Photograph from sabotrax on Flickr

This week is the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which celebrates the Jews receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai. The holiday is perhaps most famous for its connection with eating dairy foods, a tradition whose origin is usually traced to a line in Exodus (3:17) that refers to Israel as a land "flowing with milk and honey." It is fitting, then, that one of the most prominent dairy foods Jews eat on Shavuot is cheesecake, one of the greatest expressions of the beautiful marriage between sweetness and cream.

Almost everywhere where fresh cheeses can found, one can find a regional twist on cheesecake. Most American cheesecakes use cream cheese and heavy cream as the base, although there are variations which substitute sour cream for the heavy cream. (Using sour cream additionally allows one to freeze the cake for a short period of time.)

The most famous (to me anyway) is New York cheesecake, which places an emphasis on heavy cream. To me New York is the standard-bearer, but that's what I grew up with so I am biased. Other regional variations differ mainly on whatever type of fresh cheese is most available. For instance, Roman cheesecake uses ricotta and honey, while the German version relies on quark. The Swedes have an interesting take on cheesecake; according to Wikipedia, Swedish cheesecake "is not layered and is traditionally produced by adding rennet to milk and letting the casein coagulate. It is then baked in an oven and served warm."

Cheesecakes can also be an ongoing source of woe for the home baker. They fall, they crack, the crusts become soggy, they're lumpy, they don't set. Allrecipes.com has published a great set of tips for troubleshooting failed cheesecakes.

What about you? What's your favorite cheesecake variation? What's the best type of cheese to use?