This here, is the James Dean of cakes.

And it’s that rebel without a cause quality that makes it a perfect and unexpected dessert to bring along to parties. For a while it will sit out on the table, surrounded by safer options: cookies, lemon bars. Guests will stare at it with wonder and amazement, but no one will want to be the one who crosses the room to make the first move, until finally, someone’s sweet tooth gets the best of them. And the rest quickly follow, digging in forks, licking sticky fingers.

This cake reawakens carnal dessert love that has long been repressed by rational, vegetable-eating grownups. As we move into the season of holiday eating, it just might be the perfect time to shake things up, lest we start drowning in a peppermint sea at those holiday parties this year.

Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake
From Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

I don’t know why I waited so long to try this cake out. I made a four inch version as a dry run and the pictures you see above came from that testing session. Expect yours to have much larger and more beautiful slender pieces (as opposed to my cartoonish-looking slice, which was only about an inch in actual side.

Watch the caramel closely – there’s a fine balance between light and too dark with caramel. Keep a spoon and a white plate handy to test for color and remember, caramel is the most dangerous thing in the kitchen – if you touch it, it burns like crazy! Keep a bowl of ice on hand, just in case.

For the cake:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 large eggs
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the topping:

2 cups sugar
½ cup water
1 ½ tablespoon light corn syrup
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup salted peanuts

Butter the bottom and sides of an 8 inch springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper, and butter the parchment. Put the pan on a baking sheet with edges.

To make the cake: Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together. Melt chocolate and butter together using a double boiler.

In a large bowl whisk the eggs and sugars together until well blended. Whisk in the corn syrup, followed by the vanilla. Whisk in the melted butter and chocolate. Still working with a whisk, gently stir in the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. You will have a thick, smooth, shiny batter. Pour the batter into the pan and jiggle the pan a bit to even out the batter.

Bake the cake at 350F for 40-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre comes out almost clean (what sticks should resemble sticky crumbs, not molten cake batter). Transfer the pan to a rack and cool he cake for 15 minutes, then run a knife between the cake and the pan and remove the sides of the pan. During baking the cake probably will have puffed to the top of the pan don’t be concerned if tit sinks a little or it if develops a crater in the center. Cool the cake to room temperature.

When the cake is completely cool, invert it, remove the base of the pan and peel off the paper. Wash and dry the springform pan, and return the cake to it right side up. Refasten the sides around the cake.

To make the topping:

Put the sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan, stir just to combine the ingredients and then put the pan over medium-high heat. Heat, without stirring , until the caramel turns deep amber., 5-10 minutes. Lower the heat a bit and, standing back from the saucepan add the cream and butter. When the spatters are less vehement, stir to calm down the caramel and dissolve any lumps. Stir in the peanuts, and pour the caramel and peanuts into a 1-quart Pyrex measuring cup or heat proof bowl.

Spoon the peanuts on top of the cake. Then spoon the caramel on top of those. You’ll have a layer about ¼ inch high. Allow the topping to set to room temperature-about 20 minutes before serving. Try to get all of the peanuts onto the cake, and reserve excess caramel for drizzling when serving.

To serve, run a blunt knife between the caramel and the pan and simply remove the sides of the springform. If this isn’t the case, hit the sides with some hot air from a hairdryer or wrap the sides in a towel moistened with hot water. Drizzle additional caramel over the cake and allow it to run over the sides.

Now, fully immersed in the world of artisan bread and lacking the bandwidth to deal in much else, I’m even more inclined to gab on about baking, yeast fermentation in all of its forms, steam injection ovens, the nuances of temperature in dough structure, blah, blah, blah. I’ll let you in on a little secret if you ever attend cooking school – not many people outside of the food industry care about these things.





One guy politely asked me the difference between baking soda and baking powder, just because he at least knew that they both went into some banana bread that he’d made with his girlfriend. I don’t think he expected the ten minute explanation I gave him, which might explain why his eyes glazed over and he started slowly backing away from me and looking around for someone to come rescue him from our conversation.





Luckily, there’s cake baking to distract me from bread baking. I enjoyed a beautiful Saturday morning market trip, and my haul was full of incredible goodies, reminding me, just like our first sunny week since April, that summer is finally here.





These are the happy months when I go to the market each week, buy whatever tickles me, and then come home and plow through my cookbooks and binders of recipes, deciding what to do with it all. Dorie Greenspan has so many recipes that are market-ready, it’s no surprise that I keep coming back to her again and again. She saved me from being a complete social pariah this weekend, because hey, the baking nerd may be boring, but damn, she makes one fine cake.


