The very best cheesecake for Shavuot

Golden biscuit bases, smooth cream cheese fillings, and carefully placed toppings lined the judging table as five contestants battled it out in a Shavuot cheesecake competition hosted by KosherWorld this week. 

In the style of the technical challenge, mixed with the signature challenge in the Great British Bake Off, five Chalav Yisrael cheesecakes were tasted blindly to decide the best recipe for people to prepare this Shavuot. 

After the success of its 2019 competition to find the best kosher “MasterChef”, KosherWorld brought the concept back, this time in search of the best kosher baker. Hundreds of home bakers submitted recipes, with only five contestants ultimately selected to showcase their skills. Lara Rosenthal, manager at KosherWorld and organiser of the competition, said the success of the previous event inspired her to revive it, with Shavuot providing the perfect occasion. 

“Obviously, when thinking of Shavuot, we think of Chalav Yisrael and dairy desserts. Basically. Almost all the recipes are like cheesecakes in some form or another,” she said. 

Home bakers Carol Bome, Naomi Lichtenstein, Tracy Milner, Ilana Zelkin, and Chaya Esther Taback started baking early on the morning of 12 May in a shul kitchen in Johannesburg. 

Before they could even get into the kitchen, they’d had to submit the detailed recipe they would use. Everything had to be made from scratch; no premixed or prebaked ingredients were allowed. 

The five bakers used ingredients and equipment provided by KosherWorld and the shul, ensuring they were on the same playing field. The only thing that each competitor had to bring in was their own topping, such as berries. 

The four judges tasted their desserts without knowing who had baked what, so there were no personal biases. 

“I just love cheesecake,” said Ilsa Vuyk, one of the judges and an accountant at KosherWorld. 

The judges each critiqued and scored the desserts according to taste, overall presentation, difficulty, originality, technical skill, and creativity. They were also judged according to their adherence to the theme, which is that it is a Chalav Yisrael dessert. 

Taste was the highest-scoring category, followed by texture, which is the lightness, and then by appearance. 

Once the judges had sufficiently eaten their weight in cheesecake, they carefully weighed up each decision and score so that the winner could be decided. 

“I’m supposed to be on a diet, but they are all so delicious I don’t care,” said caterer and judge Jody Kruger. 

Ultimately, Zelkin was chosen as the winner for her creamy cinnamon vanilla phyllo dessert. She won a SpeedMixer, a hair voucher, and an Oh Mio Gelato voucher. The other contestants left the competition with prizes of their own. 

“They are all so delicious, I don’t care who made what,” said Vuyk, “If each one of them were selling them in a shop, I would buy them all.” 

• All the recipes are available online at https://www.sajr.co.za/shavuot-recipes-2/