Cheesecakes, Brown Swiss her Lucky Charms

CECIL, Wis. — Heidi Heller has always enjoyed baking, sharing her wares and bringing a smile to the faces of friends and family alike. She has turned that passion into a fledgling business, Lucky Charms Cheesecakes, to continue to spread joy.

Heller grew up on her family’s dairy farm near Cecil. Although her family’s herd left several years ago, she continues to maintain a small herd of registered Brown Swiss, which she breeds under the Lucky Charms prefix.

Heller works full time for PEAK Genetics, processing, documenting and reporting genomic samples and results. In addition, she tends bar at a local establishment on Friday nights.

Heller began experimenting with cheesecakes after a friend requested a cheesecake rather than a traditional birthday cake for a birthday gathering.

“I ordered a cheesecake from a local baker and paid a pretty good price for a small cheesecake,” Heller said. “I started thinking, ‘I could make this.’”

Heller began looking for cheesecake recipes on the internet, experimenting with different flavors, ideas and techniques.

“I would make them and take them into the bar where I bartend for people to try and enjoy,” Heller said. “Eventually people started suggesting that I should consider starting a business.”

The wheels were put in motion a year ago when Heller was asked to donate a whole cheesecake and a gift certificate for a second cheesecake to a fundraiser for a local sportsman’s club.

“That was where it started to take off — people who had bid but didn’t win the cheesecake started asking if I would take orders,” Heller said.

Heller learned that while many people love cheesecake, most do not relish the time and attention to detail required to create one.

“People think they are putsy and hard to make,” Heller said. “I get that. I decided if I was going to make it a business, I would focus on cheesecakes as my niche.”

The average cheesecake takes many hours from start to completion, Heller said. She figures on an hour of preparation, four hours in the oven, as many as six hours to cool thoroughly and up to an hour to top and decorate.

Heller continues to experiment with different techniques to improve her cheesecakes.

“After baking the crust, I start the actual cheesecake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes, and then reduce the heat to 225 for another hour and 45 minutes,” Heller said. “Then I turn the oven off and let it finish baking for two hours. That helps prevent cracking. It takes longer in the oven, but (I get) a better result.”

Cheesecakes have become an extension of the passion Heller has for the dairy industry.

“I enjoy pushing dairy products, supporting the industry I love,” Heller said. “It made sense to use my prefix for the business — if we didn’t have the cows, we wouldn’t have the dairy products, and we wouldn’t be able to enjoy cheesecake.”

Heller is surprised by the quantity of dairy products she has utilized during the last year making and selling cheesecakes. In a typical month, Heller makes 15-20 cheesecakes. She figures in a holiday month that she doubles those numbers.

Throughout 2024, Heller used 388 pounds of cream cheese, 25 pounds of sour cream, 48.5 pounds of butter, 12.5 gallons of heavy whipping cream and six pounds of Mascarpone cheese.

In addition to offering whole cheesecakes, Heller offers flights, which she said have become very popular. Each month she selects eight cheesecake flavors available for flights, and customers can select four different slices.

Heller offered her talents to fellow exhibitors during World Dairy Expo.

“I took 22 cheesecakes to Expo,” Heller said. “It ended up taking a lot of organizing and help from friends.”

It took three different trips from Cecil to Madison to deliver all the cheesecakes, Heller said. She split them up based on when people wanted them. She delivered the first load, and then a couple of friends brought the rest when they came down later in the week.

Several varieties of cheesecake have become a standard part of Heller’s repertoire. She enjoys searching out new recipes as well as creating original recipes. Her Top 5 requested flavors during the past year have been white chocolate raspberry, turtle, tiramisu, red velvet and classic strawberry.

Much like she enjoys competing in the show ring with her Lucky Charms Brown Swiss, Heller enjoys competing in contests with Lucky Charms Cheesecakes. In June she won top honors in a contest held at the Marinette Co. Breakfast on the Farm, which earned her a berth at a contest held at the Wisconsin State Fair. She competed in both contests with an original-recipe Brandy Old Fashioned cheesecake.

At this year’s Shawano County Fair, Heller turned to local culture for her inspiration.

“I got to thinking, what is more Shawano County than Sun Drop?” Heller said. “I personally prefer the cherry Sun Drop. I made that cheesecake two different ways and let my friends choose which recipe I would move forward with.”

Like most fledgling businesses, the early months required capital investment with little profit in return.

“For the first four or five months I didn’t actually make anything,” Heller said. “I made more donation cheesecakes than I actually sold to start creating a name. Then as I had more orders coming in, I had to buy more springform pans and more equipment. Once I got established with enough equipment, I was able to start realizing a profit.”

Heller is in the process of updating her older farmhouse kitchen, adding slide-out shelving to provide more necessary counter space for her endeavors.

Heller said she is content with the volume of her business for the time being but is looking at ways to continue to grow and offer her customers increased options, including shipping.

“I love hearing from customers that my cheesecake helped make their party or event special, or that it just brought joy to their family and friends,” Heller said. “That is why I enjoy making them.”