With the tart plums offset perfectly by the delicate sweetness of this moist cake, this is one fine cake, indeed.

Dimply Plum Cake

Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Serves 8

1 1/2 cups all purpose four

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/3 cup canola oil

Grated zest of one lemon

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

8 purple or red plums, halved and pitted

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter an 8×8 baking pan, flour the bottom and sides, and set aside.

2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and ground cardamom.

3. In a stand mixer, cream the butter with the brown sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the oil, lemon zest and vanilla. Reduce the speed and add the flour mixture, and mix only until just incorporated. Pour the batter in the prepared dish, smooth the top and arrange the plums on top, cut side up. I found it was useful to arrange them 4×4.

4. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean and the top is brown with the plums set well into the cake. Let cool for at least 15 minutes (the juices of the plums will get sucked back into the fleshy parts of the fruit) before loosening the edges of the cake with a knife and inverting the cake on a baking rack. Return the cake to face up and cool the rest of the way.

For a little while now I’ve been hiding a big secret. It’s incredible, life changing news, and I’m completely surprised that I managed to keep on writing about avocado-mango salsa, strawberry cream tart, and the stand-alone amazingness of artichokes as if nothing else was happening all of this time.

I feel bad about it, since it’s a clear violation of the unwritten clause of honesty in the East Village Kitchen constitution. For that I am sorry. Will you forgive me once I’ve come clean and let me back in the circle? It’s really good news. And I’m hoping that once I share it here, it will feel real for the first time.

I’m leaving my job to become a bread baker and pastry chef.

I got butterflies in my stomach just writing it here. These butterflies and I have become my partners in crime over the past few weeks. They were all aflutter the day I broke the news to my parents during their visit to New York, and no sooner did I overhear Brian telling his folks on the phone one night, then there they were again.

And again when I clicked the submit button on each of my applications. And when I told my boss earlier this week that I’m leaving the company at the end of the month. And there they were again today when he made the announcement to my colleagues this afternoon.

The best part is that the butterflies are markedly absent in the moments that I’ve been telling my friends, one by one. Aiming at discretion, I’ve been settling for cryptic Facebook messages, random phone calls, and, my personal favorite, the text message.

My friends and relatives are the greatest ever, and of course, and all of the feedback has been nothing but supportive. In many cases it was like I was the last one to know – for those who know me, this decision was a foregone conclusion.

Still, if I sit long enough alone with my thoughts, my fiercely-practical inner voice starts telling me how stupid it is to throw years of work away at one career to start from scratch in another. And go into debt. In an economic environment that continues to spiral steadily downward. And the poverty of being a student. And the hideous hours that bakers and pastry chefs keep. And the shift to having to rely on my partner to carry the burden of keeping a roof over our heads. 

And speaking of that partner, I am the luckiest woman on Earth. What I am about to do is not easy, and is, to say the least, risky. Yet, of all the supportive people backing my decision to go to culinary school, Brian has witnessed each part of the process, heard my arguments to try to talk him out supporting me, as I am wired to do, by throwing every negative dart and possibility up against my own plan, and yet, he remains rigidly positive.

So last night, while frustrated by being bumped off the Sallie Mae website thrice while attempting to complete a loan application, only to come up with a 14% interest rate, and just having read the New York Times article about how broken and backwards the student loan system is in the first place, I paused. I thought about Brian, working away at the office with his team on a deadline, and I thought about how much I had always admired his passion for entrepreneurship, and reflected, wow, I am entirely too lucky. I immediately decided to bake this cake for his team, who is working so hard, because at the moment it was the most romantic gesture I have the means to summon. Unfortunately, for the next few years, baked goods are going to be the only tangible way I’ll be able to express my love and gratitude, but this cake was a wonderful way to start.

Mocha-Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake Recipe
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
 

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup finely ground walnuts

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 sticks plus 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup coffee, hot or cold

1 tsp. finely ground instant coffee or instant espresso powder

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup whole milk, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Use a 12 cup bundt pan. Don’t put it on a baking sheet – you want the heat to circulate through the Bundt’s inner tube.

Whisk together the flour, ground walnuts, baking powder and salt.

Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Put 2 tbps. of the butter into the bowl, along with the coffee, chocolate and instant coffee. Heat the mixture, stirring often, until melt and smooth and creamy. Remove from heat. (I do this step in the microwave, stirring every 20 seconds. It doesn’t take long.)

