London cheesecake

01 / ABOUT THE DISH

About the dish

London cheesecake, despite its name, is not a cheesecake, nor is it from London. This British sweet pastry is made with puff pastry that’s filled with almond cream and a dollop of jam. Once baked, the puff pastry is brushed with icing consisting of icing sugar and water. The tops of the cheesecakes are then dipped into desiccated coconut, which makes the pastry seem like it’s topped with grated cheese, hence the possible name of the dessert. Some say that the original pastry contained cheese curds. London cheesecakes were very popular in the 1950s and 1960s, but the origins of the pastry are still a mystery. Nowadays, London cheesecakes are widely available in supermarkets and bakery chains.