Home Sweet Home Is Where The Cheesecakes Are

By Stephanie Petit

What do you do when your children have grown up and your job leaves you wanting something more?

For Lawrence Township resident Lisa Parysz, the answer to that question was to transform the family room of her home into a 500-square-foot professional kitchen and start selling cheesecakes.

“My entrance into the world of cheesecake came as a result of a midlife crisis,” said the 48-year-old Parysz. “A hobby of mine has always been baking, particularly cheesecakes.”

When her fashion designer niece Katie enlightened her to the fact that the classic pin-up models of the 1940s and ‘50s were referred to as “cheesecake," the idea for her business, , was born.

“How fun would it be to create an entire product and marketing campaign based on such a classic and widely-popular theme,” she said. “And how appropriate that it be cheesecake!”

The theme was completed with photographs of another niece, Molly, in pin-up era style. With a few tweaked recipes, Parysz was ready to test the marketability of the product.

“It wasn’t something that happened overnight,” Parysz said.  “It was kind of a process. It wasn’t something I consciously just decided to do one day. One thing led to another and it evolved into what it is.”

Parysz and her husband started by selling cheesecakes at local farmers markets and festivals, such as Capital City Farmers’ Market in downtown Trenton. They quickly learned their home kitchen was not enough to keep up with the orders, so their family room turned into a health department inspected and insured 500-square-foot professional kitchen, enabling her to bake more and have regular hours where her home at 1308 Lawrence Rd. (Route 206) is open to the public to purchase cheesecakes.

The kitchen sticks to the theme, with pictures of Molly and other pin-up girls adorning the walls.

But the theme isn’t the only fun draw for customers. On any given day, Parysz has about 15 different delicious varieties of cheesecakes. She said she was even once told of one of her creations: “It’s better than sex.”

“I would say that’s a pretty good compliment!”

Parysz can’t even choose a favorite flavor.

“Personally, it depends on any given day,” she said.  “Some days I like tiramisu, some days I like the maple praline, some days I like lemon, some days I like the chocolate. It’s difficult to just pick one!”

She also offers cheesecakes according to holidays, such as an Irish Cream Cheesecake on a chocolate crust for St. Patrick’s Day. Carrot Cake cheesecake returned recently for Easter. 

Business is doing well. “Once the weather breaks, we start selling at farmer’s markets and lots of festivals and events so it starts to really get busy,” Parysz said. “Easter and Mother’s Day will be a busy time.”

Parysz is enjoying the cheesecake business.

“I had two children and it’s kind of like my third child,” Parysz said.

So when you’re in the area, stop in for a slice of cheesecake at The Great American Cheesecake, located across the street from .