Cheesecake is believed to have originated in ancient Greece. History has the first recorded mention of cheesecake as being served to the athletes during the first Olympic Games held in 776 B.C. In 1872, cream cheese was invented by American dairy men, who were trying to recreate the French cheese, Neufchatel. James Kraft invented pasteurized cheese in 1912, which lead to pasteurized Philidelphia cream cheese, the most popular cheese used for making cheesecakes today...

 

Cheesecakes should be stored in the refrigerator...take them out about 20 minutes prior to serving...they are better served close to room temperature...

You can freeze all or some of your cheesecake if you like...simply wrap in a couple of layers of plastic wrap and then a tight layer of aluminum foil...they freeze beautifully and will last frozen for up to 6 months...

Lemon Curd is a mixture of lemon juice, zest, egg yolks, sugar and butter, heated slowly until thickened and then chilled...if you've ever had a lemon meringue pie, it's very similar to that...

Chocolate Ganache is a mixture of chopped chocolate and heavy cream...heated until the chocolate melts and then chilled...