For some people, cheesecake is an acquired taste; for others like Crystal Sylvester, it was love at first bite, and a relationship that continues to grow sweeter with time.
The owner of Point Fortin-based The Cheesecake Boss has developed over 30 different cheesecake recipes, with more on the way.
“Oh, the flavour list is rather extensive. I honestly don’t want my customers to get bored with just the basic stuff,” she told Guardian Media.
“We have tiramisu, passion fruit, and creme brulee.”
She also makes strawberry crumble, a twist on the classic strawberry cheesecake; strawberry compote; and caramel apple crumble—a play on the classic apple pie. “Those are cinnamony, so they go well with the rainy season.”
Sylvester said she enjoys incorporating local fruits into her recipes, and people love what she does with fruits like soursop, passion fruit and mango.
“The only local fruit that I have tried that did not really go so well with customers would be guava.”
She recently tried a Coconut Rough Tops cheesecake that sold out as soon as it hit the market.
“I was having a pack of Rough Tops, and I was like, ‘You know what? People really take all types of things and be so creative with it. Why can’t I turn this into a cheesecake? We already have coconut cheesecake, so we’ll mix it and see.’ And that’s how I ended up doing the Coconut Rough Tops cheesecake.”
She explained that the cheesecake itself was a toasted coconut base, which brought out the coconut flavour in the biscuits. “The raisins in the Coconut Rough Tops added a nice surprise texture-wise, both in the crust and I use the crushed Rough Tops to create a crumble. And of course we topped it with some caramel. I thought it would have been overly sweet when I first made it. But it was surprisingly well balanced.”
She also makes red mango cheesecake, sorrel, black cake cheesecake, ponche de crème cheesecake, and cream cheese ponche de crème.
“But the black cake is seasonal. I only do it during Christmas in July and in December.” By request, she has also been developing a cheesecake recipe for diabetics.
“That takes all of the fun out of actually having cheesecake, but I’ll work on something.” Sylvester recalled that the first time she had the rich dessert was in New York as a teenager, when she tried a slice of the iconic Junior’s Cheesecake and was hooked.
“Now those days my mom was not the Caribbean parent that would run out and buy a lot of fast food, so I took it upon myself to start learning how to make cheesecakes myself. It was a lot of trial and error, and I wasted so much raw materials that it was not funny. But you know, despite however it came out, I ate it because it was just for me at the point in time.”
She began experimenting with recipes after she started selling to her co-workers at the insurance company where she worked.
“I started getting requests for specific flavours, so I started testing different recipes, trying my own little thing to see how best it would come out. And that’s how everything just kind of took off from there.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when most people were confined to their homes, Sylvester said she also used her sweet treats as a means of helping to lift people’s spirits.
Generally, cheesecake is not an inexpensive product, and she said because she uses only premium ingredients in her products, she has had people question the cost. But she has many customers who appreciate the quality of her work and are willing to pay for it.
“That’s something that you can’t really get away from. It happens. As I always say, cheesecake is not a necessity of life; it’s just a luxury. If you can afford it, great. If you cannot, that’s okay.”
Sylvester recently completed her first eBook, Gilded Crust, a Luxe Cheesecake Collection, which highlights her 12 most sought-after flavours.
Eventually, she said, the plan is to own a storefront and then a restaurant.
“Kind of like a play on the Cheesecake Factory, that is where I see this going,” and making The Cheesecake Boss a household name.
But right now, I would appreciate some collaborations, in terms of having retail locations that are willing to stock my items.
