Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter

Left: Dig into this slice of rum cheesecake. Right: Mocha cheesecake - photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

What makes everyone go oh la la, yummy? Cheesecake! Across the world, cheesecake has become quite a popular dessert; people just cannot seem to get enough of it. Once the plain cakes ruled, but cheesecake is quickly taking the topping off the cakes. Thus, Food decided to give our readers a sweet treat into the world of the cheesecake.

A cheesecake is a sweet, cheese-based dessert, but many will have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's a combination of a crust, filling made from cream cheese and topping that could be anything from cherry to lemon. It is more like a custard, buttermilk pie or créme brûlée than a traditional cake. In fact, it is classified as a pie(and not a cake).

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. However, anthropologists have found cheese mould making as far back as 2,000 B.C.

It is said that the Romans spread the decadent pastry across Europe and centuries later it appeared in the United States. Today, cheesecake has travelled across the world and has become a popular treat. It is embraced in one form or another, adding the maker's own flavours and style. In the U.S., cheesecakes are typically made with a cream cheese base and many bakers add sour cream to make it creamy and easily frozen.

Left: The Hilton Kingston hotel's black forest cheesecake made by Carlito Ebanks. Right: Chocolate chip cheesecake is a favourite with almost everyone.

Left: Cherry cheesecake Right: Mocha cheesecake