Desserts and sweet dishes are meant to be rich in texture and taste, leave a pleasant after-taste and above all, be sinfully delicious. The problem with desserts is that they can have a lasting impact on your weight and your body's calorie count. Some desserts are so dangerously calorie-ridden, that even a single spoon can destroy a week's workout results, such as a brownie sundae or an ice cream cake. In this article, learn the amount of calories in one of America's favorite desserts -- the cheesecake.
What Is Cheesecake?
Simply put, cheesecake is a cake made of firm but soft cream cheese, forming the center of the cake, with a hard and crumbly base made of biscuit or pastry crumbs. Cheesecake can be served dry and cold or warmed up with a fruity or chocolaty sauce. It can be baked in a baking pan, whose sides can be removed (springform pan) or unbaked. The unique but filling and rich taste of cheesecake is due to its unusual combination of ingredients. The cheese filling can be tart and tangy yet sweet in taste. The biscuit crust is solid and crumbly and offers a contrasting flavor. If a topping is present, the cheesecake is moist and the flavor is enhanced by the topping used. A typical slice of cheesecake consists of the following layers:
Crust or Base
The crust of a cheesecake has to be firm enough to support the cheese filling, yet crunchy in texture and taste. It can be made of crushed biscuit, cookie, or graham cracker crumbs. The crumbs are bound using butter and sugar, to create a thick paste.
Filling
The center or cakey part is made predominantly of cheese. Soft cream cheese is used in the U.S. and Canada. Cheeses, like ricotta, quark and twarog are also used. Other ingredients are eggs with their yolks, sugar and essences, like vanilla. Some recipes call for heavy cream or sour cream to be added.
Topping
Baked or unbaked, cheesecake can be served with a liquid or solid topping. Fresh fruit pieces or fruit coulis can be used. Syrups, such as chocolate, strawberry, or honey can be drizzled over the cheesecake. Whipped cream is another topping choice.
While the key ingredient remains cream cheese, the type of cream cheese can differ as well as the ingredients used to make the crust and the topping. You can mix and match with ingredients as you please, to make different cheesecakes out of the same recipe. The taste of the cheesecake also depends on the area of origin. For example, a New York cheesecake is made of cream cheese mixed with heavy cream, eggs and egg yolks and baked in a springform pan. A Philadelphia-style cheesecake uses only cream cheese and egg for a lighter, fluffier texture. The Pennsylvania Dutch style uses a tangier cheese known as farmer's cheese, for a different taste.
Is Cheesecake a Healthy Dessert?
Cheesecake is alternately a healthy and unhealthy food. Its basic ingredients, eggs, cheese and sugar, are heavy, rich foods and when combined together, can enhance the calorie content of a dish. But they are also nutritionally rich foods, that can contribute to an individual's growth and development. The nutrient analysis of a plain cheesecake slice is tabulated below.
| Vitamins | |
| Vitamin C | 0.3 mg |
| Vitamin B-6 | 0.042 mg |
| Vitamin B-12 | 0.14 g |
| Vitamin A | 438 IU |
| Vitamin D | 14 IU |
| Vitamin K | 3.5 g |
| Minerals | |
| Calcium | 41 mg |
| Iron | 0.50 mg |
| Magnesium | 9 mg |
| Phosphorus | 74 mg |
| Potassium | 72 mg |
| Sodium | 166 mg |
*Nutrient facts referenced from the USDA database
Yummy taste and nutrient content aside, the cheesecake is a fatty dessert and can pile on the pounds. It is rather obvious that cheesecake is a calorie-ridden dessert, from the ingredients used to make it. Serving size is another issue, as cheesecake is a heavy substance and is best enjoyed as a thick slice. The problem with one slice, is having just one never seems enough. Since there are infinite flavors and types of this dessert, each having their own calorie content, below is a tabular comparison of the various types of cheesecake and calories in them.
