My attempt at making sweet potato cheesecake

September is birthday month in my family. First, it's my mom's birthday, then it's me and my sister's birthday (same day) and then it's my grandma's birthday. It's almost too much cake in one week! That being said, I found it necessary to try my cake baking skills for my mom's cake. What kind of cake did I decide on? Why not make use of the yam that's been sitting in the pantry for a while...voila, sweet potato cheesecake!

From what I've read, sweet potato cheesecake is quite common in the southern States, like Georgia. The sweet potato makes the cheesecake and other cakes very moist, and not to mention healthy too!
The recipe I got was from http://www.allrecipes.com and consisted of the following:

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 pounds sweet potatoes
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 7/8 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C ). Mix together graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup melted butter or margarine. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9 1/2 inch springform pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool. Don't turn the oven off.
2. Place potatoes in a baking dish. Bake until a knife inserted in center goes through easily, about 1 hour. Don't turn oven off. Cool sweet potatoes enough to handle, peel, and puree.
3. Transfer 1 1/2 cups of sweet potato puree to a large bowl. Add cream cheese, 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar, sour cream and 1/4 cup cream; beat until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, blending well after each. Pour filling into crust.
4. Bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour. Turn off the oven. Let cake stand 1 hour in oven with door ajar.
5. Combine brown sugar and 1/4 cup butter or margarine in a heavy small saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat, and bring to a boil. Mix in 1/4 cup cream, then nuts. Pour hot topping over cheesecake. Refrigerate.

Please ignore the melted purple icing flowers...

The recipe was very easy to following, and the outcome was great! I put a pan of water underneath the cake so it would not crack in the centre while baking. In addition to the recipe above, I swapped the graham cracker crust with a shortbread crust (I'm not a big fan of graham cracker crusts), added cinnamon to the filing (you can add nutmeg as well) and topped the cake off with toasted pecans I popped in the oven for about 15 minutes (I tossed the pecans in a little bit of oil and brown sugar). This added a lot more flavour to the cake and brought the sweet potato even more, I think.

All in all, the cake was a success! My whole family enjoyed it, as well as my boyfriend. The cake wasn't too sweet and everything was natural and free of preservatives. You can store the cake for about a week, perhaps even longer, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Verdict: scrumptious!

Visit http://www.allrecipes.com for more great recipes.