Today, cheesecake is one of the most loved desserts in the world. It’s also one of the first to be created from something other than milk. Ricotta cheese, Havarti, quark, twarog, and, most commonly, cream cheese are used to make cheesecakes. Other components, including sugar, eggs, cream, and fruit, are frequently added. This is why there are so many different sorts of cheesecakes: the number of recipes you can develop is practically limitless.
If you think cheesecake is just a cheesecake, you’re either not a baker or have spent your entire life living under a rock.
The Evolution
While it is the world’s favorite dessert, cheesecake originated in New York, but historically dates back to 4000 years ago in Ancient Greece. The first cheesecake presumably came from the Greek island of Samos, where it was regarded as a powerful energy source.
According to historians, the cheesecake was claimed to have been offered to competitors because of its high energy content at the First Olympic Games in 776 B.C. Soon after, cheesecake became known as THE wedding cake, with many Greek brides and grooms choosing cheesecake as their wedding cake.
Until exciting advances in the cheesecake world led to diverse ingredients being utilized in several different cheesecakes, the key ingredients used to make the perfect cheesecake included cheese, honey, wheat, and flour.
The Special Ingredient
As if it wasn’t evident enough, the addition of “cream cheese” to conventional cheesecake is what helped it become so popular. Cream cheese became a regular ingredient in the United States and other parts of the world after this characteristic ingredient was considered an American contribution.
Cream cheese making has an intriguing history as well. Although William Lawrence, an American dairy farmer, is credited with inventing it, he did it by mistake. The ‘accident’ occurred while attempting to mimic the French cheese Neuchatel and inadvertently created cream cheese.
Three years later, the same cream cheese was renamed Philadelphia Cream Cheese, which has become a well-known brand.
Different types of cheesecakes
NewYork Cheesecake
Let’s start with New York cheesecake, which is undoubtedly the most popular and adored type of cheesecake (at least by name). New York cheesecake is very dense and rich, solid yet creamy, and relies on a lot of cream cheese for taste and texture, with heavy milk, eggs, and sugar to help it along.
Some New York cheesecakes substitute sour cream for heavy cream, either in the filling or as a separate (lightly sweetened) layer on top; recipes with sour cream in the filling tend to freeze and defrost better than those with heavy cream. Purists avoid adding flavorings. However, New York cheesecakes are sometimes topped with strawberries or other fruit.
The dessert was brought to America by Eastern European Jewish immigrants, so it’s no wonder that it’s also known as Jewish cheesecake and found in Jewish bakeries and delis.
Japanese cotton cheesecake
Cotton cheesecake became extremely famous in Japan because of its jiggly, pillow-like appearance. It’s well worth it to go to the trouble of creating it just for the jiggle!
Cotton cheesecake is produced with the same components as traditional baked cheesecakes, including cream cheese, eggs, and sugar. This cheesecake contains milk and flour, as well as cornstarch in certain recipes (corn flour).
The eggs are responsible for the jiggly and soft aspect of this Japanese cheesecake. The whites and yolks are separated, and the egg whites are beaten into a meringue. The meringue is then incorporated into the yolky, floury, cheesy mixture and cooked for about an hour and a half at a low temperature. Because preparing a Japanese cotton cheesecake requires some skill, you might want to experiment with a few different recipes to determine which one works best for you.
No-bake Cheesecake
This type of cheesecake does not require any cooking, only mixing and chilling, as the name implies. It has a much more uniform texture and is completely smooth (as long as you allow your cream cheese to fully soften and properly bend it with the other ingredients, which you should always do, no matter what kind you’re making unless you want tiny little cheese lumps in your filling); baked cheesecakes, on the other hand, have a creamier center and bottom with a firmer top and a drier, slightly drier texture.
The absence of eggs is another distinguishing aspect of no-bake cheesecakes (for obvious reasons). Their cream cheese filling is frequently stabilized with gelatin. Still, additional variations use condensed milk, whipped cream, or sour cream instead for a significantly softer and more delicate finish. These don’t keep as well at room temperature as baked cheesecakes, which is useful to know if you’re taking one on a trip.
Vegan Cheesecake
This is the most popular sort of cheesecake among vegans and those who avoid dairy products. Sometimes people joke about Vegan cheesecakes by calling them “so-called cheesecakes” because they are so different from typical cheesecakes.
They have a delectable filling prepared from soaked and softened cashew nuts, combined with coconut milk to make a thick, creamy batter. Silken tofu, an ingredient that works wonders in blended and creamy foods, is also used in other varieties of this cheesecake.
Some people add a bit of citrus to give it that sour, tangy flavor to taste like a classic, ordinary cheesecake.
The crust can also be made using various ingredients, such as digestive biscuits, graham crackers, or even different types of cookies.
Traditional/Classic Cheesecake
The classic baked cheesecake and the New York cheesecake are cousins as they are baked cheesecakes with almost identical ingredients. On the other hand, a typically baked cheesecake only has three ingredients: cream cheese, sugar, and eggs. You can, however, add sour cream if desired.
The ratio of ingredients is the only difference between the two. A conventional baked cheesecake uses less cream cheese than a New York cheesecake, making it less dense.
My passion is cheesecake, and I have spent over 30 years practising my craft so that YOU can enjoy these wonderful Cheesecakes. As we love to say.. Cheesecakes. Redefined. We proudly produce our cheesecakes here in Central Ohio at our Parkwood Avenue Kitchen, and our selection of classic and custom flavours changes with the seasons. We make our cheesecakes with the freshest and finest ingredients at all times.
