Here's How Much The World's Most Expensive Cheesecake Will Set You Back

New York is famous for a lot of things, and cheesecake is arguably one of the tastiest. While Greece deserves credit for inventing cheesecake, New York had a heavy hand in perfecting it, and it's one of two American cities with its name on this delectable dessert. But one record-breaking cheesecake sets itself apart from even the richest of New York cheesecakes with its astronomical price tag. And, if you want a taste of it, you'll have to shell out a lot of dough — $4,592.42, to be exact.

Chef Raffaele Ronca of the eponymous Ristorante Rafaele in New York City clinched the Guinness World Record for the world's most expensive cheesecake on October 30, 2017, and his record still stands. You can't just slap a $5,000 price tag on a Cheesecake Factory pie and win the world record. No, this cheesecake not only sold for that price, but it was also fully justified by the cost of the highly specialized ingredients used to make it.

So what makes this cheesecake worth more than a month's rent in Manhattan? It is gilded with edible gold leaf, but that's not even the half of it. It's made from a base of water buffalo formaggio, worth $45 per pound, blended with $300 worth of Paradis cognac by Hennessy, and enhanced by grated white Alba truffles valued at $3,500 per pound and Madagascar vanilla beans worth $280 per pound. After baking, Ronca tops the cake with a block of raw honeycomb worth $140 and a massive monogram made from Valrhona chocolate.

Nearly every ingredient is imported specifically for this cheesecake, so Ronca requires five days' notice from anyone interested in ordering it. But if you don't have that kind of time (or money), you can try the much more affordable ricotta cheesecake, which is listed on Ristorante Rafaele's brunch menu for $12 a slice. It might not scream "luxury" like a gilded cheesecake does, but we bet it tastes (almost) as good.