Pumpkin Bavarian Cream Tart

  4.2 – 19 reviews  • Pumpkin Pie Recipes

This tart dish from my aunt is excellent and ideal for Thanksgiving.

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Additional Time: 3 hrs
Total Time: 3 hrs 40 mins
Servings: 10
Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients

  1. 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
  2. 1 cup light cream
  3. ¼ cup milk
  4. ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  5. ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  6. ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  7. ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  8. ¼ teaspoon salt
  9. ¼ cup white sugar
  10. ¼ cup cold water
  11. 1 (.25 ounce) package unflavored gelatin
  12. 4 egg yolks
  13. ½ cup white sugar
  14. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  15. 3 tablespoons Scotch whiskey
  16. 1 cup heavy cream
  17. 1 (9 inch) baked pastry shell

Instructions

  1. Combine the pumpkin, light cream, milk, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and 1/4 cup of the sugar in a blender. Blend until smooth.
  2. Pour the cold water into a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin over to soften.
  3. Combine the egg yolks and the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar in a large saucepan. Use a hand mixer to beat the yolks and sugar until they become thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Mix in the blended pumpkin puree and heat gently over low heat, stirring, just until the mixture is hot and small bubbles begin to form. Do not boil. Spoon pumpkin mixture into a large bowl and stir in the vanilla, whiskey, and gelatin mixture. Refrigerate the pumpkin mixture until it begins to set, about 20 minutes.
  4. Use a hand mixer to whip the heavy cream in a large bowl. With a rubber spatula or wire whisk, fold 1/3 of the whipped cream into the cooled pumpkin mixture. Gently run the spatula through the center of the bowl, then around the sides of the bowl, repeating until fully incorporated. Add the remaining cream, folding just until incorporated.
  5. Pour mixture into prepared pastry shell and chill until set, 2 or 3 hours. Garnish with additional whipped cream, if desired.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 290 kcal
Carbohydrate 29 g
Cholesterol 115 mg
Dietary Fiber 2 g
Protein 4 g
Saturated Fat 8 g
Sodium 275 mg
Sugars 17 g
Fat 17 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Robert Joseph
Wow! Really wonderful recipe! It’s a perfect Bavarian cream, with a light, mousse-like texture (not like the gluey filling in “Bavarian cream” doughnuts). I didn’t have any scotch, so I used the last of my brandy—about 1 Tbsp. I also beat the egg yolks and sugar with my Kitchenaid, rather than on the stove, and then mixed in the pumpkin mixture before transferring it to a pan. This would be a great recipe if you’re asked to bring a dessert for Thanksgiving; it might be hard to make if you’re the one hosting the meal, since it has to chill in the fridge, and refrigerator space is usually at a premium. I can’t wait to try this pumpkin filling in something else, say, a pumpkin layer cake with a cranberry glaze!
Melissa Barton
It’s good, with some changes. A number of people mentioned this was loose; I omitted the water and bloomed the gelatin in the milk instead, and I also omitted the alcohol. This liquid reduction made it set firm, I molded it in a decorative mold instead of a pie crust (it is a Bavarian, after all) and it held its shape well. I used 2/3 cup heavy cream and 1/3 cup of milk in place of the 1 cup of light cream, buying light and heavy creams to use in the same recipe doesn’t make any sense. I also halved the amounts of nutmeg and cloves. I added 2 tbsp. sugar to the whipped cream as one person suggested, which I liked. I also added a little bit of orange food color to the whipped cream, which helped a lot; some of the other pictures show this with sort of an anemic color caused by ‘diluting’ the pumpkin color with white whipped cream. I’ll make it again.
Shawn Hernandez
A friend of mine made this, and it is delicious! The blend of flavors is perfect, and it’s nice and smooth. Definitely going to make this for myself.
Jacqueline Booker
My daughter, who was 15 at the time, made this for Thanksgiving. She made two, but should have made 5. People were fighting over it. We had to ration it out.
Melissa Santana
This recipe is fantastic! It is time consuming to make but the light, spicy and slightly sweet flavor fully makes up for it. I have one tip: The recipe calls for 1 cup of heavy cream, but I got a larger container so I could just whip a bunch of cream and have fresh whipped cream to top the pie with! Update: I made the pie again for Thanksgiving this year, and people went crazy over it. This time the only difference I made was slightly sweetening the cream before folding it into the pumpkin mixture. Positively delicious!
