Pumpkin Cake Cheesecake

Two desserts in one topped with a luscious cream cheese frosting - pumpkin pie just can't compete!

If you're here, I am going to assume it's because you have seen the title and are in awe that such a thing can exist. When I saw this recipe on Sally's Baking Addiction, I did the same thing. It's such a gorgeous, wonderful dessert. It also isn't nearly as difficult as I had imagined it would be. And it got rave reviews at Thanksgiving. My brother actually asked for me to make it for his birthday in March. :) Basically what you have is a layer of pumpkin cake, a layer of cheesecake, a layer of pumpkin cake, and then another layer of cheesecake. All of that is topped with a cream cheese frosting and pecans.  I honestly have never had anything so amazing in my life.

It is something you will want to make a day before you need it because it does require some cooking, cooling to room temperature, and chilling the refrigerator, but it is SO worth it. You can make your cream cheese frosting the day of baking the cake cheesecake, but will definitely want to wait until it is finished chilling to frost it.

Also in the ingredient list you will find where it says to blot the pumpkin puree to get some of the moisture out. The purpose of getting extra moisture out is so that your cake won't sink and be really flat. The way Sally said to do it was to line a large bowl with a double layer of paper towels, pour your pumpkin in the bowl and then use another paper towel to blot the pumpkin.

And I had to include a picture of what the cake looks like prior to baking. Nothing super pretty and NOT swirled with a knife. Don't do that! :)