1917 to 1945 Cake #9

New York Cheesecake

Cream cheese came about because a dairy farmer from upstate New York was trying to replicate the creamy French Neufchatel cheese. The Breakstone(Breghstein) brothers from New York and James Kraft from Philadelphia started producing their own cream cheese. Jewish people were very fond of cream cheese and by 1900 half of all of the Jewish people in America lived in New York City. Cheesecakes were often made for Jewish holidays in Europe with either ricotta or other soft cheeses. The cream cheese companies recognized this and created recipes, advertisements, and cooking contests to target their audience. They also had cooking teachers from Brooklyn to Texas instructing women on how to make the New York cheesecake. It easily became a favorite and a staple.

My Experience:

The ingredients and directions for putting this cake together were pretty straightforward. The more complicated part was once you put it in the oven. Throughout the preheating and baking of the cake the oven temperature needs to be changed 3 times. The recipe says let the cake stay in the oven for around an hour until the cake sets. Having never made a cheesecake before, I wasn't sure what to look for to know if it was set or not. I had to kind of guess. I think the cake could have stayed in for 5 to 10 more minutes but from everyone's positive reactions I don't think it mattered.

Up to this point, this has been everyone's favorite cake, my husband was mad that I gave so much of it away. I will let the neighbors comments speak for themselves...

Neighbor comments:

"oh my gawd, It's sooo good!"

"So does my gift include being able to order an entire cheesecake?!"

"Holy crap, this cheesecake is insane!"

"OMG, amazing."

"It's seriously so good!"