently shaken.
Cool gradually
- To further prevent cracks, let the cheesecake gradually cool. Leave the cheesecake in the oven and turn the oven off. I like to leave it there for about 15 minutes. Then, crack the oven door and let it sit for another 15-30 minutes.
- Then remove the cheesecake and let cool on the counter until almost completely cool. Finally, transfer to the refrigerator to let cool completely for at least 8 hours or overnight. Garnish with whipped cream before serving, if desired.
Instead of the purple sweet potato, can I use Ube jam/halaya?
Hi Matt! Yes, definitely! I think that would make the flavor even better. I will update the recipe card to include this.