While cream cheese was invented in 1872, cheese-based pies were around before Caesar crossed the Rubicon. In his De Agri Cultura, Roman statesman Cato the Elder wrote of a dish called placenta made of flour dough topped with cheese and honey. In modern times, cheesecake is usually made with cream cheese (US), ricotta (Italy) or quark cheese (Germany).
The most expensive cheesecake in the world is likely the cheesecake made by Chef Miguel Angel Quezada of Mexico and fifty-five cooks in January of 2009. The cheesecake took 60 hours to produce and weighed in at 2 tons. It was made with 2,000 pounds of cream cheese, 772 pounds of pastry, 551 pounds of sugar and 331 pounds of butter. It contained 20,000 servings and, according to Guinness World Records, was the largest cheesecake in the world.
The most expensive cheesecake you’ll be able to get your hands on, however, is offered by Saks Fifth Avenue. New York’s haute department store is selling a “Festive Two-Stack Cheesecake” by Elegant Cheesecakes. It weighs 10 pounds and comes in the form of a pair of stacked gift boxes. The filigreed chocolate shell contains a triple-mocha cheesecake on a shortbread crust and a chocolate decadence cake with buttercream frosting.
This luxury cheesecake can be had for $300 plus the price of overnight delivery.
