The Great Cheesecake Hunt

“It shouldn’t be this hard.”

Those were the exact words I uttered in frustration after spending days, but coming up empty handed, trying to find a cheesecake for my husband’s birthday. As this was a special one it was really important to me to get his favorite dessert to celebrate this milestone birthday (I won’t reveal which one) but was astounded at how hard this seemingly simple task ended up being.

The Great Cheescake Hunt started about two weeks before his actual birthday. I looked online at the Cheesecake Factory and it, along with similar well-known, mouth-watering options, were $80 or more depending on the flavor. Yikes, that’s steep! Strike one. So I polled everyone I knew to ask where they went for special occasion cakes, and to my surprise grocery stores, were named most. Feeling confident I could find what I was looking for, I headed to our local specialty market first, known for its pricey but tasty options, and reviewed their bakery menu. Cheesecake was doable, it seemed, until I was introduced to the head baker who informed me that Thanksgiving orders were taking all his time and attention and the best he could do was make an extra pumpkin cheesecake for me. “I don’t want pumpkin, I want plain, with caramel,” was my response. He followed with, “It’s just a bad time of year to make this request” (this is with a week before the holiday) and “why don’t you come back after Thanksgiving?” Seriously? Sure, I’ll just pretend my husband was born in December and not November! Flabbergasted and vowing never to shop there again, I left. Strike two.

Luckily, I had a bunch of errands to run in the “land of stores” 30 miles away. I stopped at Hannaford—a few people had raved about their bakery section and being that I was determined not to make this any more of a project than it had already become, I focused on them next. There was a nice selection of yellow and chocolate cakes with colored crème frosting one could have personalized, but when it came to cheesecakes there were only two choices—one was twice the price of the other, very small in size but had a Vermont Cheesecake Company label on it. The worker behind the counter said it seemed to be a popular choice so I was swayed. Since the cakes were so tiny and lacked any type of “wow” factor I picked two, a plain and a peanut butter chocolate option. I also purchased a set of birthday candles that were featured on a spinner rack on the bakery counter. The bill was considerable—the cakes fairly tasteless and the candles that were supposed to sparkle when lit did not. Strike three.

The whole experience left me wanting for the old bakery stores we all grew up with. I know they still exist thanks to shows like the Cake Boss, but here in a rural New England, we got nothin’ I tell ya, nothin’.

My point here is that 1) the grocery store was the last place I considered to purchase a special occasion cake and 2) based on this experience, fair or not, the grocery store is still the last place I will consider for a special occasion cake. What will I likely do next time? I will stick with what I know to be good and spend way too much money ordering a cake online. After all, and I am sure you will agree, life is too short to eat bad cheesecake!

P.S. Cheesecake alert—was in New Jersey over the weekend and stopped into Costco to pick up a sheet cake for my parents 60th  Anniversary party. There before my eyes was a beautiful, full-size cheesecake for only $12.99. Made a mental note for next year but because there isn’t a Costco within 60 miles of where I live I will need to get one in New Jersey and truck it 350 miles home.