Here at
Luigi Malones, we’ve always been partial to a generous helping of cheesecake:
our beloved Toblerone and Butterscotch creation has been on the menu for over a
decade now, and isn’t going anywhere! Recently we decided to add the delicious
Strawberry and White Chocolate cheesecake to our dessert menu, and as part of a
formal introduction, we’re going to have a look at the origins of this classic
dish.
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| Luigi Malones Strawberry & White Chocolate Cheesecake |
Like
many of the hallmarks of European civilization, the cheesecake is though to
have originated in Ancient Greece. We know that athletes participating in the
first Olympic Games circa 776BC favoured cheesecake as a source of energy, and
it may also have served as wedding cake at Greek marriage ceremonies. This
primitive forefather of the modern cream cheese masterpiece consisted of flour,
wheat, honey and cheese; a lot less decadent than what we’ve come to expect! In
what may be the first ever cheesecake recipe, the writer Atheneus instructs us
to pound the cheese until it is smooth and pasty, mix the pounded cheese in a brass pan with honey and spring wheat flour, then to heat the cheese cake "in one mass", allow to cool and then serve.
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| German Style Cheesecake |
Not content with stealing the Greeks' architecture, alphabet, and even their gods, the Roman Empire soon claimed the cheesecake as their own. To their credit, the Romans did make some clever adjustments to Atheneus' classic recipe - adding eggs and crushed cheese, and baking the cake under a warm brick. Wherever the Romans conquered in Europe, the new and improved cheesecake came with them, so the dessert soon spread across the continent - and just as Roman governments naturalized their policies according to the region, so were the ingredients of the cheesecake modified according to what was available in the ares. Today, traditional Italian cheesecakes are made with ricotta, while Germany and the Netherlands use Quark, Poland favours twarog and Swedish uses rennet. Some countries prefer no bake cakes, which are usually more popular during the summer.
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| No Bake Cheesecake |
However the definitive cheesecake handbook of the time, printed in 1545, described the dish simply as a 'flour-based sweet food'. The modern cheesecake is an American creation, and was brought about by the accidental invention of cream cheese in 1872. Popular American regional varieties include Chicago style (firm on the outside, soft in the middle), Pennsylvania-Dutch (tangy, and made with cottage cheese), and the classic New York style - a twice-baked cheesecake with a dense, rich consistency.
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| New York Style Cheesecake |
Apart from the whole issue of whether your cheesecake is baked or refrigerated, there's a controversy over whether a cheesecake can even be called a cake! Some naysayers claim that the presence of the eggs as the sole source of leaving make it a torte, while others declare that the separate crust, soft filling and absence of flour make it a custard pie. But what's in a name? A cheesecake by any other name would taste as sweet!
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| Luigi Malones Toblerone & Butterscotch Cheesecake |
So here's to the cheesecake: a dessert that exists in many unique and diverse forms, but is universally loved wherever it is served!
