![]() Eli's Cheesecake Logo | |
Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Food production |
Founded | 1980 |
Founder | Eli Schulman |
Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois , USA |
Products | Cheesecake |
Owner | Marc Schulman, President |
Number of employees | 51-200 |
Website | www |
Eli's Cheesecake is a cheesecake company based in Chicago. Eli's Original Plain Cheesecake, which has been called "Chicago's most famous dessert", is made of cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a butter shortbread cookie crust. Since the introduction of Eli's Original Plain Cheesecake, the company now offers cheesecakes with various ingredients such as chocolate, fruit, or caramel, as well as other desserts like tarts, cakes, and tiramisu. [1] [2] [3]
Eli Schulman was born in 1910 on the West Side of Chicago. [4] In 1940, he started his first venture in the restaurant business with a popular coffee shop called Eli's Ogden Huddle. [5] He followed Eli's Odgen Huddle with Eli's Stage Delicatessen, where several notable performers dined.
In 1966, Eli's The Place for Steak was opened and the celebrities followed. [5] Celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Gale Sayers, and Henny Youngman all spent time dining at Eli's The Place for Steak. [6] During the late 1970s, Eli Schulman developed the original plain cheesecake as the signature dessert for Eli's The Place for Steak. The cheesecake represented the restaurant at the first Taste of Chicago in 1980, and it eventually became the festival's most popular dessert, with about 2 million slices sold as of 2005. [7] After being open for 39 years, Eli's The Place for Steak closed in 2005. [1] [8]
Eli's Cheesecake Company became its own company soon after the first Taste of Chicago in 1980 with a small North Side plant. [8] In 1996, Eli's Cheesecake Company moved to its current location in Chicago's Dunning neighborhood. [1] [8] The new location, called Eli's Cheesecake World, includes a 62,000-square-foot (5,800 m2) state-of-the-art antique bakery, bakery cafe, and corporate offices. [1] [8] Eli's Cheesecake products get shipped to customers all over the U.S. and to stores internationally. [9] Eli's is also available via a cooperation with Lou Malnati's through Lou Malnati's Tastes of Chicago, which provides Chicago-style cuisine nationally.
Eli Schulman's son, Marc Schulman, became president of Eli's Cheesecake in 1984 and has been running the company since his father's death on May 8, 1988. [4] Later in 1988, a playground across from the street from Eli's the Place for Steak was dedicated in Eli's memory and named the "Eli M. Schulman Playground". [10]
In November 2015, The Eli's Cheesecake Company launched their first cookbook, The Eli's Cheesecake Cookbook: Remarkable Recipes from a Chicago Legend. [11] The cookbook pays homage to founder Eli M. Schulman and includes 40 different recipes, including Eli's Cheesecake's classic cheesecakes such as Original Plain, Chocolate Chip, and Banana Chocolate, plus recipes from Eli's famous Chicago steakhouse, like Shrimp deJonghe. Aside from the recipes, the cookbook gives anecdotes from president Marc Schulman, wife Maureen Schulman, and a commentary from Chicago radio personality, Rick Kogan. A second edition of the Eli's Cheesecake Cookbook was published in 2021 with additional recipes and stories, including international family recipes submitted by Eli's employees. [12]
Eli's has made cheesecakes for four American presidential inaugurations. In both 1993 and 1997, it made 2,000 pound cheesecakes for Bill Clinton's inauguration ceremonies. [13] [14] In January 2009, Eli's produced a 500-pound cheesecake for Barack Obama's inaugural ball, and in January 2013, the company made a 500-pound cheesecake for Obama's Inaugural Staff Ball. [15] [16]
Eli's Cheesecake made a 2,000-pound cheesecake to commemorate the Burnham Plan Centennial on June 27, 2009, as well as the twenty-ninth anniversary of the Taste of Chicago and Eli's Cheesecake. [17] Eli's has also made cheesecakes over the years for events such as Hillary Clinton's 50th birthday, Disney World's 25th birthday, Abraham Lincoln's Birthday Bicentennial Banquet (which President Barack Obama attended), Chicago's 150th birthday and Illinois' Governor Pat Quinn's inauguration in 2011. [18] [19] [20] [21] In 2015, Eli's made a cake for the James Beard Awards Welcome Reception in Chicago. Eli's Cheesecake continues to be favorite at the Taste of Chicago. [3]
Eli's has also been featured on some popular television shows, such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Oprah Winfrey Show . [21] In May 2012, Eli's Cheesecake was featured on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer in a special called "Made in America". [9]
Eli's broke ground on a 42,000 sq. ft. bakery expansion in July 2022. [22]
Tiramisu is a coffee-flavoured Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers (savoiardi) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese, flavoured with cocoa. The recipe has been adapted into many varieties of cakes and other desserts. Its origin is disputed between Italian regions Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, and which share features with desserts such as pastries, meringues, custards, and pies.
A chocolate brownie, or simply a brownie, is a chocolate baked confection. Brownies come in a variety of forms and may be either fudgy or cakey, depending on their density. Brownies often, but not always, have a glossy "skin" on their upper crust. They may also include nuts, frosting, cream cheese, chocolate chips, or other ingredients. A variation made with brown sugar and vanilla rather than chocolate in the batter is called a blond brownie or blondie. The brownie was developed in the United States at the end of the 19th century and popularized there during the first half of the 20th century.
Cheesecake is a sweet dessert consisting of one or more layers. The main, and thickest, layer consists of a mixture of a soft, fresh cheese, eggs, and sugar. If there is a bottom layer, it most often consists of a crust or base made from crushed cookies, graham crackers, pastry, or sometimes sponge cake. Cheesecake may be baked or unbaked.
Chess pie is a dessert with a filling composed mainly of flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and sometimes milk, characteristic of Southern United States cuisine. It is similar to pecan pie without any nuts.
The Nanaimo bar is a bar dessert that requires no baking and is named after the Canadian city of Nanaimo in British Columbia. It consists of three layers: a wafer, nut, and coconut crumb base; custard icing in the middle; and a layer of chocolate ganache on top. Many varieties exist, consisting of various types of crumb, various flavours of icing, and various types of chocolate.
The whoopie pie, alternatively called a black moon, gob, black-and-white, bob, or "BFO" for Big Fat Oreo, is an American baked product that may be considered either a cookie, pie, sandwich, or cake. It is made of two round mound-shaped pieces of usually chocolate cake, or sometimes pumpkin, gingerbread or other flavored cakes, with a sweet, creamy filling or frosting sandwiched between them.
A Swiss roll, jelly roll, roll cake, cream roll, roulade or Swiss log is a type of rolled sponge cake filled with whipped cream, jam, or icing. The origins of the term are unclear; in spite of the name "Swiss roll", the cake is believed to have originated elsewhere in Central Europe, possibly Austria or Slovenia. It appears to have been invented in the nineteenth century, along with Battenberg cake, doughnuts, and Victoria sponge. In the U.S., commercial versions of the cake are sold with the brand names of Ho Hos, Yodels, Swiss Cake Rolls, and others. A type of roll cake called Yule log is traditionally served at Christmas.
Chocolate cake or chocolate gâteau is a cake flavored with melted chocolate, cocoa powder, or both.
Doberge cake is a layered dessert originating in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., adapted by local baker Beulah Ledner from the Hungarian Dobos torte. Still popular in the area, the cake is made of multiple thin layers of cake alternating with dessert pudding. Very often the cakes are made with half chocolate pudding and half lemon pudding. They are covered in a thin layer of butter cream and a fondant shell or, alternatively, a poured glaze on the outside. They are normally made with six or more layers. Traditional flavors are chocolate, lemon or caramel.
A fudge cake is a chocolate cake, which, despite its name, does not contain fudge. It instead seeks to mirror the taste of chocolate fudge. It is commonly eaten at celebrations, parties, or gatherings.
Flourless chocolate cake is a dense cake made from an aerated chocolate custard. The first documented form of the cake was seen in Ferrara, Italy, though some forms of the cake have myths surrounding their origins. The dessert contains no gluten which makes it acceptable for those with celiac disease, gluten-free diets, and during religious holidays in which gluten and grains are not permitted.
Dessert bars, or simply bars or squares, are a type of American "bar cookie" that has the texture of a firm cake or softer than usual cookie. They are prepared in a pan and then baked in the oven. They are cut into squares or rectangles. They are staples of bake sales and are often made for birthdays. They are especially popular during the holidays, but many people eat them all year. Many coffee shops and bakeries also offer the treats. Popular flavors include peanut butter bars, lemon bars, chocolate coconut bars, pineapple bars, apple bars, almond bars, toffee bars, chocolate cheesecake bars and the "famous" seven-layer bar. In addition to sugar, eggs, butter, flour and milk, common ingredients are chocolate chips, nuts, raspberry jam, coconut, cocoa powder, graham cracker, pudding, mini-marshmallows and peanut butter. More exotic bars can be made with ingredients including sour cream, rhubarb, pretzels, candies, vanilla, raisins, and pumpkin. The Nanaimo bar is a bar dessert that requires no baking and is named after the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during the Renaissance, possibly in Spain. The sponge cake is thought to be one of the first of the non-yeasted cakes, and the earliest attested sponge cake recipe in English is found in a book by the English poet Gervase Markham, The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman (1615). Still, the cake was much more like a cracker: thin and crispy. Sponge cakes became the cake recognized today when bakers started using beaten eggs as a rising agent in the mid-18th century. The Victorian creation of baking powder by English food manufacturer Alfred Bird in 1843 allowed the addition of butter to the traditional sponge recipe, resulting in the creation of the Victoria sponge. Cakes are available in many flavours and have many recipes as well. Sponge cakes have become snack cakes via the Twinkie.
Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses is a family owned and operated bakery business based in Melbourne, Australia. The business began as two separate entities with the families coming together to form Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses in 1980. Ferguson Plarre now has 86 stores across Victoria. In 2012, members of the Plarre family bought out the Ferguson's stake and the business remains owned and operated by the Plarre family with Steve Plarre as CEO. There are only a small number of company owned stores now as the majority of stores are run by franchisees.
Japanese cheesecake, also known as soufflé-style cheesecake, cotton cheesecake, or light cheesecake, is a variety of cheesecake that is usually lighter in texture and less sweet than North American-style cheesecakes. It has a characteristically wobbly and airy texture, similar to a soufflé when fresh out of the oven and a chiffon cake-like texture when chilled.
The old-fashioned doughnut is a term used for a variety of cake doughnut prepared in the shape of a ring with a cracked surface and tapered edges around it. Nineteenth century recipes for "old-fashioned donuts" are made with yeast, but in modern doughnut shops an "old-fashioned doughnut" is usually a cake doughnut. Cake doughnuts made with chemical leavener originated in the United States circa 1829. Primary ingredients in the old-fashioned doughnut include flour, sugar, butter, eggs, sour cream or buttermilk, and chemical leavener. It is typically deep fried, may have a crunchier or crisper texture compared to other styles of cake doughnuts, and typically has cracks and pores on its surface. After being fried, it is glazed, dusted with sugar, or served plain.
Blueberry sauce is a sauce prepared using blueberries as a primary ingredient. It is typically prepared as a reduction, and can be used as a dessert sauce or savory sauce depending on the preparation. It can also be used in the preparation of the blueberry Martini.
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Quesadilla salvadoreña is a pan dulce, similar to a pound cake, made with rice flour and queso duro blanco and topped with sesame seeds, that is popular in El Salvador. Queso duro blanco is near impossible to obtain outside of El Salvador, so the substitute for it is usually either cotija, Parmesan or feta cheese. It is commonly served with coffee as part of breakfast or as a snack. It is traditionally baked on Sunday mornings.