Welcome to FabulousFusionFood's Cheesecake Recipes Page — This page details the origins of Cheesecakes celebrations from Ancient Greek and Roman inclusion of cheese in baked breads, through Medieval inventions of true cheesecakes to the modern evolution of Cheesecakes in America.

Here you will learn a little about Cheesecakes, and in particular it's history and origins. Also presented are typical recipes for a Cheesecakes, as well as variants, alternates and recipes from other cultures (including savoury cheesecakes). I hope you enjoy this page and will make use of the recipes for your own Cheesecake-based celebrations.

This historical information about Cheesecakes is given below and below that you will find all the Cheesecake-related recipes on this site.

Cheesecakes:

When is a Cheesecake not a Cheesecake?

Confusions in Terms and Applications.

Cheesecake is, really, a fairly modern invention. And though there are those who purport it to have an ancient origin I don't think those claims are truly warranted. The problem comes from calling Roman sacral breads, libum and sevillum and most particularly the layered dish, placenta, as cheesecakes.

The first mention of these breads containing cheese, is found in the works of the ancient Greek writer Xenophon (Ξενοφῶν, c. 430–354 BCE), who wrote of a dessert made by mixing cheese with honey and flour. The descendants of this bread/cake are found in Roman writings as libum, sevillum and placenta.

They are dishes made from cheese, but libum, called sacral bread is clearly an unleavened bread that contains cheese that could either be baked as a loaf or as small cakes. Placenta is a layered dish of dough with a pounded cheese and honey filling that's set upon a bottom crust that, itself is set upon bay laurel leaves. OK, apart from the layering this could be a sweetened cheesecake-style dish with a crust. However, there is no leavening and the layers are thin not thick. The layering here is more like a lasagne, but sweet.

When we look at placenta we should also note the dishes that it gave rise to. As the dish spread outwards from the Greco-Roman world, it remained in its original sphere of influence to yield koptoplakous (Byzantine Greek: κοπτοπλακοῦς); which survives to this day as Cretan gastrin. This and placenta are the acknowledged antecedents of modern tiropita (cheese pie with phyllo) and baklava.

Indeed, in Syria a Cheese Baklava flavoured with rose water is still made and tripolita remains a common dish in Greece.

The name placenta has also survived giving us πλατσέντα (placenta) from the Island of Lesbos, Romanian plăcintă and the Viennese palatschinke (fluffy pancakes served with sweet or savoury [including cheese] fillings)... none of which, by any stretch of the imagination, could be called 'cheesecake'. Indeed, none of the successor dishes of placenta are cheesecake-like in any way.

Though we have no surviving recipes, the antecedents of placenta are probably Greek. The earliest attested mention of a placenta (layered cheese pie) is by the Greek physician Aegimus (5th century BCE), who wrote a book on the art of making cheese pies (πλακουντοποιικόν σύγγραμμα — plakountopoiikon sungramma). Thus the Greek name of placenta would have been plakountas (note that the epithet sungramma means a tome or treatise and has no bearing on the name of the dish). It seems to have been written upon by a physician as an excellent food for Olympians, though no recipe has survived. The name derives from πλακόεις - plakoeis, meaning 'flat'.

Thus, we are left with Cato the Elder's description of libum, savillum and placenta in his De Agri Cultura as the oldest source of how to prepare these dishes.

Through its Greek name plakountas, the dessert was adopted into Armenian cuisine as plagindi, plagunda, and pghagund, all 'cakes of bread and honey'. From the latter term came the later Arabic name iflaghun, which is mentioned in the 13th century Syrian cookbook Kitab al-Wusla ilà al-Habib fi Wasf al-Tayyibat wa al-Tib ('Book of the Bond of Friendship in the Description of Good Dishes and Perfumes') as a specialty of the Armenians settled in Cilicia (southern Asia Minor) and in the neighbouring Crusader kingdoms of northern Syria. This, to me, seems more a survival of the Roman cheese bread, libum... and again demonstrates the confusion of terms being used. However, it must be said that the egg and cheese mixture is spread on top of the bread base, which could be seen as a step towards cheesecake.