Beat together the remaining butter and the sugar at medium speed for about 3 minutes – you’ll have a thick paste; this won’t be light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. The mixture should look smooth and satiny. Beat in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer to low and add the dry ingredients and the milk alternately, adding the dry in 3 portions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry).

Scrape a little less than half the batter into the bowl with the chocolate mixture and, using a spatula, blend thoroughly.

Either layer the two batters or alternate spoonfuls of light and dark batter in the pan. When all the batter is in the pan, swirl a knife sparingly through the batters to marble them.

Bake for 60-75 minutes or until a thin knife insereted deep into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the Bundt pan to a rack and let cool for 10 minutes before unmolding, then cool the cake completely on the rack.

When the weather gets warmer, there’s nothing like a nice, light dessert to round out a grilled meal. 

To ring in the georgeous weather in the forecast for the upcoming weekend, I’ve decided to let the photos speak for themselves.

You know where I’ll be on Sunday afternoon.

 As soon as I’ve recovered from the conference I’m working this week in DC.

Brian, get an extra big bag of that rockin’ hardwood charcoal.

And make sure the grill is nice and clean. I’ll reward you with strawberry rhubarb goodness, spooned over cake as light as air. Hurrah! Summer!

Angel Food Cake with Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce
Adapted from Gourmet, May 1993

Cake:

1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)

1 2/3  cups sugar

1 3/4 cups egg whites (about 13 large egg whites)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon rosewater (available at specialty foods shops) if desired

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Sauce

4 cups sliced, cored strawberries

1 cup chopped rhubarb

Sugar to taste

Make the cake:

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Sift the flour 3 times onto a sheet of wax paper. Sift together the sifted flour and 2/3 cup of the sugar onto another sheet of wax paper. In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat the egg whites until they are frothy, add the salt and the cream of tartar, and beat the mixture until it barely forms soft peaks. Beat in the remaining 1 cup of sugar, a little at a time, the rosewater, and the vanilla and beat the mixture until it holds soft peaks. Sift one fourth of the flour mixture over the whites, fold it gently but thoroughly, and sift and fold in the remaining flour mixture in the same manner. Spoon the batter into a very clean, ungreased tube pan, 10 by 8 1/4 by 4 1/4 inches, preferably with a removable bottom, smoothing the top, and rap the pan on a hard surface twice to remove any air bubbles. Bake the cake in the middle of the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until it is springy to the touch and a tester comes out clean. If the pan has feet invert it over a work surface; otherwise invert it over the neck of a bottle. Let the cake cool for at least 2 hours or overnight. Run a thin knife in a sawing motion around the edge of the pan and the tube to loosen the cake from the pan and invert the cake onto a cake plate.

Make the sauce:

Core the strawberries and slice them into small pieces. Wash the rhubarb and cut off any leaves so you have smooth stalks. Chop them into small pieces. Place the chopped strawberries and rhubarb in a small saucepan over low to medium heat. Add a little sugar and a few tablespoons of water. Cook the strawberries and rhubarb until the get soft, stirring frequently, mashing.  Simmer until most of the liquid has cooked away and add sugar to taste. Remove for heat and allow to cool for at least ten minutes before serving (it is fine to chill the sauce completely, if you prefer).

This recipe has a sad name, which, I hope, will not mislead.  When I first saw it, I was reminded of this night when I was out with some girlfriends a few years back and I was in a really dark mood. I’m talking apocalyptic, what’s-the-point-because-with-global-warming-the-planet-is-doomed, we’re-all-food-for-the-wor

ms-anyways kind of dark. My friends drew stares from fellow restaurant patrons as they all, in unison, made these “Wotttt wahhh” sounds, which in my TV-less existence prompted me to google the SNL Debbie Downer sketch.

That is the opposite mood of this cake, the “upside-downer”, which is filled with optimism and light. And even though I have tons of cake recipes from other cookbooks, I can’t stop going for the Dorie Greenspan. I’m addicted, probably because every single recipe I’ve tried has turned out so drop dead perfect.

This recipe was so timely. No sooner had I flipped through my dog-eared copy of Baking: From My Home to Yours, than I stumbled upon this recipe. Which reminded me of that sad, aimless bag of cranberries that was sitting in the fridge, waiting to go bad in a month or so.

