Pumpkin Cheesecake Cake

Instructions

To Make the Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
2. Grease two 9-inches round cake pans with baking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper, set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl place white cake mix, oil, and egg whites. Mix for 2 minutes, scraping down the bottom with a spatula as needed. Fold in 1 cup of chopped pecans and divide the mixture equally into prepared pans. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

To Make the Pumpkin Cheesecake:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
2. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with baking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.
3. Beat softened cream cheese with sugar, light brown sugar, flour, and vanilla until smooth. Mix in sour cream and spices.
4. Running your mixer on low speed, add eggs and mix to combine. Scrape the bottom with the spatula as needed.
5. Finally, mix in pumpkin puree and pour the mixture into the springform pan, smooth the top, and bake for about 60-70 minutes or until the center has set. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake inside with the door cracked open for 30 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven, cool to room temperature, then chill in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

To Make the Frosting:

1. Mix the butter and cream cheese, vanilla, and salt on medium speed until no lumps remain. Do not overbeat before the sugar was added or may end up with runny frosting.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar until desired sweetness and thickness are reached. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat until smooth.

Assembling the Cake:

1. Place one layer of cake onto a serving plate and top with 1 cup of cream cheese frosting. Place pumpkin cheesecake layer and top with 1 cup of frosting. Finally, top with the second cake layer and frost the cake with the remaining frosting. Reserve some frosting for decoration. Place the cake in the fridge to set the frosting before decoration.
2. Drizzle caramel sauce on the edges, sprinkle chopped pecans on top, transfer the remaining frosting in a piping bag with a 1M tip and make the swirls.
3. Store in the fridge.