Sweet Potato Cheesecake
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Sweet Potato Cheesecake is the perfect fall dessert recipe. Smooth, creamy filling in your favorite crust. Make this festive recipe for a Thanksgiving cheesecake.
There’s just something about the smooth, silky taste of this dessert that makes it one of my favorite sweet treats.
Have you had the chance to make any of our other cheesecake recipes?
Strawberry Cheesecake Trifle is a simple recipe that screams summer! With just 5 ingredients and 15 minutes you can whip up this incredibly impressive, crowd pleasing, layered dessert.
Hawaiian Cheesecake Salad comes together so simply with fresh tropical fruit and a rich and creamy cheesecake filling to create the most glorious fruit salad ever!
Every bite is absolutely bursting with island flavor, and you are going to go nuts over this recipe!
Strawberry Banana Cheesecake Salad recipe comes together with just 6 ingredients.
Rich and creamy cheesecake filling is folded into luscious strawberries and sweet banana to create the most amazing, glorious fruit salad ever!
What’s in Sweet Potato Cheesecake?
You will need the ingredients for the pie crust, sweet potato filling, and frosting. This is what goes into the filling for this delicious Thanksgiving cheesecake recipe.
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Light brown sugar
- Sweet potato (cooked in the microwave and mashed) – You can substitute the same amount of canned sweet potato if you don’t have fresh.
- Salt
In order for your sweet potato cheesecake to set up properly, you will need to use full fat ingredients.
Please don’t try to make it with light or low fat options.
If you do, the texture will be grainy. This is not what you should have in a creamy dessert like this one.
I use pre-made cream cheese frosting to save time when making this recipe. But, if you have a favorite homemade recipe you want to make, you can certainly use that instead.
Tools / equipment needed for this recipe
- 7 inch Spring-form pan
- Pastry bag
- Food processor (or blender)
- Leaf pie punches
FAQ & Recipe tips
Do you need a water bath for cheesecake?
A water bath is a way to cook cheesecake to prevent it from cracking. It requires placing the springform pan inside of a larger pan that you fill with water.
Instead of risking any water ending up in the cheesecake pan, use this water bath kitchen hack!
Place 1 cup of water in a small saucepan.
Set it on an oven rack below the rack that the cheesecake is on.
It is important that you use one of these two options, because a humid baking environment helps to prevent the top of the cake from cracking.
Why didn’t my dessert set up properly?
If the center of the cake is still jiggly, allow it to bake a little bit longer.
Baking can be tricky because the results can be affected by weather, oven conditions, and even elevation.
Also, if your sweet potato cheesecake came out jiggly in the middle, it might be because you didn’t chill it long enough after removing it from the oven.
Don’t skip this step; chilling the dessert gives it a firmer consistency.
Different crust ideas
I use a standard pie crust with this recipe so that I can use it to create the fall leaf cutouts which are a gorgeous accent for a Thanksgiving dessert. But, you have several other options as well.
- Graham cracker cookie crust
- Shortbread cookie crust
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Sweet Potato Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 sleeve of graham crackers
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
Cheesecake
- 24 ounces cream cheese, 3 8-ounce packages, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 3 large eggs
- 1/4 cup maple syrup, Pancake syrup
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 large sweet potato, cooked in the microwave and mashed
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- pinch salt
Pie Crust Leaves
- 1 package prepared Pie Crust, I used Pillsbury – found in the dairy section
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- Leaf cut outs, I used Williams Sonoma – see link
Frosting
- 1 can of Cheesecake frosting, Betty Crocker
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a 7 inch Spring-form pan with parchment paper.
- Place the sleeve of graham crackers and the sugar in a food processor, and pulse until the crackers are crumbs. Drizzle in the melted butter and mix well to blend.
- Pour the graham cracker mixture into the prepared pan. Press firmly and evenly to form the crust. Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Add the 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and a pinch of salt, and place the sweet potato in the food processor. Pulse the sweet potato until completely mashed.
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, place the softened cream cheese, and add the cup of sugar, and heavy cream. Mix on low, with the whisk attachment, until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix until well blended. Add the eggs, Maple Syrup, and 1/2 cup of brown sugar, Cinnamon, and mix until completely blended. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and blend again. Add the mashed sweet potato, and mix until well blended.
- Pour the Cheesecake into the Spring-form pan, and place in the oven at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
- After 50 minutes, turn the temperature down to 300, and bake another 30 minutes. The middle may be a little jiggly, but will firm up, and set in the refrigerator.
- PLACE A SMALL DISH OF WATER ON THE RACK, UNDER THE CHEESECAKE, IN THE OVEN, WHILE BAKING TO PREVENT CRACKING!
- When finished baking, remove from the Oven, and place on a wire rack to cool. When completely cooled, cover with Parchment paper, and then with Foil, and place in the refrigerator overnight. (I like to leave mine for 24 hours before removing it to make sure it has time to completely chill, and set).
- When the Cheesecake is baking: place the prepared pie crust on Parchment paper on the counter, and cut out the leaves to top the cheesecake. Place cut out leaves on a Parchment lined cookie sheet. Brush with melted butter.
- Mix the Cinnamon and sugar together, and sprinkle the leaves with the Cinnamon and sugar. When the Cheesecake is finished baking, place the cut out leaves in the oven, and bake until golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes – at 400 degrees.
- Before serving cheesecake, remove from the refrigerator, and remove the Spring-form from the pan.
- Place the cheesecake on a cake stand, or cake plate Place a large fluted tip in a pastry bag, and fill the pastry bag with the cream cheese frosting.
- Pipe large dollops of frosting around the top of the cheesecake, and small dollops all around the edge of the cake stand or cake plate (see photos).
- Place a baked cut out leaf in between the dollops of Frosting, on top of the cheesecake, and lay the remainder of the leaves all around the cake plate or cake stand to decorate cheesecake.
- Lay extra leaves on plates when serving. If not serving immediately, place decorated cheesecake in the refrigerator until time to serve. Serve, and Enjoy!
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published September 2020
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Looks yummy. Using pecan shortbread cookies to make the crust.
This is such a nice change from sweet potato casserole. I love making this for a nice cold treat during thanksgiving.