I made the Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake from RHC for Thanksgiving and while the cheesecake tasted wonderful, it was way too soft.  It did not have the texture of a cheesecake, more like a pudding. I followed the recipe exactly, I measure my ingredients using a kitchen scale, and I even used an oven thermometer. Has anyone had a similar experience with this cheesecake? I want to make it again because I love pumpkin cheesecake, but I don’t want it to be so soft. Any ideas of how I can fix this problem? Thank you!

My first thought is to check the egg and yolk weights, check that the pumpkin was sufficiently evaporated on the stove prior to mixing the custard, and check the final temp and that it’s chilled long enough.  Sounds like you probably did take care of those details, is that right? 

Rose’s goal for custard-based cakes (cheesecake, oblivion) is to create the softest, creamiest texture that will still be sliceable.  You may prefer a firmer cheesecake.  One way to firm it up might be to replace some of the cream with a smaller amount of butter, so that you retain the butterfat while reducing the water content.  For instance, if you’re using 36% butterfat cream and the recipe calls for 2 cups, try it with 1.5 cups of cream.  The missing half cup of cream would have about 42g of butterfat.  Replace it with 52g of butter, which has the same amount of butterfat as the missing cream.  And then you might need to trim the sugar back by a few grams to keep from making it sweeter by leaving out some of the water.  You could also cook the pumpkin longer to evaporate more of the water, though you’d have to be careful not to brown it.

Please report back if you try it again in a firmer version

Interesting…I have had some problems with Rose’s Cheesecakes too.  This Pumpkin CC is one recipe I have actually had some success with (I think I made a 6”)—in my experience, I’ve found it has to do with the final temperature.  I think Rose’s method really requires absolute perfection with oven temperature.  I’ve had the best results checking the internal temperature of the cheesecake to be around 150F (or slightly more ... never over 160F).  Of course, this is a bit tricky using Rose’s method—but it may be a good starting point to figure out your timing.

As for me,  I like the dense kind of cheesecake.  When I make cheesecake,  I use Junior’s NY recipe.  It is very dense and the crust is sponge cake and not graham.  Dense cheesecakes can take decorations on top like whipped cream or nuts or fruit.  Dense cheesecakes are easier to cut.

Thanks everyone for replying. I will try the recipe again for Christmas, using your suggestions and let you know how it goes!