Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Cheese Cake

From my archives:

Shavuous is coming up!! That means that a "delicious" question presents itself: What bracha do we make on cheese cake?

Answer: It depends.

If it there is no crust and the flour in the cake is only there to keep it together ["lidabek"] then the bracha is shehakol. [Of course the same would apply if it was baked without any flour.]

If there is a very thin crust then the bracha is also shehakol.

If the cake was baked with a significant amount of flour then one makes a mezonos.

If there is a large crust that was baked together with the cheesy filling then one makes a mezonos.

If the crust and filling were baked seperately and then combined one makes a mezonos, eats a little bit of the crust, followed by a shehakol and consumption of some of the cheese filling.[Based on Piskei Tshuvos Page 818 and Vzos Habracha Page 250.]

When in doubt you can take a cookie and make a mezonos [don't forget to eat it]. Then, have a glass of milk preceded by a shehakol. Now you can enjoy the cheese cake in good conscience.