Ancient Origins
The earliest form of cheesecake can be traced to ancient Greece. Around 4,000 years ago on the island of Samos, the Greeks created a simple dessert made with pounded fresh cheese, honey, and wheat flour. This cheesecake-like dish was considered a good source of energy and was even served to athletes during the first Olympic Games at Olympia (Greece) in 776 BC.
When the Romans conquered Greece, they adopted the recipe, adding eggs and baking it in a different way. As the Roman Empire expanded, they spread their version of cheesecake throughout Europe.
The Rise of Regional Variations
As the dessert traveled across Europe, different regions began to put their own spin on the recipe, using local ingredients and techniques. European cheesecakes often used cheese curds or other soft cheeses and were baked in a tart or pastry crust.
- Medieval Europe: The dessert continued to evolve. A recipe for a cheesecake-like dish called “sambocade,” made with elderflower and rose water, can be found in a 14th-century English cookbook.
- Germany: The German Käsekuchen uses a curd cheese called quark.
- Spain: The modern Basque cheesecake, with its famous burnt exterior and creamy interior, was created in San Sebastián in 1988.
The American Innovation
The cheesecake we know today, particularly the rich, dense “New York-style” cheesecake, is a distinctly American creation.
- The Invention of Cream Cheese: In 1872, a New York dairyman named William Lawrence was trying to recreate a French cheese called Neufchâtel. He accidentally created a richer, creamier, and heavier cheese that we now know as cream cheese.
- New York-Style: The key to modern American cheesecake is the use of cream cheese. In the 1920s, a German-American restaurateur in New York, Arnold Reuben, is credited with creating the iconic New York-style cheesecake, using cream cheese instead of the traditional cottage cheese. This version, with its smooth texture and graham cracker crust, became a huge hit and is now the most famous style of cheesecake in the world.
Cheesecake Recipe
- For Preparing Cheese Cream
| S.No. | Items | Quantity |
| 1. | Buffalo Milk | 1 ltr |
| 2. | Fresh Cream | 250 ml |
| 3. | Lemon | 1-1.5 no. |
- For Cake Base
| S.No. | Items | Quantity |
| 1. | Cookie Crumble | 100 gm |
| 2. | Unsalted Butter | 25-30 gm |
| 3. | Breakfast Sugar | 20 gm |
- For Cheese Cake
| S.No. | Items | Quantity |
| 1. | Cream Cheese | 300 gm |
| 2. | Icing Sugar | 60 gm |
| 3. | Corn Flour | 12 gm |
| 4. | Fresh Cream | 120 gm |
| 5. | White Compound | 120 gm |
*
Instructions
- For Cream Cheese
- Add milk and fresh cream in a thick bottom pan and simmer it to a boil.
- Stir milk with spatula (preferably silicon spatula) so that milk cannot burnt.
- Add lemon juice to the boiled milk so that the milk curdles.
- Put curdled milk in muslin cloth and wash it with water to remove sourness of lemon juice.
- Remove excess water from curdled milk but leave little water in it. Do not remove all water from it like we prepare cottage cheese (paneer).
- Add curdled milk in blender and blend it to a paste.
- Put cream cheese paste in a container and let it cool in refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
- For Cheese Cake Base
- Crush cookie (preferably digestive biscuit) to a fine powder and add butter and breakfast sugar in it.
- Mix all the ingredients properly.
- Take mixed ingredients in palm and press them. If there are no lumps being made after pressing the ingredients, then we will add some more butter and mix it which will make the base of the cake strong.
- Spread the biscuit base evenly in a silver foil applied ring or removable base cake mould.
- Put it in a refrigerator to set the biscuit base
- For Preparing Cheese Cake
- Add cream cheese and corn flour in a planetary mixer bowl and mix it properly.
- Scrape the bottom of it for proper mixing.
- Add icing sugar and mix it properly.
- Melt white compound in a double boiler. When it melts properly, add fresh cream in it and mix it.
- Add mixture of white compound and fresh cream in a mixer bowl and mix it well..
- Pour the batter of cheese cake in set cookie base in a cake mould.
- Put the cake mould inside the bigger cake mould and fill the bigger cake mould with water which help cake to cook while baking.
- Bake cheese cake at 180°C for 30 minutes or until the cake colour turns little brown.
- Take out cake mould from water and let it cool for some minutes.
- When cake reached at room temperature, put it in refrigerator and set it overnight.
- De-mould cake if it hardens.
- Cheese cake is now ready to serve.
Tips
- You can substitute some ingredients to prepare cheese cake. For instances, use other cookies in place of digestive cookies, use clarified butter in place of unsalted butter.
- You can use sifted powdered sugar in place of icing sugar.
- If boiled milk did not curdled when adding lemon juice in it, add some more lemon juice in it, put it on a sim flame and mix it using spatula.
Conclusion
Having traveled through time from its humble origins in ancient Greece, the cheesecake has evolved into a beloved dessert enjoyed worldwide. This timeless treat, with its rich history and endless variations, proves that a simple combination of cheese and sweetness can create a dessert for the ages. With the right recipe and a few key tips, you too can create a flawless cheesecake that is both a nod to its past and a joy in the present.