Cheesecake

For "Cheesecake" in the sense of female glamour photograph, see Pin-up girl.

Cheesecake is a dessert formed of a topping made with soft, fresh cheese upon a base made from biscuit, pastry or sponge. The topping is frequently sweetened with sugar and flavoured or topped with a puree or compote of fruit.

Savory cheesecakes also exist, served sometimes as hors d'oeuvre or with accompanying salads.

Styles

Cheesecakes can be broadly categorised into two basic types - baked and unbaked - and each comes in a variety of styles determined by region:

United States

The United States has several different recipes for cheesecake and this usually depends on the region the cake was baked in as well as the cultural background of the person baking it. These cheesecakes are typically baked.

• New York-style cheesecake relies upon heavy cream, usually cheesecake is made from a rich cheese from Switzerland, cream cheese, eggs and egg yolks to add a richness and a smooth consistency. Also called Jewish-style, it is baked in a special 13–15 cm (5–6 inches) tall springform pan in many restaurants. Some recipes use cottage cheese and lemon for distinct texture and flavor or add a drizzle of chocolate or strawberry sauce to the basic recipe.

• Pennsylvania Dutch-style cheesecake uses a slightly tangy type of cheese with larger curds and less water content, called pot or farmer's cheese.

• Philadelphia-style cheesecake is lighter in texture, yet richer in flavor than New York style cheesecake.

• Farmer's cheese cheesecake is the contemporary implementation for the traditional use of baking to preserve fresh cheese and is often baked in a cake form along with fresh fruit like a tart.

• Country-style cheesecake uses buttermilk to produce a firm texture while decreasing the pH (increasing acidity) to extend shelf life.

• Lactose free cheesecake may be made either with lactose-free cream cheese or as an imitation using Vegan recipes combining non-dairy cream cheese alternatives with other lactose-free ingredients.

• Gooey butter cake a St. Louis variant that has a layer of regular cake with a cheesecake top.

British, Australian and New Zealand

In the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, cheesecake is typically made with a base of crushed biscuits and butter and topped with a fruit compote. The most common filling is a mixture of cream cheese, sugar and cream and it is not baked - gelatine may be also be used to keep the filling firm. One can also find it today made with banoffee flavour, coffee, tea, chocolate, Irish cream ,white chocolate and even marshmallow.

Bulgarian

• Bulgarian-style cheesecake uses cream cheese in a New York style filling and Smetana for a top layer. Often ground nuts are added to the crust mixture.

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Italian

• Ancient Roman-style cheesecake uses honey and a ricotta-like cheese along with flour and is traditionally shaped into loaves. Some recipes call for bay leaves, which may have been used as a preservative.
• Italian-style cheesecake uses ricotta or mascarpone cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and sometimes barley flakes. This type of cheesecake is typically drier than American styles. Often, small bits of candied fruit are added.

French

• French-style cheesecakes are very light, feature gelatin as a binding ingredient and are typically only 3 to 5 cm (1 to 2 inches) tall. This variety gets its light texture and flavor from Neufchâtel cheese.

In some parts of France this type of Cheesecake is sometimes referred to as Gâteau Remise.

Greek

• Greek-style cheesecake commonly uses mizithra.

Swedish

• Swedish-style cheesecake differs greatly from other cheese cakes. A Swedish cheesecake is not layered and is traditionally produced by adding rennet to milk and letting the casein coagulate. It is then baked in an oven and served warm. Since the process of curdling milk is somewhat complicated, alternative recipes intended for home cooking instead use cottage cheese as a base to simulate the texture of the dessert. Swedish-style cheesecake is traditionally served with jam and whipped cream or ice cream. There are two different types of Swedish cheesecake, from different regions in Sweden. To avoid confusion with other cheesecakes, Swedish cheesecake is usually called ostkaka, its Swedish name.

