After welcoming a speciality cheesecake shop at 26 Main St., Millbury, just weeks ago, Bay Staters have come in numbers to support “Who Cut the Cheesecake?” — so much so, that the business has sold out almost every day.
The business offers guests a one-stop-shop for all things cheesecake — including elaborate flavors ranging from tangy, lemon-blueberry to extra sweet, like death by chocolate.
“Who Cut the Cheesecake”’s signature item is its mini-cheesecakes which are $5 each, and $26 for five. Whole cheesecakes are available for preorder online, here.
Between the 26 Main St., Millbury location and the 1195 Putnam Pike, Chepachet, Rhode Island flagship location, “Who Cut the Cheesecake?,” sells about 5,000 mini-cheesecakes a week.
“I created the recipe in high school and started a small business,” the company’s owner, Dave Silva, said. “I used to sell to teachers.”
Silva’s first recipe was for pumpkin cheesecake, which he followed from a cookbook his uncle gave him when he was about 16 years old.
He has since tweaked the recipe to become what it is today, and dramatically expanded the flavor combinations that are on offer.
Silva, a Rhode Island native, said he put a lot of work into establishing a small cheesecake business as a teen. But he “put it on the back burner for 20 years,” before picking it back up around 2019.
At the time, Silva, 39, was a paramedic for the city of Worcester.
Though only casually baking here and there, Silva said he gained a following for his cheesecake again after posting a “How to make cheesecake,” video on YouTube.
“I took it down like two weeks later,” he said. “I didn’t want people to know my recipe.”
A Worcester firefighter saw Silva’s video before he removed it, and asked if he would make him a cheesecake.
To “make it worth our while,” Silva said they’d need an order bigger than that, adding between the prep, baking and cooling times, it takes about 24 hours to make a cheesecake.
It didn’t take long before “everyone was asking me to make them,” he said.
Before he knew it, his operations would expand from baking with just one mixer and one over in his home, to making up to 30 cheesecakes a week in the holiday season.
Silva moved into a commercial kitchen with two ovens and two mixers based in St. Bernards Church on Lincoln St., Worcester, around late 2019 or early 2020, to keep up with the demand.
With the larger space, Silva was able to increase production up to 120 large cakes a week.
But even then, he was still only baking part-time while working full-time as a paramedic.
With the help of friends Shannon Horran, Shawna Grout, and John Wojcik, and the support of his wife Hollie, Silva was able to keep up with the higher demand.
Silva’s following allowed him to move to full-time baking and open the first “Who Cut the Cheesecake,” storefront in Chepachet, Rhode Island.
At that location, Silva typically sells about 60 full-size cheesecakes a week, and 1,500 mini-cheesecakes a week.
However, since opening the Millbury location, the total between both stores has more than tripled, Silva said.
Silva’s personal favorites are Banana Cream and Tiramisu, though he said the most popular among customers tends to be lemon-blueberry, peanut butter delight, strawberry shortcake and death by chocolate.
The four most popular flavors are menu staples, though other flavors rotate.
In addition to cheesecake flavor variations, the flavors of the crusts also vary depending on the cheesecake.
Some crust flavors include gram cracker, Oreo, vanilla wafer, Oreo-Graham Cracker mix and more.
“Our cheesecakes are usually a lot lighter and creamery than traditional cheesecakes,” said Silva. “All of our products are handmade … fresh.”
Hours:
Monday, Closed
Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m – 7 p.m.
Wednesday, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Thursday, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Friday, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Sunday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
