Sweet Potato Cheesecake with Salted Caramel Sauce

Nicolette Stramara

by | Updated: November 11th, 2016 | Read time: 2 minutes

Some vegetables simply do not belong in dessert (ever!), while others turn out to be a sweet surprise. Of course, you’d rather not waste a bowl full of flour and eggs to realize you’ve made a no-good, very-bad mistake. Understood. Lucky for you (and your dishwasher), this gluten-free treat has already confirmed that adding sweet potato to cheesecake yields delightful results. The key is combining complementary flavors, such as a caramel topping and sprinkle of cinnamon, so the unsuspecting ingredient remains unsuspected.

Sliced Sweet Potato Cheesecake with Caramel #glutenfree | Vitacost.com/blog

Makes 16 servings (1 slice with sauce)
Macros per serving: 226 calories | 9.7 g protein | 26 g carbs | 9.6 g fat | 16.7 g sugar | 3.2 g fiber

Crust

3/4 cup Vitacost Organic Coconut Flour
1/4 cup Vitacost Almond Flour
1/4 melted Vitacost Organic Coconut Oil
1 scoop ARO Vanilla Whey Protein Complex
2 Tbsp. water
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. Vitacost Organic Ground Cinnamon

Cheesecake

1-1/2 cups cooked sweet potato, mashed
2 (8 oz.) packages reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
3/4 cup Vitacost Organic Grade B Maple Syrup
2 scoops ARO Vanilla Whey Protein Complex
2 tsp. Vitacost Organic Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 eggs, at room temperature

Sauce

1 cup dates, pitted (about 6)
1 cup water
1/4 tsp. sea salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together flours, protein powder, cinnamon and applesauce. Mix until crumbly. Add water and stir to incorporate. Mixture should hold its shape when pressed down.
  3. Spoon mixture into a 9-1/2-inch spring form pan. Press down and spread to cover the bottom of the pan. Bake 8 minutes, remove from oven and set aside.
  4. In a large mixing bowl, add sweet potato, cream cheese, yogurt and maple syrup. Beat until smooth.
  5. Stir in protein powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  6. Using a hand mixer on low speed, beat in eggs.
  7. Pour cheesecake filling into spring form pan and bake 75 minutes. Edges of cheesecake should be cooked but center may be slightly jiggly.
  8. Turn off oven and let cheesecake sit with door slightly opened for 1 hour.
  9. Prepare sauce in a small saucepan over low heat. Add dates, water and salt. Let it all cook, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Pour mixture into food processor and blend until smooth.
  10. Spoon sauce over top cheesecake before serving.