To make whole cranberries sweet, you nestle them into a syrup at the bottom the the pan. The oven does the rest, and the cranberries come out, almost completely intact, on the top of the cake when you invert the pan.

As with each cake recipe from Ms. Greenspan, the batter is simple. By following the sequence of directions, it is utterly foolproof.

Carefully smooth the batter over the cranberries and syrup. If you have leveled the cranberries well and anchored them in the syrup, very few will migrate up into the batter.

I brought this cake to Mike and Jo’s to round out our delicious small-plates meal. We picked at the cake as we attempted to decipher the convoluted rules of an impossible, cult-followed board game called El Grande and worked on what must have been our fourth bottle. At one point Mike began skimming off the cranberry topping, which he proclaimed to be the best part. I agreed.

Cranberry Upside-Downer Cake

Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp salt

1 ¾ sticks (14 tablespoons) butter

1 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar

¼ cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I used pecans)

2 cups cranberries

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup whole milk

1/3 cup red currant jelly, for glazing (I omitted this and it still looked and tasted lovely, and in addition, made it easier to transport to Brooklyn)

Preheat oven to 350. Put an 8 inch round pan on a baking sheet. I used a springform and the baking sheet was a necessity. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan. Sprinkle in 6 tablespoons of the sugar and cook, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Pour this into the bottom of the pan then scatter over the nuts and top with the cranberries. If frozen berries cause the butter to congeal, don’t worry, everything will melt in the oven.

Using a stand mixer, beat the remaining stick of butter until smooth. Add the remaining ½ cup sugar and beat until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating one minute between each. Pour in the vanilla. Add half the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear. Mix in the milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Spoon the batter over the cranberries, and smooth the top.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Carefully turn out onto a serving platter. Warm the jelly and brush over the cake.

The biggest problem with keeping cookbooks in the bedroom is that some mornings, as soon as my eyes open, I’ll find myself with a rumbling stomach, gazing over at book after book containing endless possibilities for curbing my hunger. With blueberries burning a hole in my fridge and a running streak of 3 for 3 with the recipes of baking goddess Dorie Greenspan, I didn’t even need coffee for my brain to process the next logical step.

Because when the blueberries are this plump and beautiful (let’s ignore that this is January for the moment)…

And there’s an abundance of crumbly, buttery topping…

And a sunny lemon zest…

How could I possibly resist this super-easy recipe?

One of the best parts is making the “zested sugar” by rubbing the sugar and zest together between two fingers. It smells like fresh lemonade in your mixing bowl and creates a subtle citrus flavor that lingers with each bite.

Carefully fold the blueberries into this rather thick batter to keep them from bursting and turning your batter purple.

With a recipe this easy, the hardest part is waiting the full hour it takes to bake it (it may be a little more or a little less in your own oven). It was a wonderful treat, especially at the end of a week-long juice fast. Now that’s what I call breakfast! There was plenty left for Brian to take with him to the office, which is good, because who needs delicious cake in the kitchen to tempt them all afternoon?

Blueberry Crumb Cake
adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

For the crumbs:

5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

For the cake:

1 pint (2 cups) blueberries (preferably fresh, or frozen, not thawed)

2 cups plus 2 tsp all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

2/3 cup sugar

grated zest of 1/2 lemon or 1/4 orange

3/4 stick (6 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 and place the rack at the middle position in the oven. Butter an 8-inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.

To make the crumbs: Put all the ingredients except the nuts in a food processor and pulse just until the mixture forms clumps and curds and holds together when pressed. Scrape the topping into a bowl, stir in the nuts and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface. Refrigerate until needed. (Covered well the crumb mix can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)

To make the cake: Using your fingertips, toss the blueberries and 2 tsp of the flour together in a small bowl just to coat the berries; set aside. Whisk together the remaining 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Working in the bowl of a stand mixer or in another large bowl, rub the sugar and zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the butter and, with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the sugar with the butter at medium speed until light, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, beating for about 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla extract. Don’t be concerned if the batter looks curdled — it will soon smooth out. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately, the flour in 3 parts and the buttermilk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients.) You will have a thick, creamy batter. With a rubber spatula, gently stir in the berries.

Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top gently with the spatula. Pull the crumb mix from the fridge and, with your fingertips, break it into pieces. There’s no need to try to get even pieces — these are crumbs, they’re supposed to be lumpy and bumpy and every shape and size. Scatter the crumbs over the batter, pressing them down ever so slightly.

Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until the crumbs are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool just until it is warm or until it reaches room temperature.

In addition to my apple pie, I wanted to bring something new to the thanksgiving table this year. Brian’s mom hosted 23 people for dinner and I wanted to bring something a little unusual, a decadent crowd-pleaser that would be rich and memorable. Cheesecake was the answer, and pumpkin at that, to be seasonal. Done and done. In my wildest dreams I never would have guessed that my first cheesecake would come out so perfectly baked, creamy yet light, and astoundingly delicious (if I do say so myself).

The cheesecake being difficult thing is a myth. The crust is born in the food processor. I am sad to say that the biggest ingredient in the crust is a big no no – a store bought cookie, so full of preservatives that it had probably been sitting on the shelf of my local Rite Aid for ten years before I came along and bought it along with my shampoo and moisturizer. Next time I’ll make my own and I’ll probably use ginger snapish cookies instead. Not that my crust wasn’t great. It WAS.

After all, what could be bad if it involves butter, nuts, sugar, brown sugar, and a classic processed cookie-food?

Be sure to use a springform pan for this recipe and to refrigerate the crust for an hour before adding the filling.

A few weeks ago I bought a sugar pumpkin at the greenmarket and practiced cooking it into mush and straining out all the liquid with a cheesecloth with the intention of doing the same for my thanksgiving dessert. Unfortunately, I just started a new job and didn’t have the time. I did opt for the organic pumpkin in a can, if that is any consolation.

Cooking with booze (both in a glass and in your food) is always fun, and this cheesecake was no exception. This photo is slightly misleading because I did not end up using my homemade vanilla extract in this recipe – it turned out that it is still not ready.

I began whisking in the stand mixer, which turned out to be a little silly. I recommend whisking the pumpkin etc. in a separate bowl and using the stand mixer for the cream cheese mixture instead.

I was concerned that the recipe was calling for an overpowering amount of spice, but the prescribed amounts turned out to be spot-on for a subtle, hint of pumpkin pie flavor. If subtlety is not your thing, add more.

Whip the spices into the cream cheese. I recommend that you use a stand mixer or electric hand mixer if you have one, but a crank hand mixer will do the job – eventually. The more room temperature your cream cheese is, the better.

Once the cream cheese is smooth, add the pumpkin mixture.

Be sure to bake this on top of a cookie sheet in the oven – springform pans are not water-tight!

I got the above result after about 50 minutes of baking. The center felt “springy” at 40 minutes, but I was parinoid and baked it ten additional minutes from that point, just to be sure. I’m glad that I did.

The topping is very easy, it’s just sour cream, a little sugar, and a little burbon. Brian said not enough bourbon, but at this point in the game, I was not going to experiment. It goes back in the oven for an additional 5 minutes after the topping.

I was really happy with the results. It was my first cheesecake, and I knocked it out of the park. It was a perfect finish to an amazing meal (thanks Merri!). Creamy and smooth, surprisingly light, with a hint of pumpkin pie.

Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake
Adapted from Gourmet November 2003

For crust

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (from five 4 3/4- by 2 1/4-inch crackers)

1/2 cup pecans (1 3/4 ounces), finely chopped

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For filling

1 1/2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin

3 large eggs

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon bourbon liqueur or bourbon (optional)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

For topping

2 cups sour cream (20 ounces)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon bourbon liqueur or bourbon (optional)

Garnish: pecan halves

Make crust:
Invert bottom of a 9-inch springform pan (to create flat bottom, which will make it easier to remove cake from pan), then lock on side and butter pan.

Stir together crumbs, pecans, sugars, and butter in a bowl until combined well. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and 1/2 inch up side of pan, then chill crust, 1 hour.

Make filling and bake cheesecake:
Put oven rack in middle position and Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, cream, vanilla, and liqueur (if using) in a bowl until combined.

Stir together granulated sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt in large bowl. Add cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium, then add pumpkin mixture and beat until smooth.

Pour filling into crust, smoothing top, then put springform pan in a shallow baking pan (in case springform leaks). Bake until center is just set, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool 5 minutes. (Leave oven on.)

Make topping:
Whisk together sour cream, sugar, and liqueur (if using) in a bowl, then spread on top of cheesecake and bake 5 minutes.

Cool cheesecake completely in pan on rack, about 3 hours.

Chill, covered, until cold, at least 4 hours. Remove side of pan and bring to room temperature before serving.

Cooks’ note:

Baked cheesecake can be chilled, covered, up to 2 days.