Dessert First! Decadent Pumpkin Torte
See that right there? That, my friends, is worth every anxiety attack I’ve had over the last week.
It begins with a sweet and crunchy cookie crust, topped with a layer of smooth and sweet cream cheese, then a light and airy pumpkin layer, and topped with freshly whipped cream and then lightly dusted with cinnamon. And do you know what? It tastes even better than it sounds. Here, have a bite.
See? I told you it was good. Melts right in your mouth, and has a little crunch from the cookie.
Pumpkin Torte is a dessert that has been with me for nearly my entire life. My grandma used to make it for special occasions, and then my mom made it too. This was my first try at making it, and Dear God it won’t be the last. In fact? I’m thinking of making it again for breakfast. We ate the whole freaking thing yesterday. My daughter? Ate 3 pieces. Big ones. My sister in law had 2 pieces, and my parents in law took some home for later too.
Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated here in Spain, and traditional American food is no where to be found (excluding fast food chains, which, in my not so humble opinion, don’t count), so it’s always a treat for me to be able to prepare a typical American feast for my family and friends. I made a huge herb roasted turkey (that sucker was 4 1/2 kilos!), with my mom’s bread stuffing, a giant pork roast, mashed potatoes with 2 gravies (turkey and pork), the famed green bean casserole (with homemade mushroom soup, though, no cans were opened in the making of this dish. lmao), sweet corn, and roasted pumpkin with butter and brown sugar. I forgot all about the sweet potatoes, they’re still in the pantry. Looks like I’ll be making sweet potato something this week. lmao I had every intention of photographing the spread at the table, but I was having too much fun (there was wine involved), and didn’t even think of the camera until everything was eaten. I could have taken pictures of the empty platters, but I don’t think that’d make for a very interesting post, do you? “This was the platter with the turkey on it. There’s none left, but see those stray bits? Gooood.” Nope, not a good post at all. So, we’ll just get to the dessert and fuggetabadit, k?
Ingredients:
24 graham crackers crushed (or 4 cups ground digestives)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup sugar
8 ounces (200 grams) cream cheese
2 cups roasted pumpkin, drained
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 tablespoons (to taste) pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves)
1 sheet gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
3 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream
Preheat oven to 350ºF/175ºC.
Mix graham crackers, sugar and butter and press in pan.
Mix eggs, sugar and cream cheese, and pour over crust.
Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Cook pumpkin, egg yolks, sugar, milk, salt and spices until mixture thickens.
Remove from heat and add gelatin which has been softened in cold water and mix well to dissolve the gelatin.
Cool completely.
Beat egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks form.
Fold into pumpkin mixture.
Pour over cooked baked crust.
Top with whipped cream and dust with cinnamon.
This is very “to die for”….Great to see your Thanksgiving spread turned out a success..all that food! And btw, cameras, food and wine are never a productive environment for photography…LOL!
Nikki, not only does this sound delicious, it also looks really sexy. How many ramekins did you get out of one recipe?
Yay Nikki! I knew you could pull off an early American Thanksgiving. Judging by the dessert you outdid yourself!!! You should have saved me one…
Thanks for the “bite”! Now you are just teasing cruelly, haha
I love these layered verrines– the striped pattern is just so whimsical and elegant at the same time.
What, no carcass pic? Hee hee!
Its sounds like a wonderful meal. I can’t believe you did turkey & pork! & that dessert, that looks to die for.
Nikki, that looks sublime. I can almost feel it on my tongue. I’m so happy your (early) T-day feast was a huge success!
muac!
this looks fantastic!!
OMG that looks off the charts incredible – I love this as away to change things up a bit but still keeping with the pumpkin tradition…
this looks fantastic!
Ahh, one never forgets a taste such as this one. Looks better than mine in the little rammekins. Almost heavenly!!!
jeeeez woman! kill us with words and photos why dontcha? this would be one of those unforgettable desserts…it’s pretty obvious
Yes, I can taste and hear the crunch, this looks decadent, just my kind of pleasure…so, so yummy.
Mmmm, Nikki this looks so good! It’s like a more decadent pumpkin cheesecake. I would have had 3 big pieces, too!
wow Nikki, this looks amazing, i’ll take 90 please
Oh my – I think I just died and went to heaven! This looks amazing.
OK – one more question… what size pan did you use?
this is so gorgeous!!! it looks like a trifle- i love how whipped cream is piled on like a snow covered mountain.
Ho-lee crap Nikki, that looks insane!
Sounds like your guests were very lucky Nikki!!!
Ok, I’m back again for a second look at this gorgeous ramekin dessert. You have an award waiting on our blog.
the phrase “lightly dusted with cinnamon” doesn’t exist in my world.
meanwhile, what a luscious treat! i’ll bet it goes down real nice.
Nikki…I am drooling. That looks absolutely fantastic!
i almost closed out of ur window when i saw the pic. im drooling over here as i force myself to to go the gym and work out for 2 hours so i can afford to eat all this goodness on thursday.
great pics, Nik.
