MAIN INGREDIENTS
New York-style cheesecake is different from other cheesecakes mainly because of its heavy and dense texture that feels extremely smooth and rich. Its flavor should be sweet and tangy, not citrusy, chewy, or starchy. It is believed that the first New York-style cheesecake was made by Junior’s in the 1950s.
The magic formula includes heavy cream, eggs, vanilla, cream cheese, and (optionally) sour cream, while the base usually consists of a sponge cake crust or graham cracker crust.
MOST ICONIC New York-style cheesecake
View moreWhen chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten mistakenly pulled out his chocolate sponge cake out of the oven ahead of time, little did he know it was a blessing in disguise. Once he cracked the spongy outside, he was met with an explosion of liquid chocolate oozing out of its confinements, as if finally set free.
And even though Jacques Torres, a French chef and chocolatier, claimed such a cake already existed in France, it was Vongerichten that made the molten chocolate cake, popularly nicknamed lava cake, a global sensation, first starting in the United States, and later a must-have on the menus of numerous respectable, high-end restaurants.
MOST ICONIC Molten Chocolate Cake
Blackout cake is a traditional chocolate cake originating from Brooklyn's Ebinger's Bakery, where it was first made in 1942. This rich, dark sponge cake is filled with thick pudding-like chocolate custard and topped with crumbs of chocolate cake.
The ingredients used for the cake typically include dark chocolate, espresso powder, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder, butter, salt, sugar, eggs, and milk. Once prepared, the cake is often decorated with buttercream, but it's completely optional.
Its dark visual appearance is a nod to the mandatory blackouts that happened at the time (WWII) in order to protect the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
This timeless classic consists of a sponge cake base that is topped with ice cream, and the whole combination is then encased in lightly torched or browned meringue. There are many conflicting stories regarding its origin, but it is believed that a predecessor of baked Alaska might be omelette Norvegienne - a French invention that featured layers of cake and ice cream that were covered in meringue and then broiled.
In the US, it is accepted that baked Alaska first appeared under the name Alaska Florida at Delmonico's restaurant in New York sometime in the mid-1850s. It was an invention of pastry chef Charles Ranhofer, and it originally consisted of banana ice cream, walnut spice cake, and meringue.
MOST ICONIC Baked Alaska
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.