This is a miniature version of the 500 pound Cheesecake that Eli’s Cheesecake of Chicago is baking for President O’Bama’s Commander and Chief Ball.
JerseyBites was lucky enough to score this beauty and sample it in honor of our new President; a sacrifice I was ready and willing to make for my Country (snif.)
The cheesecake is a combination of Eli’s Original Plain Cheesecake and Eli’s Apple Cheesecake, a tribute to Abraham Lincoln’s love of apples.
As you can see, our junior reviewers were more than happy to take on the job. (Jill, please teach that kid how to smile.)
Before we dive into our review of this cake, here is the mind boggling grocery list for the Official 500 pounder.
100 pounds of cream cheese
30 pounds of sugar
25 pounds of sour cream
50 pounds of powdered sugar
126 eggs
15 pounds of flour
50 pounds of apples
30 pounds of butter
4 cups of vanilla
15 pounds of brown sugar
12 tablespoons of cinnamon
The folks at Eli’s were also kind enough to supply the recipe for those of you who would like to whip up a human size version of our President’s mega-cake.
And they are offering our readers a special coupon code should you want to purchase one of the originals. Inablog9. Here’s the fine print on the offer. The code offers will be 15% off their entire purchase on http://elicheesecake.com/ Not valid with any other offers. Discount valid Jan. 15 – Feb. 16, 2009.
Eli’s Cheesecake is a “Chicago Style” cheesecake, which I’m pretty sure Eli’s invented.
The two traditional differences between New York and Chicago style cheesecakes are that Chicago cheesecakes have a very smooth texture and use sour cream and New York cheesecakes are very rich, dense cakes and use heavy cream. Some signature elements to an Eli’s cheesecake is their all butter cookie crust and the use of triple strength Madagascar bourbon vanilla.
It was new to all of us East Coasters, and, basically, once we dug in all I heard was “Wow” “Oh, wow” “Oh, that’s good” “That’s really good.”
I haven’t had cheesecake in quite a while but it has always been my favorite desert since childhood, and I can honestly say, in my “expert opinion” that Eli’s Cheesecake is fabulous. I sent what was left in to the teachers at my son’s school because I knew if I left it in the fridge I’d eat it. I hope they got to nibble on it while they watched the Inauguration.
Believe it or not, I have never been to Chicago. It is on my list of places to visit, soon, and I will be making the trip to Eli’s. I hear their tour is great fun. Eli’s has a deep history in Chicago. If you get a minute, check out their website for the story of Eli and his family business.