| Plain Cheesecake Without Topping | |||
| Cheesecake Name | Serving Size | Calories (kcal) | Fat (g) |
| Plain Cheesecake | 1 slice (80 g) | 257 | 18 |
| Unbaked Cheesecake | 1 slice (99 g) | 271 | 13 |
| Outback Steakhouse Classic Cheesecake | 1 slice (70 g) | 163 | 12 |
| Jell-O No Bake Real Cheesecake | 1 slice (60 g) | 290 | 15 |
| Jell-O No Bake Homestyle Cheesecake | 1 slice (55 g) | 230 | 4.5 |
| Lean On Me Baking Company Original Cheesecake | 2 oz (57 g) | 130 | 10 |
| New York Cheesecake | |||
| Cheesecake Name | Serving Size | Calories (kcal) | Fat (g) |
| Denny's Cheesecake | 5 oz (141 g) | 510 | 34 |
| Chick-fil-A Cheesecake | 1 slice | 310 | 23 |
| Fazoli's NY Style Cheesecake with Strawberry Topping | 6.3 oz (180 g) | 630 | 45 |
| Omaha Steaks New York Cheesecake | 106 g | 430 | 28 |
| Pamela's New York Cheesecake | 1 slice (94 g) | 370 | 25 |
| Pamela's Agave Sweetened New York Cheesecake | 1 slice (94 g) | 350 | 22 |
| Chocolate Cheesecake | |||
| Cheesecake Name | Serving Size | Calories (kcal) | Fat (g) |
| Pamela's White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake | 1 slice (94 g) | 360 | 23 |
| Sweet Street Desserts Triple Chocolate Cheesecake | 6.5 oz (185 g) | 700 | 47 |
| Sweet Street Desserts Blueberry White Chocolate Cheesecake | 5.8 oz (165 g) | 570 | 40 |
| PC Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake with Ganache Topping | 100 g | 410 | 23 |
| Fruit Cheesecake | |||
| Cheesecake Name | Serving Size | Calories (kcal) | Fat (g) |
| Fazoli's Caramel Apple Cheesecake | 4.9 oz (139 g) | 470 | 26 |
| Omaha Steaks Almond Cheesecake | 1 slice (95 g) | 340 | 23 |
| Omaha Steaks Strawberry Cheesecake | 1 slice (95 g) | 310 | 20 |
| Jell-O No Bake Cherry Cheesecake | 70 g | 210 | 3.5 |
| Jell-O No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake | 70 g | 200 | 3.5 |
| Pamela's Zesty Lemon Cheesecake | 1 slice (94 g) | 360 | 23 |
| Sweet Street Desserts Passion Mango Cheesecake | 5 oz (142 g) | 460 | 28 |
| Miscellaneous | |||
| Cheesecake Name | Serving Size | Calories (kcal) | Fat (g) |
| Cosi Crme Brule Cheesecake | 1 slice (200 g) | 643 | 46 |
| Denny's Turtle Cheesecake | 8 oz (226 g) | 780 | 42 |
| Fazoli's Turtle Cheesecake | 5.7 oz (162 g) | 590 | 37 |
| PC Red Velvet Cheesecake | 100 g | 410 | 25 |
| PC Dulce de Leche Cheesecake | 100 g | 380 | 18 |
It is glaringly obvious that a cheesecake is very heavy in the calories. The average range of calories in cheesecake seems to be 300-700 kcal and that's a large amount in just one slice of cake. Plain unadorned cheesecake seems to be the least calorie filled, with an average of 225. Toppings like chocolate sauce or fruit coulis, will add heavily to the calorie count. Novel flavors like Crme Brule or turtle and New York cheesecake are the heavyweights with an average of 500 calories.
So what's the nutritional verdict on this creamy sweet dish? The bottom line is that the calories in cheesecake make it a very rich dessert, that should be avoided by those watching their weight or trying to lose weight. If you can afford the calories, one slice is okay, but not on a regular basis. Sweet toothed folk who get dessert cravings, should curb their number of slices and cut down on toppings and fatty flavors. Pumpkin or plain cheesecake is less fattening than triple chocolate or turtle cheesecake, so choose smart. Avoid piling on chocolate sauce or raspberry coulis. There's no reason why you can't have your cake and eat it too, provided you watch what you eat!
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