So we have sweet cakes or pies, but these are not cheesecakes. And I do not agree with other authors in describing them as such. A bread or cake containing cheese does not make it a cheesecake.

For me, of the three recipes that Cato presents, savillum is the most interesting. There is no separate crust here, the cheese is blended with flour, an egg and honey. It's shaped into a loaf and then baked. The result is very cheesy and, depending on the cheese used it can be quite soft. So, for me, if any of Cato's recipes represent a cheesecake this is the most likely candidate. Call it a proto-cheesecake filling (though thickened and bound with flour). The other dishes are not cheesecakes and did not evolve into anything cheesecake-like. If you use ricotta instead of a crumbly or hard cheese you get a very soft confection that should be eaten with the spoon (though the recipe tells you to prepare it as for libum, suggesting a hard cheese). So you can get a range of consistency from almost bread like to very soft by varying the cheese used. This is why I say that this recipe is the most cheesecake-like in the end.

To finally put the argument to rest we need to pin down the question of what a cheesecake is. It's not a cake, but represents more of a tart with a sweetened cheese filling that uses eggs as the binding and leavening agent. In that respect it's more like a custard tart... The Romans did, indeed, make custards to a dessert that blended a custard with cheese and honey for sweetness was not beyond their inventiveness. We just don't have any records of it. The absence of flour also makes modern cheesecakes custard like. Personally, I like this definition, though many people classify it as a torte due to the usage of many eggs, which are the sole source of leavening.

So none of the Roman recipes actually count as a true cheesecake, though, to my mind, savillum gets closer than the others. The recipe that most point as being an early type of cheesecake, placenta/plakountas is nothing of the sort and gives rise to modern layered cheese pies and baklava.

A more modern version called a sambocade, made with elderflower and rose water, is found in Forme of Cury, an English cookbook from 1390. This does seem to be approaching a true cheesecake, and as a result I tend to agree with chef Heston Blumenthal that cheesecake is an English invention and not a creation of the ancient world. However, that's not the only potential 'cheesecake' in the roll. There also exists the tarte de bry (pounded cheese tart).

It's not until the 15th century, however, that the term 'cheesecake' enters common parlance in English.

The Invention of a true Cheesecake

However, it's not until the 17th century with the publication of A True Gentlewomans Delight, 1653 that a recipe under the name of cheesecake To Make Cheese-cakes is published. This is followed by: Hannah Wolley's 1664 The Cook's Guide recipe for To make Cheeſe-cakes and The Accomplish'd Lady's Delight In Preserving, Physick, Beautifying, and Cookery's recipe for To make Cheese-Cakes, the best way. All of these rely on making curd cheese, what was known at the time as slip-coat cheese. A recipe for this was published in: A True Gentlewomans Delight, 1653 as To make a slipcoat Cheese.

A brief history of cheesecake recipes in print is given below:
Liber cure Cocorum 1430 (Sloane MS. 1986) For flaunes (For Flans)
Ruperto de Nola's 1520 cookbook Llibre del Coch (first published in Catalan) Flaón
A Proper newe Booke of Cokerye, 1557 To Make a Tarte of marigoldes prymroses or couslips
A Book of Cookrye 1591 Elizabethan Cheese-curd Tart
To make a Curde tarte. (from: The good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin, 1594 To Make Curd Tart
Hannah Wolley The Cook's Guide 1664 To make Cheeſe-cakes

The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt. Opened (published in 1669) contains a recipe for cheesecake that is quite modern, a blend of curd cheese mixed with eggs and sugar that's baked in a pastry case. So, modern cheesecakes go back to the 17th century at least. Cheesecake.

Hannah Glasse 1747 The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy Georgian To make almond cheesecakes, A second sort of lemon cheesecakes, To make lemon cheesecakes To make cheesecakes.

