Somewhere in a kitchen drawer, tucked between the electricity bill and an electricity cord that no one knows what to do with, there is almost certainly a yellowed clipping from The Australian Women’s Weekly. A recipe, cut out with care, occasionally splattered with butter, and definitley annotated in someone’s nan’s handwriting with a little note like “add extra zest.”
This September, Tilda at Sofitel Sydney Wentworth is marking 60 years since The Wentworth first opened its doors by bringing back the exact cheesecake that made it a household name in the first place, literally.
Back in 1966, when The Wentworth became Australia’s very first five-star international hotel, it wasn’t just the marble lobbies and visiting royalty that had Sydney talking. It was the cheesecake, so beloved that its recipe made the leap from hotel dining room to The Australian Women’s Weekly, and from there, into kitchens right across the country. Suddenly, a dessert that once felt reserved for hotel glamour was showing up at family dinners, church fetes and Sunday afternoon teas, made by hand by generations of home cooks who never set foot in the hotel itself but somehow still felt like they had a piece of it.
A Recipe Passed Down, Slice by Slice
Pastry Chef Ashleigh Otto has spent months carefully reviving the original recipe for Tilda’s menu, treating it like a family heirloom. As Otto puts it, “This cheesecake is part of our history because it’s been passed down through each generation of chefs who have worked at The Wentworth.” Between the lemon zest and the vanilla bean, she says, “there is a really nice pairing within the cheesecake,” resulting in what she calls a “signature buttery soft moreish texture.” No shortcuts, no modern twist, no deconstruction. Just the same cheesecake that once sat proudly on a doily, at the centre of a table, exactly as your nan intended.
There’s something quietly moving about a hotel treating a dessert like a family recipe rather than a trend. Most menus chase what’s new. This one is chasing 1966, back when Sydney’s fanciest address welcomed celebrities, politicians and actual royalty through its doors, and a slice of cheesecake was, somehow, part of the glamour.
Where to Get Your Slice of Sydney History
The Wentworth Cheesecake lands at Tilda from 1 September 2026, priced at $25 a slice. For anyone whose family still has the Women’s Weekly clipping somewhere, splattered and much-loved, it’s a trip straight back to nan’s kitchen table. For everyone else, it’s a rare chance to taste a genuine piece of Sydney history, one nostalgic forkful at a time.
Book a table, order a slice, and raise a fork to 60 years of The Wentworth. Some recipes get passed down through families. This one got passed down through an entire city.
The Wentworth Cheesecake, $25, is available at Tilda, Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, from 1 September
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