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 A cheesecake is a sweet, cheese-based cake. Cheesecake is one of the most common cake in the world and perhaps one of the oldest involving dairy other than milk. The first recorded mention of cheesecake was during the ancient Grecian Olympic games in the occidental world. Cato the Elder wrote of cheesecake preparation in his farming manual "De Agri Cultura".
Cheesecakes can be made of ricotta cheese, havarti, quark, twaróg, or, more usually, cream cheese. Other ingredients such as sugar, eggs, cream and fruit are often mixed in as well. Flavorings such as vanilla or chocolate may be added, and a fruit topping, like strawberries, is frequently added. Typically, the cheese filling or topping covers a crust, which may be pastry, cookie, digestive biscuit or graham cracker-crumb. Sometimes the base is a layer of cake. 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 cake in a hot water bath to ensure even heating. Alternatively, a little cornstarch blended into the batter prevents the coagulation of eggs. Some cheesecake manufacturers use a blowtorch to crystallize the tops and the sides to make it taste better. In the UK, cheesecakes are generally a cold dessert which is not cooked nor baked. It is made with crumbled digestive biscuits mixed with butter and pressed into a dish to form a base layer. The topping or filling is a mixture of milk, sugar, cheese, cream and gelatin. The word cheesecake is also used to describe the creamy, cheesy flavor of the cake. In this usage, there are cheesecake yogurts, ice creams, brownies, and cookies. There are also savory cheesecakes, often flavored with blue cheese and served as hors d'oeuvres or accompanying salads. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesecake |
