To celebrate National Cheesecake Day, FloridaBet.com is calling for a time-out on our typical coverage of all things Florida sports betting and the ongoing fight to legalize it. Instead, we’re taking some time to do a deep dive into one of the nation’s most popular, and polarizing, dessert dishes.
Using Google Trends, we conducted research on two key cheesecake-related subjects. First, we sought to find out where Florida ranks among the country’s cheesecake loving states. Then, we ranked the top flavors of cheesecake, according to residents of the Sunshine State. All of our data is based on search engine interest between March 5 and March 12, 2024. The full results can be found below.
States Most Interested in Cheesecake
As you can see, according to our search engine-based rankings, Florida rates out as the eighth-most cheesecake-obsessed state. Meanwhile, Hawaii is the state with the highest level of interest in the dessert, followed by Nevada, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware.
Not only does Hawaii top this list, but Hawaiian cheesecake is also a beloved flavor in and of itself. Although similar to traditional American cheesecake in many ways, the Hawaiian variety incorporates ingredients and flavors associated with the Aloha State, including pineapple, coconut, and macadamia nuts.
Florida’s Favorite Cheesecake Flavor
Speaking of flavors, here are Florida’s favorites.
Chocolate ranks as the Sunshine State’s favorite flavor of cheesecake, followed closely by pumpkin and strawberry in a tie for second. Meanwhile, New York-style cheesecake ranks number four. A blend of cream cheese, eggs, and sugar wrapped in a buttery graham cracker crust, for many Americans, New York-style is the quintessential cheesecake.
But the earliest evidence of cheesecake consumption can be traced all the way back to the Ancient Greek Olympics. Back then, before competition, athletes were fed a primitive form of cheesecake, consisting of fresh cheese, honey and wheat. The first written record of a cheesecake recipe comes from an Ancient Roman essay by Cato the Elder written in 160 BCE.
Obviously, the dish has evolved significantly across the centuries, and today this cheese-y dessert varies widely across cultures too. While in America, the “cheese” in cheesecake is typically cream cheese, in Italy they use ricotta, and France’s soft cheese of choice is neufchâtel. In fact, when it comes to cheesecake, there’s an infinite variety of flavors, ingredients, and even aesthetics to experiment with.
Stay with FloridaBet.com for more lifestyle stories like this and keep updated on the latest Florida sports betting apps expected to come to the Sunshine State once legal.
Author
Jeff Parker is an entertainment writer for FloridaBet.com. A writer for film, television and the internet, Jeff is a life long movie buff, with a Masters Degree in Popular Culture. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he works full time as documentary filmmaker and producer.
