American Cake - Cake #28: 17th-Century Cheesecake

Time Period: 1650-1799

Cheesecake may seem like a relatively modern recipe, but it's actually got a long history, dating back to the Greeks and Romans. It enjoyed popularity with the first colonists since before the War of Independence, first appearing on a menu on an American menu in 1758. Unsurprisingly, Philadelphia was a hub for cheesecake in early America, where they used cheese curds similar to the ricotta we use today. 

One of the nice things about the more historic cakes in this book is that their flavors aren't derived from pure sweetness. The ricotta lends a tang that it slightly leavened by the currants, but this isn't a cake that blasts you with sugar. It turned out very well, and though it's very dissimilar to the more modern cheesecakes you'd get in a restaurant or bakery, it offers more than just a peek into history; I'd happily eat this one again.