If you love regular cheesecake AND pumpkin cheesecake, you'll love this delicious swirled cheesecake! It's pretty simple to make and the results will impress!

The recipe, from Sally's Baking Addiction, uses purchased gingersnap cookies as the crust. She adds more spices to the crust, but we omit them here because we felt our cookies were plenty spicy! You can also make a graham cracker crust if you prefer. 

Our photos and video show us preparing a smaller, 7-inch, cheesecake. If you'd like to do the same, you'll need to use 60 percent of the ingredients below, designed for a traditional 9- or 10-inch cheesecake.

She also provides directions for a traditional water bath for your cheesecake. We prefer not to have our cheesecake in a bain marie. We use a water-filled pan below the cheesecake and add it to the oven as it warms up. It makes the oven nice and steamy. Perfect for minimizing cracks in your cake!

We didn't follow the instructions for tenting your cheesecake with foil to avoid browning. You'll see ours got a little too brown on top, but it still tasted delish :)
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Crust

• 1 and 1/2 cups (150g) store-bought gingersnap cookie crumbs
• 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons; 60g) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar

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Cheesecake

• four 8-ounce blocks (904g) full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup (80g) full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice​​

We usually prefer easy baking. Because, let's be honest, we're all busy - especially this time of year. We tried this cake, from Cooks Illustrated, because it promised to deliver a delicious apple-y cake without any gummy spots that commonly occur when you add apples to a large cake. They claimed that reduced apple cider and shredded apples are the keys to a perfect cake. Also, they insisted that the cake should be baked only in a bundt to avoid those gummy areas in the center.

So did it deliver? Well, sort of. The cake was beautifully baked, moist and firm, and looks pretty. No gummy, gooey spots. But we didn't feel that the apple flavor came through all that well. In the softer bottom of the cake it was a little more apparent. But overall, although our tasters agreed it was good, they felt they tasted more spice and less apple than promised. Was it worth all the effort? Not so sure.

If you're an apple lover and want to try it, here's the skinny:

You will used reduced apple cider in the cake and in the two-layer glaze. It's takes quite a while to reduce a quart of apple cider to one cup. And you need to be around to make sure it doesn't get too low. If you have access to apple cider syrup or want to purchase some online, this will make this cake so much easier. We reduced our own in a saucepan, not a skillet. We've had some issues in the past with burning while reducing, so took the lower, slower method.

The shredded apples were simple in our food processor. You can use a box grater as well. We used Honeycrisp for a slightly sweeter cake. You can use any apple that holds up to baking.

If you're wondering about the weird quantities, we altered the recipe so it can be made in your mixer and baked in a standard 10-cup bundt pan. The original was for a 12-cup pan - and hardly anyone has one of those!

• 10-cup non-stick bundt pan
• Rimmed baking sheet and wire rack that fits inside
• 3-3/4 cups apple cider for reduction or 1 cup apple cider syrup
• 1-1/4 pounds peeled and shredded Granny Smith apples (about 2-1/2 cups)
• 13 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 1-1/4 cups dark brown sugar, packed
• 3 large eggs
• 1-3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3-1/4 cups less 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1-1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 scant teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoons rounded of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 scant teaspoon ground allspice
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

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Apple Cider Reduction and other prep

1. Bring cider to a boil in a 12-inch skillet or heavy 2 quart saucepan. Cook until reduced to 1 cup:  20-25 minutes in skillet or 45 minutes to 1 hour in saucepan. Set aside and allow to cool.
2. While cider is reducing, adjust oven to middle rack and set the temperature to 350F.
3. Grease and flour a 10-cup bundt pan or spray heavily with cooking spray that includes flour. Make sure you get all the nooks and crannies well.
4. Peel, core and shred apples. Set aside.
5. Whisk together in a medium bowl: flour, spices and baking powder and soda. Set aside.
6. In a small bowl, set aside 2 Tablespoons cider reduction and whisk together with confectioners' sugar to form an icing. Cover and set aside.
7. In another small bowl, set aside 8 Tablespoons cider reduction for use in glazing the cake.

Cake

1. Using your stand mixer fitted with SideSwipe, cream together butter and brown sugar on medium to medium high speed until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs one a time on medium speed until well combined.
3. Add vanilla, then mix. Add apple cider, then mix until combined. Batter will be loose and soupy at this point.
4. Add shredded apples, then mix on medium speed until well incorporated.
5. On low speed, add the flour mixture about a cup at a time, mixing on low each time. Mix until the flour is almost incorporated. Do NOT overmix this batter. Remove from mixer and complete the last couple of folding motions with your spatula.
6. Pour into your prepared bundt pan and smooth the top of the batter.
7. Place filled bundt on a baking sheet and place in your heated oven.
8. Bake until a tester comes out clean, about 55 minutes to 70 minutes,
9. Allow the cake to cool in the pan about 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack inserted into a rimmed baking pan for glazing.
10. Brush the top and sides of the cake with the 8 Tablespoon of reduced cider you reserved earlier. Allow cake to cool for 20 minutes.
11. Stir icing to loosen the texture, then drizzle evenly over the cake. Allow cake to cool at least two hours before serving.
12. Cake can be kept, wrapped loosely with plastic wrap, at room temperature for up to 3 days. In fact, we think the apple flavor improved with at least a day's wait.

These tasty little maple-flavored cakes would make a lovely addition to your Thanksgiving or fall party. They can be made in a muffin tin, but a special pan from Nordic Ware creates cute 2-inch leaf, acorn, pumpkin and turkey shapes. We've tried a couple recipes in the pan and have yet to find one that really sets off the shapes. We think if you overbake the batter, it will show the shape better. But we'd rather have a tasty cake than a cute shape!

This is the recipe the company suggests for the pan. We preferred our own cinnamon swirl pound cake for flavor, but this recipe showed off the shapes a little better. It's tasty, too.

We tried using a thin icing and a light cinnamon sugar coating to boost flavor, but that obscured the cute shapes. We'll try more batters in it soon, and will update this post with additional results. Let us know if you have any suggestions!

Makes 14-15 cakelets or 12 small muffins (not mini).
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• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup milk, room temperature
• 1-1/2 teaspoons maple extract
• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 cup maple syrup, for glazing after baked

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Spray cavities in pan well with cooking spray plus flour, or spray then flour the pan. Set aside.
3. In a measuring cup, add maple extract to milk and set aside.
4. In your mixer fitted with SideSwipe, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy. 
5. Add in eggs one at a time, mixing on medium speed each time until incorporated. The batter will look a bit like cottage cheese at this point. Add the milk mixture, then beat for another minute.
6. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients. Mix just until incorporated.
7. Divide the batter into the pan, filling each about 3/4 full. Using a small spatula, push the batter into the nooks and crannies of the pan. You will have some extra batter. Save to make a few extra cakelets in a second batch. If you are making in a muffin tin, just divide into 12 muffins. Tap the bottom of the pan on the counter to release any bubbles.
8. Bake for about 18-21 minutes, until the edges turn a golden brown color.
9. Remove pan from oven. Allow the cakelets to cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
10. Invert the cakes onto a wire rack.
    

If you want to eat them the same day: Brush with maple syrup while the cakes are still warm. This helps bring out the design and add a little moisture to the cakes.
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If you are baking for a later date: Freeze the cakes un-glazed in a tightly sealed container for up to two weeks. Thaw overnight in the fridge and glaze with maple syrup when they're ready to serve.

We will earn a referral fee from Amazon if you order a pan from these links.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup finely ground cornmeal
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 7 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup plain or fruit yogurt 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Finely grated zest of one medium orange
• 1-3/4 cups dried, sweetened cranberries
• Powdered sugar, for dusting
• 12-inch cast iron pan, ceramic pan or equivalent
• ​Zester/rasp

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