30th July: Cheesecake day

National Cheesecake Day. Celebrates a popular dessert. 10 facts about cheesecake:

1. Archaeologists have found evidence that he first cheesecakes were probably made in Ancient Greece 4,000 years ago.
2. The first person to record the recipe was Athenaeus in 230 A.D.
3. In Ancient Greece, cheesecake was consumed for religious reasons and went by the rather unappetising name of "placenta".
4. In 776 B.C., the Greeks believed cheesecake to be a good source of energy, and so it was served to athletes at the first Olympic games.
5. The cheesecake as we know it originated in New York in 1872 when dairyman William Lawrence discovered how to make cream cheese. In 1912, James Kraft invented pasteurised cream cheese, which is the main ingredient of today's cheesecakes.
6. Cheesecake used to be made with yeast until the 18th century when Europeans discovered that beaten eggs could be used to make things rise.
7. In  Italy cheesecakes are made from ricotta; in Germany, Netherlands and Poland they use quark.
8. Because cheesecakes are dense, they keep on cooking for some time after they are taken out of the oven.
9. There are savoury cheesecakes as well as sweet ones.
10. The largest cheesecake ever made weighed 4,703lb. It was made by Philadelphia Kraft Foods in Mexico in 2009.