Key Cheesecake Recipes:

Descendants of Placenta
Plăcintă cu Branza (Romanian Cheese Pie)
Syrian Cheese Baklava
Tripolita (Greek Feta Pie)
Palatschinken (Austrian Pancakes)
Πλατσέντα Λέσβου (Lesbos Placenta)

Versions of Cheesecakes by Region and Country:

Africa:

Cape Verde
Pudim de Leite
Queijadinhas Crioulas

South Africa
Amarula No-bake Cheesecake

Americas:

USA:
New York Cheesecake
Chicago Cheesecake
Brooklyn Cheesecake
Boston Cream Pie Cheesecake

Argentina:
Tarta de ricota clásica (Classic Ricotta Pie)

Asia:

Japan:
スフレチーズケーキ (Japanese Cotton Cheesecake)
レアチーズケーキ (Japanese Rare Cheesecake)

Philippines:
Ube Cheesecake

Europe:

Czech Republic
Tvarahovy Kolác Treny (Czech Cheesecake)

France:
Cheesecake Breton
Terrine fraise chocolat blanc
Käsküeche (Alsace Cheesecake)
Corsican Fiadone

Germany:
Quarkkuchen (German Quark Cheesecake)
Bayerischer Käsekuchen (Classic Bavarian Cheesecake)
Thuringian Quarktorte
Topfenkuchen (German Pot Cakes)

Greece:
Myzithropita (Greek Cheesecake)
Siphnopitta (Honey and Cheese Cake)

Italy:
La Pastiera di Grano (Neapolitan Easter Cake)
Pastiera di Pasqua (Easter Ricotta Cake)
Crostata di Ricotta (Ricotta Tart)
Cassata Siciliana
Torta Pasqua con la Pasta Frolla (Easter Tart with Pasta Frolla)

Luxembourg:
Kèiskuch (Luxembourg Cheese Cake)

Poland:
Sernik Krakowski (Polish Lattice Cheesecake)

Portugal:
Pudim de Queijo Fresco

Romania
Pasca de Pasti (Romanian Easter Cheesecake)

Spain
Quesada Pasiega (Cantabrian Cheesecake)
Basque Cheesecake

Sweden:
Ostkaka (Swedish Cheesecake)

Switzerland:
Swiss Quark Cheese Torte
Gebackene Quarktorte (Baked Quark Cake)
No-bake Quark Cheesecake with Agar-agar

UK:
Yorkshire Curd Tart
Maids of Honour Tarts
Victorian Curd Cake

Ukraine:
Liv Syrnyk (Ukrainian Easter Cheesecake with Sultanas)

India:

Gulab Jamun Cheesecake
Bhapa Doi (Bengali Steamed Yoghurt)

Russia:

Simaya Pashka (Easter Cheese Cake)
Ватрушки (Vatrushka)

Turkey

Peynirli Künefe (Turkish Cheesecake)

Sweet cheesecakes are not the only type of cheesecakes made and savoury cheesecakes can make an excellent starter or combined with salad will provide a more substantial meal.

For Savoury Cheesecakes:
Appetizer Pate Cheesecake
Smoked Salmon Cheesecake
Herbed Gorgonzola Cheesecake
Cheddar Chilli Cheesecake

Cheesecakes can also be prepared using other techniques as compared with baking or no-bake. The methods below include air frying, pressure cooking and microwaving.

Other Cooking Methods:
Air Fryer Cheesecake
Instant Pot Triple Chocolate Cheesecake
Pressure Cooker Chocolate Peanut Cheesecake
Microwave Chimpanzee Cheesecake
Microwave Amaretto Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

For the cheese:
Cheeses are, obviously, essential for making cheesecakes. If working on a late medieval, Elizabethan or Stuart recipe, then the typical cheese to use would be the fresh slipcoat cheese or home-made curd cheese (fromage frais).

For German and Swiss cheesecakes, quark is the classic filling, but outside Western Europe it can be hard to source, so here's a recipe for home-made quark cheese.

The classic ingredients for Italian cheesecakes are mascarpone cheese and home-made ricotta cheese.

Another classic cheesecake ingredients is: home-made-cream-cheese. In the US, cheesecakes are sometimes made with Farmer's cheese.