Brandon Clark
Delicious! My first try was a little loose. Second time, I tempered the eggs into the pumpkin mixture, added the gelatin, and brought the whole thing back up to a low boil. This activated the gelatin and protein in the eggs giving a much more stable custard. And be sure to whip the cream to stiff peaks before folding in. I’ve also layered the pumpkin with Frangelico (or hazelnut favored) whipped cream in parfait glasses. Sprinkle with chopped toasted hazelnuts. A HUGE hit at brunch.
Sarah Escobar
This came out tasting good, but not as firm as I was expecting/hoping. It’s still a bit on the flowing side when served. It took more like an hour and a half to begin to firm up in the fridge, not 20 minutes. I thought I had it hot enough to begin with, but I’m thinking it needed a bit more cooking time. Should it begin to thicken a bit on the stove? I’d think so … and it really didn’t. I may try it again, but I really haven’t made up my mind yet. If I do, I think maybe I’ll use at least one whole egg rather than all yolks.
Ashley Spence
Just made this for the first time tonight for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Taste is fabulous, was easy to make as well. Just one note, this makes at least two normal sized pies. I made 12 mini tarts & had more than enough left over to make another pie. Note to self, next time make gingerbread the day before and use leftover filling to makes trifle.
Jerry Dean
I followed the recipe to a T, opting to stick to the one packet of gelatin. It was certainly soft — a bit custard-like — but solidified enough that I was able to slice it up 16 ways handily. This is my first try at “Bavarian cream” so I’m not sure what I was aiming for, but I was nervous that another packet of gelatin would make it too Jello-jiggly. When I asked my husband whether I should pop it in the freezer he told me “no” … both times I asked. He liked the texture. At any rate, the pie was a huge hit at the office Christmas party, even after an enormous buffet lunch, and the only thing eaten in its entirety! Thanks for a great recipe.
Rhonda Ballard
not so impressed. mine turned out to be a pudding on top of crumb crust. I am glad I used a graham cracker crust as that was the sweetest thing about it.
Christopher Sanford
This was a show stopper at Thanksgiving. All the lovely pumpkin flavor with a nice, light texture. 2 notes: (1) I had a lot of leftover filling. I wish I had extra crust and could have made some small tarts or something. (2) Be careful not to overwhip the heavy cream. I did, it still tasted great, it was just hard to fold in the filling. I would recommend whipping to soft peaks.
Christian Hill
This pie definitely took a lot longer to put together than expected! I had a problem getting it to set, so I added an extra gelatin…what a difference!!!! Turned out great after ALL that hard work. If you like creamy this is the pie for you! I personally thought the spice amounts were good, the whip cream balances it out. Very good pie.
Angel Johnson DVM
I replaced the light cream and the milk with reduced-fat buttermilk. I am still amazed by how fast this was eaten!
Darius Holmes
Sticking to this exact recipe left my tart a tad runny and way way too much filling left over, it felt wasteful. The spice is very spicy, but very tasty.
Joel Rodriguez
I doubled the recipe. It filled two deep dish pie shells and I had enough left over to fill a 1.5 qt casserole dish. It was very good.
Michael Daniels
This is delicious but I wouldn’t recommend it for in inexperienced cook. It took a long time to put together and used much more equipment (bowls, mixers, spatulas, sauce pans, etc.) than a less complicated recipe might require. That aside, it’s a mighty fine tart. Note: the recipe doesn’t specify this, but I used a 9″ tart pan with removable rim, about 1.5 inches high. Good thing I did too. A “normal” tart pan would have been too shallow given the quantity of filling.
Anita Fernandez
I added too much rum, otherwise, I think it would have been better. It was light, not sure if I would make again though-just didn’t knock my socks off.
Robert Johnson
This is a tasty pie. Don’t worry about getting the whipped cream completely worked in. Its nice to get a little bit of it in with the pie. Makes a ton of filling. I fill up a deep dish pie shell and still had about a cup of extra filling. I just put it in a bowl. Still yummy. Thanks for the recipe.
Carl Vance
I used 2 eggs instead of 4 yolks. I thought it would firm up, but instead I needed to freeze it to get a decent slice. Next time, I will use 2 env. gelatin! Great taste, just a little disappointed with texture!

 

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