Cheesecake vs Cream Cheese: Difference and Comparison

Cheesecakes are one of the most popular deserts savored around the world. Cheesecake is made with simple ingredients like a thin crust, milk, cream cheese, flour, and eggs and added flavorings of your choice, which are then baked.

However, cheesecakes and cream cheese are two different edibles with different purposes.

Key Takeaways

1. Cheesecake is a dessert made of a crust, a creamy filling made of cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and various toppings or flavors, while cream cheese is a soft, spreadable cheese commonly used in cooking and baking.
2. Cheesecake requires baking and setting in the refrigerator, while cream cheese is used as a base for dips, spreads, or frosting.
3. Cheesecake is sweet and rich, while cream cheese has a tangy, mild flavor.

Cheesecake vs Cream Cheese

The difference between cheesecake and cream cheese is that cheesecake is a type of cake. Cream cheese is cheese. This implies that cheesecake is mostly baked like most cakes, while cream cheese is made like any other cheese by fermentation of milk or curd with some bacterial starters. 

Cheesecake is a delicious cake topped with sweetened cream and fruit and covered in a pastry crust. Many different types and flavors of cheesecake are available, including vanilla, chocolate, and key lime.

These are some of the most popular desserts consumed in the United States. 

Cream cheese is a soft, white, creamy cheese made from milk and milk products. It is one of the most common cheeses globally, next to mozzarella.

It is slightly saltier than its cousin, but it is mainly used in desserts like cheesecakes, fruit dips, and sweet rolls.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Cheesecake	Cream Cheese
What is it	Cheesecake is a variety of cakes made with cream cheese.	Cream cheese is a prevalent variety of cheese.
Ingredients	Traditionally, cheesecakes are made with milk, flour, eggs, cream cheese, sugar, and material for crust like graham crackers.	Cream cheese is made up of milk, curd, or any other bacterial starters that turn the milk into curd.
Cooked By	Cheesecakes are baked.	Cream cheese is made by fermentation over a long period.
Crust	Cheesecakes have a thin or thick crunchy crust on the bottom.	There is no crust in cream cheese. It is very soft.
Taste	Cheesecakes are eaten as sweet desserts.	Cream cheese has a classic cheese taste that is slightly tangy and salty.

What is Cheesecake?

The cheesecake is a baked dessert that uses a base of cheesecake and adds a variety of toppings. The crust is made of graham crackers, eggs, and butter.

The cheese is cream cheese but can sometimes be ricotta cheese.

Cheesecake is a dessert made from cheese, milk, and eggs. It can be served sweet or savory and is made using a baking tin.

The cheesecake was invented over 2500 years ago in ancient Greece and was made using cakes of yeast and oil. Nowadays, it is made using animal milk such as cow’s or sheep’s milk or even milk substitutes.

Vegetarian cheesecakes can be made using soy milk or coconut milk. Vegan cheesecakes are made using non-dairy cheese such as cashew nuts or tofu.

There are different types of cheesecake out there. First, you’ve got your New York-style cheesecakes. These are dense, creamy, and even a little sour. But they’re not very sweet. They’re baked with no crusts on top of them at all.

These desserts consist of mostly cream cheese and often, there’s more crust than cheesecake. At the very center of these desserts, there’s a soft cheesecake mixture.

But the rest of the dessert is a sweet and fluffy crust. It’s not uncommon to see cheesecake mixtures that are layered.

What is Cream Cheese?

The first kind of cream cheese dates back to 1872, made famous by a company called Kraft. Cheese is essentially a curdled milk product.

It covers a wide range of foods that are produced or derived from milk. All cheese originates from animal milk which is why there are so many types of cheese.

Cream cheese is a semi-soft cheese made out of the milk of cows. Cream cheese is a soft, mild cheese made from pressed curds of milk and cream.

The cheese curd is cut into small cubes and then blended with cream. The blended curd is put into a mold and pressed to make cream cheese.

This type of cheese is used in baking and cooking, but it can also be spread on bread to make a sandwich.

Cream cheese is a dairy product that can be used as a substitute for butter or other low-fat cheese. Cream cheese is made from a mix of milk, buttermilk, and cream.

Using these ingredients and a bacteria starter, cream cheese is created with a soft consistency that does not have the pungent scent of many other kinds of cheese. It is rich in fat and protein.

Main Differences Between Cheesecake and Cream Cheese

1. An important difference between cheesecakes and cream cheese is that cheesecake is sweeter, and cream cheese is milder in flavor.
2. Cheesecake is normally flavored sweet. Cream cheese, on the other hand, is in plain or has flavored versions like savory or tangy.
3. Cheesecake is made from a mixture of cream cheese, eggs, sugar, flour, and other ingredients. Cream cheese, however, is just cheese made of milk and starters.
4. Cheesecake is a dessert, while cream cheese is used as an ingredient in cooking.
5. The difference between cheesecake and cream cheese is the thickness and density of the cheesecake. Cheesecake is made with a lot of cream cheese, which is heavier and denser and has higher water content.
6. Cheesecakes have a base crust, while cream cheese does not.

References

1. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0449010X.2008.10707011