National Cheesecake Day on July 30th offers a slice of one of America’s favorite desserts. Order up a cheesecake with your favorite topping. Get it delivered or make it at home.
- The first cheesecake was created on the Greek Island of Samos as far back as 2000 B.C.
- Cheesecakes were served to athletes competing in the first Olympic games in 776 B.C. to give them energy.
- 1872 – A New York dairy farmer unintentionally made the cream cheese we know and eat today.
- The writer Athenaeus is credited for writing the first Greek cheesecake recipe in 230 A.D. By this time, the Greeks had been serving cheesecake for over 2,000 years but this is the oldest known surviving Greek recipe!
- Forme of Cury, an English cookbook from 1390, contains a cheesecake recipe.
- James Kraft developed a form of pasteurized cream cheese in 1912. In 1928, Kraft acquired the Philadelphia trademark and marketed pasteurized Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Today, cheesecake makers use this brand more than any other.
- Cheesecake is not considered a cake.
- Philadelphia-style cheesecake is lighter in texture, yet richer in flavor than New York-style cheesecake.
- Modern commercial American cream cheese was developed in 1872, when William Lawrence, from Chester, New York, while looking for a way to recreate the soft, French cheese Neufchâtel, accidentally came up with a way of making an “unripened cheese” that is heavier and creamier; other dairymen came up with similar creations
- Even though he is best known for his signature sandwiches, Arnold Reuben (1883-1970) is generally credited for creating the New York Style cheesecake. Reuben was born in Germany and he came to America when he was young.
- The story goes that Reuben was invited to a dinner party where the hostess served a cheese pie. Allegedly, he was so intrigued by this dish that he experimented with the recipe until he came up with the beloved NY Style cheesecake.
- On the “The Golden Girls,” the cast consumed more than 100 cheesecakes over the course of the TV show’s seven-year run.
- Greek brides and grooms were also known to use cheesecake as a wedding cake. It also became a custom for a Greek bride to bake and serve cheesecakes to her new husband’s friends as a gesture of hospitality. This concept eventually paved the way for wedding cakes to become a tradition that continues today.
- The English name cheesecake has been used only since the 15th century.
- Cheesecake became the dessert we know today in the 18th century.
- You used to be able to buy cheesecake-flavored postage stamps from the Austrian Postal Service. Haagen-Dazs made flavor-infused stamps, which included Cookies & Cream, Macadamia Nut Brittle and Strawberry Cheesecake. Best part? Zero calories.
- According to the Cheesecake Factory, Red Velvet is America’s favorite cheesecake flavor.
- Some of the most popular cheesecake flavors are vanilla, pumpkin, lemon, chocolate and spices. Flavors are added to the cheese layer.
- The Cheesecake Factory has over 30 different types of cheesecake on sale, and sells about 35 million slices every year!
- South African variety of cheesecake is made with whipped cream, cream cheese, gelatin for the filling and a buttered digestive biscuit crust. This cheesecake is not baked and is sometimes made with Amarula liqueur.
- The most prominent cheesecake in the Philippines is the ube cheesecake. Its color is purple. The base is made up of crushed graham crackers, and the upper layer consists of cream cheese and ube halaya. It can be simply refrigerated or baked.
- Cotton Japanese cheesecake or soufflé-style is made with butter, cream cheese, eggs, and sugar. They are a wobbly, airy texture, similar to chiffon cake.
- Asian cheesecake has mango, matcha and lychee flavors. They are lighter in flavor, lightweight and have a spongy texture. When compared to international cheesecake, Asian cheesecake is considerably less sweet. They have higher egg-to-cream cheese ratio.
- Chhena poda is a type of cheesecake made in the Indian state of Odisha. It is made by baking a mixture of chhena (a type of cottage cheese), nuts and sugar.
- Australian cheesecake has chocolate, raspberry, caramel, vanilla, lemon and passionfruit flavors. These are commonly unbaked.
- German-styled cheesecake uses quark and freshly made dough instead of Graham crackers.
- Bulgarian-styled cheesecake have ground nuts added to the crust mixture. They use smetana for the top layer and use New York-style filing.
- Basque cheesecake is characterized by a burnt, scorched top that conceals a soft, gooey filling of cream cheese, eggs, sugar and creams which oozes like molten lava when cut. This cheesecake has no separate crust but, rather develops its crust through hard, high-temperature baking.
- Poland-styled cheesecake is made from twarog, Polish quark cheese. It is one of the most popular desserts in Poland.
- Greece-styled cheesecake is made using mizithra.
- Dutch/Belgian-styled cheesecakes are flavored with fruit or melted bittersweet chocolate. They are made with quark and are not baked. Belgian cheesecake includes a crust of traditional Dutch-Belgian biscuit.
- Swedish-styled cheesecake is quite different from other cheesecakes. They are not layered and are prepared by adding rennet to milk and letting casein coagulate. It is then baked in an oven and served warm.
- Russian-styled cheesecake is in the form of a dough ring and filled with cottage cheese or quark. It is crustless baked cheesecake that mixes Russian quark, semolina, eggs and raisins.
- Russian-styled cheesecake is a traditional snack in Russian kindergartens.
- Ukrainian-Styled cheesecake is traditionally made using Ukrainian quark cheese.
- United Kingdom/Ireland-styled cheesecakes are made with a base of crushed, buttered biscuits and topped with a fruit compote. The most popular flavors are strawberry, raspberry, blackcurrant, black cherry, passionfruit and lemon curd.
- Savory smoked salmon cheesecake is made in Scotland.
- New York-style cheesecake uses a cream cheese base, incorporating it with heavy cream or sour cream. They are dense, rich, smooth and have a creamy consistency.
- Chicago-styled cheesecake is a baked cream-cheese version, which is firm on the outside and has a soft, creamy texture inside.
- French-styled cheesecake is light textured and get its flavor from Neufchatel cheese. They are 3 to 5 cm in height, very light and have gelatin as a binding ingredient.
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