Happy National Cheesecake Day!

New York style Cheesecake with Strawberries

In the United States July 30 has been unofficially declared National Cheesecake Day.

Cheesecake is a dessert consisting of a topping made of soft, fresh cheese on a base made from biscuit, pastry or sponge. The topping is frequently sweetened with sugar and flavored or topped with fruit, nuts, fruit flavored drizzle and/or chocolate.

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

The earliest author who mentions cheesecake is Aegimus, who wrote a book on the art of making cheesecakes. Cato the Elder’s De Agri Cultura includes recipes for two pies for religious uses: libum and placenta. Of the two, placenta is most like modern cheesecakes having a crust that is separately prepared and baked. In 1872, William Lawrence from Chester, NY, along with other dairymen, came up with a way of making an “un-ripened cheese” that is heavier and creamier by accident, actually looking for a way to recreate the soft, French cheese, Neufchatel.  Lawrence distributed the cheese in foil, becoming a brand that is familiarly recognized as “Philadelphia”. Later on in 1912, James Kraft invented a form of this cream cheese, but pasteurized it- this is now the most commonly used cheese for cheesecake.

Almost all modern cheesecakes in the United States use cream cheese; in Italy, cheesecakes use ricotta; Germany and Poland use quark cheese. Cheesecakes are most easily baked in a springform pan.

The type of cheese affects not only the texture and taste, but also 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.

Alternatively, cracks can also be repaired by simply using a flat knife and some warm water. After the cake has been chilled for a few hours, simply dip the knife in warm water and mold the cheesecake as if sculpting. Cracks and unevenness can easily be taken care of in this fashion. This method also works well for repairing the sides and giving the final cheesecake a flawless look. For crater size cracks, try using the bits that are stuck on the side of the pan to help repair the damage.

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.

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”.

The band King Missile has song called ‘Cheesecake Truck’. The song lasts for just over one minute, but the word ‘cheesecake’ is mentioned fourteen times. The song is humorous mainly due to the incredible number of cheesecakes (an entire truckload) that the protagonist claims to eat during the first day of his job driving a cheesecake truck.

In the 1955 film Guys and Dolls, Frank Sinatra’s character Nathan eats cheesecake when he first meets Marlon Brando’s character Sky. (The references to cheesecake were inspired by Lindy’s deli in New York City.) Brando, a practical joker, knowing how much Sinatra hated cheesecake, flubbed each take so that Sinatra would have to eat piece after piece of cheesecake. After filming repeated takes of the scene, Sinatra said he could not take one more bite.

Cheesecake was the favored dessert of The Golden Girls during their late-night talks around the kitchen table.

On an episode of MTV reality show Making the Band, P. Diddy made the contestants walk to Junior’s in Brooklyn to get him a piece of cheesecake. This was later satirized by Dave Chappelle on an episode of Chappelle’s Show.

Before the live broadcast of Phish’s millennial concert in Big Cypress. Phish frontman, Trey Anastasio, told the crowd to chant “Cheesecake” instead of clapping at the end of Heavy Things.

Couldn’t you go for a piece right now!!

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