Top 5 Most Popular Desserts in America
5: Cheesecake 
Chefs cut the Guinness World Record-winning biggest cheesecake, which is 2.5 meters in diameter, 55 centimeters high and weighs 2 tons. No, New Yorkers didn't invent it -- but you can tell them that. There's some speculation, but most people trace the first cheesecakes back to Ancient Greece. In fact, athletes at the first Olympic Games were served small versions of this dessert in 776 B.C. In A.D. 1000, the cheesecake made its way to the United Kingdom and Europe by way of the Roman Army. From there, it eventually found the United States.
Recipes vary, but the key ingredient to this dessert is, not surprisingly, cheese. The most common cheeses in the modern version of cheesecake are cream cheese, cottage cheese, ricotta and Neufchatel. The New York version that's become so famous uses cream cheese along with eggs, cream, sugar and usually a graham cracker crust. While there are a seemingly unlimited number of variations on this classic, New York style cheesecake is served plain with no other ingredients or toppings. Other variations pack in or are topped with fruits, cookies, peanut butter and pretty much any other decadent ingredient you can think of.
You can find cheesecakes on most dessert menus in restaurants around the United States, but sales of frozen cheesecakes are where the big bucks are. Dessert maker Sara Lee is the leading seller of frozen cheesecake, with sales in 2004 topping $80 million.
4: Jell-O 
Thanks for the cow hooves and pig bones, mom!
There's always room for Jell-O. At least that's what the dessert's famous ad slogan says. Jell-O is actually a brand name, but it has become synonymous with any kind of gelatin dessert. It's called "America's Most Famous Dessert" and is extremely popular with children and retirement homes all over the Unites States. There's a fun appeal to the jiggling, and it's a colorful classic for the kids. It's easy to make and there's virtually no cleanup required. Add boiling water to the powdered mix and chill for a few hours, and the kids are happy. It's no wonder it's so popular with moms around the country.
Here's something mom probably never told you -- gelatin is a processed version of collagen, a natural protein found in the tendons, ligaments and tissues of mammals. It's made by boiling the connective tissues, bones and skins of animals. For Jell-O, it usually comes from cows and pig bones and hooves. Take that powdered gelatin, some artificial sweetener and food coloring, and somehow you have a very popular dessert. Chalk one up for the advertising business.
3: Apple Pie 
Who can refuse an apple pie
from Grandma's kitchen?
Nobody, that's who.
Nothing says America like "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet." That popular ad jingle was created for car maker Chevrolet in 1974 and was an instant success. Why did the advertisers choose apple pie? Probably because of the classic 1950s images of well-dressed moms cooling fresh-baked apple pies in kitchen windows. Problem is, apple pie wasn't born in the United States.
Apple pies or tarts date all the way back to Europe in the 14th century. The first apple pie recipes are from 1390, and they used honey in place of the seldom-used sugar. In the 1700s, the pie became pretty popular in the United Kingdom and was brought over to the new American colonies. The apple pie was regularly found in American cookbooks in the 18th century, but the famous ala mode version, topped with vanilla ice cream, didn't come into fashion until the 19th century in New York.
Because of the "red, white and blue" connotations, you can find apple pie on picnic tables all over the country every 4th of July when Americans celebrate their independence from England. The two most popular versions of the dessert are the traditional flakey crust variety and the Dutch, or crumb, apple pie. Most folks prefer it fresh and warm from the oven, but frozen apple pies are big sellers as well -- just ask Sara Lee.
2: Chocolate Cake 
This 1960s woman knows that the way to someone's heart is through chocolate cake.
Cake has been around for a long time. Ancient Egyptians were the first bakers, and their sweetened breads were most likely the foundation on which the modern cake was born. The cake pan emerged in the 17th century, and a couple of hundred years after that, baking soda and baking powder came along to make the baking process simpler. Once chocolate was introduced to Europeans by the Spanish, chocolate cake was inevitable.
It's believed that the first chocolate cake was baked in 1674 as a vehicle to enjoy chocolate, a new delicacy. While it's extremely popular in the United States thanks to its inclusion at birthday parties, it's also considered the most liked cake in the entire world.
When most people hear the words German chocolate cake, two things happen -- their mouths water and they thank Germany for its contribution to the dessert cart. What many people may not know is that German chocolate cake has nothing to do with the European country. Its named comes from the inventor of the recipe, a Texan named Sam German. He concocted the famous dessert in the late 1800s, but it didn't explode in popularity until the 1950s.
1: Ice Cream
Hand-churned ice cream is an American tradition.
The birthplace of ice cream isn't certain, but food historians generally credit it to the Chinese and the flavored ices they enjoyed as far back as 3000 B.C. Marco Polo is believed to be the man responsible for bringing the idea to Italy, where the modern ice cream we enjoy today was born in the 17th century. The first ice cream recipe in the United States is thought to be from the 1792 cookbook "The New Art of Cookery, According to the Present Practice." The original flavor was vanilla, and that's still the most popular flavor today -- 29 percent of Americans prefer it. Only nine percent of Americans prefer the next most popular, chocolate.
1776 may be the year America declared its independence from England, but it's also noteworthy for another reason -- the first ice cream parlor opened in New York City. The dessert was served exclusively in dishes until Italo Marchiony invented the ice cream cone in 1903, after seeing too many of his customers break or walk away with his dishes. The invention of the hand-crank ice cream maker in 1843 allowed people to make it themselves, and homemade ice cream remains a popular dessert/event for American families today.
Many flavors have come and gone over the years, but none rocked the ice cream world like Cookies N' Cream in 1983 and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough in 1991. Both of those flavors quickly found their way into the top 10 favorites and have been there ever since.
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Источник: http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/food-facts/5-most-popular-desserts-in-america.htm
