Don’t you just love all those wacky, invented national holidays? It seems like there’s one for every day of the year and for just about anything you can think of! St. Olaf is certainly famous for its share of nonsensical celebrations, but NPR aired a fun segment last year about the true origins of the national holiday craze. Thankfully, I saw a Facebook post from the Dinner Is Served 1972 blog that alerted me to the fact that today (July 30) is National Cheesecake Day! And what sort of Golden Girls blog would this be if I didn’t recognize this most auspicious of holidays?

Since I also love vintage recipe ads I thought it would be fun to pair one up with each of the Girls as an example of a cheesecake they might make. Enjoy!

Blanche: Tropical “Philly” Cheese Cake

Now if this cheesecake doesn’t scream Blanche then I don’t know what would. It’s like her bedroom in cheesecake form! The description, “Exotic! (yet easy)” also sounds exactly like something Blanche would say about herself. It’s almost too good to be true!

I feel like the only thing this cheesecake is missing to truly represent Blanche is a little bit of whipped cream! She usually has some in her bedroom anyway as she let us know in the “Three on a Couch” episode. This recipe sounds perfectly tasty to me! It’s a sort of easier, more budget friendly recipe for key lime pie, which Miami is famous for.

Rose: Strawberry Cheese Treat

This is sort of a hybrid cheesecake wonder, but it seemed very Rose to me. It’s kind of like Sperhoeven Krispies or Genurkenflurken Cake taken up a notch. Or maybe she could’ve won Small Curd Cottage Cheese Queen after all if she’d whipped this up for the talent portion of the contest!

Is it just me or do you think Rose would hide something weird in the middle layer of this thing? She describes her Vanskapkaka Cake in the “Comedy of Errors” episode as containing “milk, sugar, honey, a whole lot of love, and just a drop of sunshine,” but I don’t think we can ever really be too sure.

Dorothy: Lemon Pudding Cheesecake

I’ve actually made this mock cheesecake before and, while it’s definitely not the same as real cheesecake, it’ll do the trick if you’re in a hurry. It’s no-nonsense, which naturally made me think of Dorothy.

Bea Arthur hated cheesecake in real life, but maybe she would’ve liked this version. It’s more lemony than traditional cheesecake, and you could definitely make it with other flavors of pudding. I bet it’s really tasty with pistachio!

Sophia: Jell-O Pudding Deluxe Cheesecake

This chocolate cheesecake is a nod to the very first time cheesecake made its famous debut on the show, surprisingly not until episode 25, “The Way We Met,” of the first season when Rose talks about a Double Fudge Chocolate Cheesecake. Sophia also mentions a famous Petrillo family recipe, Double Fudge Amaretto Ricotta Cheesecake, in the “Rites of Spring” episode in season 4 when she wants to gain weight.

If the Petrillo version sounds more appealing to you, check out Tori Avey’s fantastic blog post, The Golden Girls Cheesecake, that’s all about her quest to re-create that recipe. She even scored an interview with Susan Harris about cheesecake’s role on the show!

Cheesecake truly is like the fifth Golden Girl of the show! It always made an appearance when the Girls needed to de-stress around the kitchen table, becoming a natural focal point for some of their funniest and most special moments as friends. How about you? Do you have a favorite flavor of cheesecake? Or maybe you have another special recipe recipe that never fails to bring you and your friends and family together. I’d love to hear about it!

Also, I just want to mention right quick that this is the 25th post of The Golden Girls Fashion Corner! I can’t think of a better way to commemorate that milestone than with a post about cheesecake. Special thanks to everyone who reads and follows this blog!