Central European

Käsekuchen - German-style cheesecake uses quark cheese

• German-style cheesecake (Käsekuchen, Quarkkuchen, Matzkuchen; Topfenkuchen in Austria) uses quark cheese. The Käsesahnetorte (cheese cream tart) adds cream and does not get baked. Germany is famous for its unique cheesecake recipes that add a bit of sweet and sour taste said to "melt in your mouth".
• Dutch/Belgian-style cheesecakes are typically flavored with melted bittersweet chocolate. Belgian cheesecake also includes a speculaas crust (speculaas is a traditional Dutch-Belgian biscuit).

Latin American

• Brazilian-style cheesecake usually has a layer of guava marmalade (goiabada).
• Argentina: Is usually served with strawberry or another berry marmalade on top.

Asian

Asian-style cheesecake flavors include matcha (powdered Japanese green tea), lychee and mango. Asian style cheesecakes are also lighter in flavor, and are sometimes light and spongy in texture. Compared to its counterparts, it is also considerably less sweet.

Japanese

Japanese white chocolate cheesecake

• Japanese-style cheesecake relies upon the emulsification of cornstarch and eggs to make a smooth flan-like texture and almost plasticine appearance.

Culinary uses and challenges

Almost all modern cheesecakes in the United States use cream cheese; in Italy, cheesecakes use ricotta and Germany uses quark cheese.

The type of cheese not only affects texture and taste but the ability to incorporate certain types of ingredients. When cheesecake batter is too thin, many cheesecakes will not be structurally sound and fall apart at the table. One way to get around this is to use unflavored gelatin or a little cornstarch beaten with the eggs.

A common difficulty with baking cheesecakes is its tendency to "crack" when cooled. This is due to the coagulation of the beaten eggs in its batter. There are various methods to prevent this. One method is to bake the cheesecake in a hot water bath to ensure even heating. Other methods include blending a little cornstarch into the batter or baking the cheesecake at a lower temperature and slow cooling it in the oven, turned off, with the door ajar. If these methods fail, a common practice is to cover the top of the cheesecake with toppings such as fruit, whipped cream, or cookie crumbs.

Another common problem, particularly with baked cheesecakes, is that the biscuit base becomes too soft. For extra crunch, replace around a quarter of the crushed biscuits with Grape Nuts.

Many types of cheesecake are essentially custards, which can lead a novice baker to overcook them, expecting them to behave like true cakes.

A sour cream-style cheesecake uses close to a 1:1 volume ratio of cream cheese to sour cream to make the traditional texture that crumbles like a good roquefort cheese with a distinctive sunken center and a golden-colored top from the Maillard reaction. An extra egg white brushed on the top can achieve the same effect in less time if you desire the cheesecake to be "gooey" when set.

Etymology

Despite their name, cheesecakes are technically tarts, that is, open-topped pies; the word 'cake' was formerly applied to a much broader category of foods than it is today.

History

Cato the Elder's De Agri Cultura includes recipes for two cakes for religious uses: libum and placenta. Of the two placenta is most like modern cheesecakes having a crust that is separately prepared and baked.

Gallery

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  Green tea-flavored cheesecake, served with green tea ice cream
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  Cheesecake decorated with summer fruit
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  "South-African Rose" cheesecake
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  Polish cheesecake (sernik)
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  Home-made Jewish-Style baked Lemon cheesecake

Popular culture

• The cast of popular TV show, The Golden Girls was known for eating cheesecake together on numerous episodes in the series.
• In 1999, at one of the weekend-long Phish festivals, Big Cypress, held at the Seminole Indian Reservation in southern Florida, New Years Weekend, ABC Nightly World News broadcast a performance of Heavy Things. In an attempt to confuse viewers, members of the band requested that instead of applause at the end of the song, the audience chant "cheesecake" over and over. It became a running joke for Phish to reference cheesecake throughout the duration of the show. During a performance of You Enjoy Myself, the band went into a trademarked, vocal jam in which each of them sang "cheesecake", types of cheesecake, and so forth. This has since been commonly referred to as the "Ben Milan Jam".

See also

• Ostkaka
• The Cheesecake Factory
• Eli's Cheesecake