Cheesecakes

Cheesecake is a sweet dessert consisting of one or more layers. The main, and thickest layer, consists of a mixture of soft, fresh cheese (typically cream cheese or ricotta), eggs, and sugar; if there is a bottom layer it often consists of a crust or base made from crushed digestive biscuits (cookies in USA), graham crackers, pastry, or sponge cake.[1] It may be baked or unbaked (usually refrigerated). Cheesecake is usually sweetened with sugar and may be flavoured or topped with fruit, whipped cream, nuts, biscuits, fruit sauce, and/or chocolate syrup. Cheesecake can be prepared in many flavors, such as strawberry, pumpkin, key lime, chocolate, Oreo, chestnut, or toffee.

Almost all modern cheesecakes in the United States and Canada use cream cheese; in Italy, cheesecakes use ricotta; Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland use quark. Cheesecakes are most easily baked in a leak-proof springform pan, often paired with a water bath to more evenly distribute the heat. Because of the high density of most cheesecakes, they continue baking for some time after removal from an oven.

The early Greeks considered it a cake. Some modern authors point to the presence of many eggs, the sole source of leavening, as proof that it is a torte. Still others claim that the separate crust, the soft filling, and the absence of flour prove that it is a custard pie.

Cheesecakes can be broadly categorized into two basic types: baked and unbaked. Each comes in a variety of styles determined by region: