An Upstate New York festival has reclaimed its title as home to the world’s largest cheesecake. Kraft Heinz unveiled a staggering 15,008-pound cheesecake at the Cream Cheese Festival in Lowville, N.Y., with Guinness World Records adjudicator Michael Empric confirming the achievement, surpassing the previous record by over 5,000 pounds.
“It is fantastic,” said Christina Pomerville, interim plant manager at Kraft Heinz Lowville. “The fact that it’s over 15,000 will hopefully make it very difficult for anyone to take the title away from us again.”
The record-breaking cheesecake, made with over 13,000 pounds of Philadelphia Cream Cheese sourced from Kraft’s Lowville plant, also included 870 pounds of graham cracker crumbs, 300 pounds of sugar, and more than 100 pounds of butter. Measuring over 11 feet in diameter, the dessert brought the title back to Lowville, located about 80 miles north of Syracuse.
Kraft previously held the Guinness record with a 6,900-pound cheesecake in 2013, but a Russian company set a new record in 2017 with a 9,300-pound cheesecake measuring 9 feet, 2 inches in diameter.
To celebrate this culinary feat, Lt. Col. Adam Keller, commander of the 6-6 Air Cavalry Squadron at Fort Drum’s 10th Mountain Division, used a sword to cut slices for festival attendees. Guinness rules required that the cheesecake be edible and served on the day of the record attempt, with leftover slices donated to the Lowville Food Pantry and Watertown Urban Mission.
Interestingly, while Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is often credited as the birthplace of Philadelphia cream cheese, experts trace its origins back to 1872 in Chester, NY, where dairy farmer William Lawrence enhanced his cheese recipe. The name became synonymous with the brand, which is now produced at Kraft Heinz’s largest cream cheese plant in Lowville.
To celebrate its claim to fame, Lowville hosts an annual Cream Cheese Festival, with next year marking the 20th anniversary of this free event.
You Might Be Interested In:
