Carrot Cake Cheesecake

Ending week with sweet and spiced Carrot Cake Cheesecake for dessert! This gorgeous cake is ready to rock your next holiday party! I have made it as easy as mix, pour and bake in one pan at one time.

Oh, and don't forget the sour cream glaze with walnuts because those make this cake festive and pretty! 

Carrot Cake Cheesecake, as the name suggests, is two cakes in one. Base cake is a moist carrot cake. Top layer and swirls of sour cream cheesecake run through which gives this cake gorgeous layers of carrot cake and cheese cake.

Two Cakes Baked in One Pan:

The thought of making two cakes might intimidate someone. Honestly, it did intimidate me initially. So, I wanted to make this cake as easy as possible. I was not ready to bake two cakes at two different times . Rather wanted to bake them together, all in one pan. My eyes were all set on cheesecake swirls running through moist carrot cake. So, I researched and adapted from a couple of recipes to get my favorite cheese swirls and to baked everything in at one time.

Mel's Kitchen Cafe gave me perfect idea to bake both cakes together. Just making the batter with right consistency and then arranging the batter in dollops yields beautiful layers.

Sour Cream Glaze:

I did not want a heavy cream cheese frosting. So a little more research landed me on Food Network's  Carrot Cake Cheesecake which is baked as two layers but the sour cream glaze idea resonated with me immediately. I'm so happy I picked sour cream glaze because that makes this cake extra scrumptious. Not just flavor, I even love the look of glaze with toasted pecan-walnuts on top.

Does this cake look like ready for Holiday Celebrations or what? 

Spiced carrot cake with layers of cream cheese cheesecake, topped with shinny sour cream glaze and decorated with walnuts. I would love to serve it for any special occasion - Thanksgiving feast to formal birthday party.

Making of Carrot Cake Cheesecake:

Since cake is baked all at one time. The preparation time is reduced as well. I like to first start by whipping the cheesecake batter which is as easy as whipping soft cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and eggs together. It literally takes 5-8 minutes and I have one batter ready.

Carrot cake batter is same as the traditionally carrot cake batter. I mix the dry and wet ingredients for carrot cake in two separate bowls.  Wet ingredients include eggs, oil, and sour cream (yes, a lot of sour cream today!) Dry ingredients are flour, sugar, and warm spices that are normally added to a spiced carrot cake.

Just so you know, there is no butter in this cake. Replacing butter with oil and adding sour cream makes cake very moist and soft. 

Once the dry and wet ingredients are ready. I fold them until just combined. 

That's it! Now, it is the assembly time. And it is pure fun. You can adapt any way you like. I followed Mel's suggestion and layered half of carrot cake batter at the bottom. Then, I dollop remaining half of carrot cake batter and 1/3 of cheesecake batters in alternate fashion. (as evenly as possible.) Next, I pour in remaining 2/3 of cheesecake on top because I wanted a distinct cheesecake layer on top. Honestly, you can make any pattern you like. Just remember to start with carrot cake and end with cheesecake for nice looking presentation.

Once cake has baked, and cooled for 4-8 hours... I prepared sour cream glaze, pour over cake then chill it to set the layer. Just before serving it... I like to decorate it with walnuts or pecans or both :) 

Before baking my own, I had a similar cake in cheesecake factory. Actually, Cheesecake Factory's carrot cake cheesecake made me look for the recipe and try this cake at home. They have additional cream cheese frosting on the top but I'm so contended with cheesecake layer itself that just the glaze made it extra-special for me. I would not change a single thing in this cake.

Of course it needs little labor of love but we have saved a lot of time by baking both cakes together.. Turns out, it is is not as difficult as you might have thought looking at cheesecake factory's cake. What do you say?

I'm so glad to share this recipe with you. I hope you will get time to bake this awesome cake this weekend. You know it is good to rehearse and ready a picture perfect recipe for Thanksgiving dinner or any holiday gathering. Oh, I must tell you that this cake freezes beautifully. You can bake an extra and freeze it wrapped in plastic wrap.  Thaw it overnight and refrigerate. Glaze and decorate it before dessert course!

Enjoy your weekend! -Savita x