From Ancient Greece to Modern America, the Long-Winded History of the Beloved Cheesecake

Everyone loves cheesecake, right? So take inspiration from the long journey it has made to reach your plate, and try baking one yourself.

The cheesecake is a jaw droppingly delicious dessert, made of a creamy, dense body and a crunchy graham cracker base. Its texture is multidimensional and the creamy flavor of the body lovingly envelopes the tongue. Today, there are a variety of variations when it comes to this simple dessert, with flavors ranging from blueberry to chocolate and mango to lemon. It’s a big enough classic that people feel comfortable adapting the recipe to suit their own taste buds and palates.

The story of this brilliant and yummy dessert’s origin starts in Ancient Greece. Around the 5th century, they made plakous, which was a flat mass made of fresh cheese, flour and honey and would be cooked on a girdle. Anthropologists have found cheese molds on the island of Samos, dating back to 2000 BC. It’s believed that cheesecake was served to athletes at the first Olympics games in 776 BC. The earliest recipe also comes from this time, by Athenaeus in 230 AD, who said: “Take cheese and pound it till smooth and pasty; put cheese in a brazen sieve; add honey and spring wheat flour. Heat in one mass, cool, and serve.”

After the Roman invasion, they took the recipe and modified it to their liking. Importantly, they also chose to serve it warm, and called this modified version a ‘libuma’. It was a popular dessert at celebrations and gatherings.

Following on, in Medieval Europe, one would find tarts being made along with the pastry base. In fact, the 1390 English cookbook The Forme of Cury, compiled the recipes of the cooks of King Richard II, and discusses two cheese tarts–a sambocade, which uses curd cheese, egg whites, rosewater and elder flowers; and, Tart de Bry, which makes use of cow’s cheese or ruayn, egg yolks and ginger. Over the years, early iterations of the cheesecake continue to appear in English cookbooks.

In 1730, it reached the Americas with the colonizers. It’s not long before cheesecake recipes start showing up in American cookbooks. Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats includes three cheesecake recipes and a baked ‘curd pudding’ recipe, which is a cheesecake without a crust. All of these are flavored with rosewater, spices and currants, and are baked in pastry crusts. The 1828 cookbook Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats by Eliza Leslie also used these elements.

By the 19th century, lemon and/or vanilla started to replace the rosewater. And by the 1930s, two centuries after it first reached the land, American cheesecakes started using cream cheese instead of curd cheese, dramatically altering its taste and texture. It’s the more accurate predecessor of the cheesecake as we understand it today.

Here’s a simple recipe of the classic cheesecake to inspire you to make your own.

Ingredients:

For the graham cracker crust

• 1 1⁄2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1⁄4 cup granulated sugar
• 5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:

• 900 gm full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup full-fat sour cream, room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven.
• Blend the graham crackers into fine crumbs.
• Transfer into a bowl and add the sugar, mixing until combined. Then add the melted butter and continue mixing, ensuring there are no clumps. The mixture should have a sandy texture.
• Move it into a pan and use your hand to pat the crumbs down, creating a strong crust.
• Bake this in the oven for about 10 minutes, then remove and set aside to cool.
• With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until it becomes a smooth and creamy mixture.
• Add the sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon juice and beat until fully mixed. Then add the eggs one at a time; beat after each addition. Stop beating as soon as the last egg is mixed in, since you don't want to overmix the batter either.
• Bake the cheesecake for roughly 1 hour, or until the center is set. Remove it and let it cool at room temperature. Then place it in the refrigerator for about 4-6 hours or overnight.
• Cut into slices and serve with your chosen toppings.