Wow! Turkey and Pork?! Your amazing. That Pumpkin Torte is magnificent, I can only imagine, as my mouth is watering, how delicious it really is. I bet it just melts in your mouth.
Awww! Thanks so much everyone, for your deliciously sweet comments! Today is one of *those* days, and I really needed to smile. I appreciate that you all took the time to comment more than you know.
XOXO
Giz, I actually made this in a 9×13 pan, but I think you’d easily get 12, maybe even a couple more. And thank you so much for the award!
Kristen, I used a 9×13 pan.
Sorry you don’t get to celebrate Thanksgiving with all of the traditional stuff, but hopefully that Dessert makes you feel all that much better about it! Looks delish!
Hola guapa!!!! Que bien que lo habeis celebrado por todo lo alto
. Me hubiera encantado ver la mesa puesta con toda la comida…. otro año será ;D
The pictures you did shot of the pumpkin torte are spectacular
Oh my, looks so amazing!
Wow – decadent indeed!
-DTW
http://www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com
Nikki, I’m “all in”…sign me up for 3 servings…afterall, this is a meal replacement!
That looks amazing!
I think it would have been pretty darn funny if you had posted a few empty platter photos! But I do appreciate ,v ery much the photos of dessert. Can you say YUM? Yes, we can and yes, I will! Can’t wait to give this a try! Thanks for the recipe!
~ingrid
I must have it.
Wow, this looked so gooood, that I went out right away and bought all the ingredients to make it for my son that was visiting me for two days. (I was also planning an early Thanksgiving meal for him).
Although, I’m sure it’s as delicious as you say, I must tell you; it was a mess. I think there is something really wrong with adding (2) tablespoons of pumpkin spice mix. The flavor was sooo intense and bitter, that I added 4tbsp of sugar, 1 can of condensed milk, and doubled the whipped cream, and folded it in. I re-baked for 30min, and finally it turned out a bit better. Was still a bit bitter, but atleast was a bit more edible. Sorry, but I was thinking that it should have been (2)tsp instead of Tbsp’s.
Let me know if you can, I would really like to try it again your way….
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
The lack of American foods or ingredients was something we faced also while living in Romania last century.
So, you can imagine a jar of peanut butter was kept in a atomic bunker (read: fridge), in our home. Highly precious.
The nice thing about it is that we learned to improvise. So everything came out jazzy.
Great post – you should have photographed the empty plates!
Cheers!
Gabi @ Mamaliga.com
Thanks again, everyone for you kind words!
OMG Judy, I don’t know what could have gone wrong? I used the full 2 T, but I will ammend the recipe to read 1-2 T (to taste). I even thought it could do with *less* sugar, and was planning to lessen the amount the next time. I am so terribly sorry that it didn’t work out.
This looks soooo…. good!
Nikki:
My grandma also used to make Pumpkin Torte for the family. She taught me how to make it. Since she passed in 2003, the family makes me make it every Thanksgiving and Christmas! My recipe is slightly different than yours…but everyone always loves it and asks for the recipe.
Ami
Pumpkin Torte:
12 whole Graham Crackers (crushed-you’ll need a rolling pin)
? cup sugar
½ cup butter/margarine (melted)
(Mix ingredients together and line the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.)
2 eggs (beaten)
¾ cup sugar
1 8 oz package Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened)
(Mix together, then pour over graham cracker crust; bake for 20 minutes @ 350°F.)
2 cups pumpkin pie filling (15oz can-Libby’s brand)
3 egg yolks
½ cup sugar
½ cup condensed milk (Carnation brand is preferred)
(While the crust is baking, cook the above ingredients on the stove until the mixture thickens [5-10 minutes]. Remove from heat; add gelatin dissolved in cold water [see below], cool.)
1 envelope plain gelatin (Knox brand)
¼ cup cold water
3 egg whites
¼ cup sugar
(Beat fold into pan of pumpkin mixture, then pour the mixture over the crust.)
Chill for at least a few hours; overnight is preferable.
Cool Whip whipped topping
(When you are ready to serve the torte, spread whipped topping over the top of the pumpkin mixture.)
Optional: crushed walnuts on top.
(I would leave these next to the torte for people to put on top of their own piece since some people either do not like nuts or are allergic to them.)
I am SO making this next year. But wait! why wait? I’ll make it next week for a dinner party, it looks fabulous!!!
Happy thanksgiving! Miss ya!
i made this for out thanksgiving and just LOVED it, so light and airy, the perfect recipe~ only bad experience was i dropped one my shoe, i debated if i should eat it right off my toes, had it been the last one, i may have turned contortionist to try! thanks for the super dessert~
This looks AMAZING!!! I’m getting hungry just looking it. I’ll have to try it out!
Cheers!
Triple YUM!!!!!!!
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This looks great! I’ll try it for sure! Thanks for sharing with us your great recipes!