Customers who manage to find the front door to Cherry’s Cheesecakes & Delights discover a source of artisan baked goods. They’re also lucky enough to encounter Cherry Shuler, the shop’s owner and guiding light.
On a recent October morning, which happened to be her birthday, Shuler was a smiling bundle of energy in the open kitchen, bustling from a simmering pot of kolache glaze to decorating a full-sized cheesecake.
As she talks, a stream of regulars stops in for a hug and the culinary equivalent: one of Cherry’s buttery sweets.
Cherry’s Cheesecakes & Delights has been open for three years in its off-the-main-drag cubbyhole space at 111 N. Harrison Avenue in Lafayette.
Shuler and her bakers produce cakes, quick breads, kolaches, cinnamon rolls, pies and other Southern-accented treats, but cheesecakes are the marquee attraction.
At most bakeries, cheesecakes come in a handful of standard flavors. At Cherry’s, customers can choose from an extravagant menu of more than 160 different cheesecake toppings. The reason for this bounty stretches back into Shuler’s fascinating career path.
Shuler’s cheesecake journey began during her freshman year at Florida State University when she tasted a Sara Lee Cheesecake at her sister’s house.
“I said, ‘Oh! I want one of these for myself. At the store, the cheesecake was $3.50, and the minimum wage was $3.35. It was cheaper for me to buy the ingredients and make it myself,” Shuler says.
The multiple cheesecake flavors developed as Shuler sharpened her palate.
“We have so many flavors because I used to pair cheesecakes with wines and craft beers in Virginia and Napa Valley. I would taste wines and beers at different vineyards or craft breweries and pair cheesecake with them,” Shuler says.
At the shop, those flavors are available to every customer no matter their dietary preferences.
“Because I have allergies, I love my vegan and gluten-free people, so I always make pastries for them. I worked to have my vegan cheesecakes taste as great as my regular ones,” she says.
The other delights at Shuler’s shop are a tour of Southern-accented baked goods, including desserts made for the approaching holiday feasts and gatherings.
Her tender, yeast-risen kolaches are topped with sweet pumpkin or caramel apple.
“I use my family’s brown butter cinnamon roll recipe from my great aunt, Jessie Harris,” she says.
Her bourbon pecan, sweet potato and apple pies are set in flaky butter crusts.
The Thanksgiving menu also features bread puddings, banana pudding and an unexpected bonus: smoked whole turkeys with all the fixings.
“Every other Saturday, we have C’s BBQ here and offer barbecue pork ribs, wings, pulled pork, sausage and 12-hour smoked brisket,” Shuler says.
She smiles broadly as she describes the traditional turkey side dishes the kitchen will prepare. “We’ll have candied yams, mac and cheese, collard greens, baked beans, cornbread dressing and Southern-style potato salad with mustard,” she says.
“It makes people smile when they find out they can have the foods they remember.”
What’s John eating this week?
Finding chile rellenos – and cherry pie – at 8,888 feet
For a recent reunion of old friends, I suggested the Wondervu Cafe, an iconic Coal Creek Canyon eatery near the first place two of us had lived after arriving in Colorado, the barely-there town of Pinecliffe.
The slightly overcast weekday was perfect because there were no traffic jams of leaf peepers on the 40-minute drive from Boulder.
The Wondervu Cafe is the epitome of a mountain roadside restaurant, with its worn rustic look and warm service from folks who live nearby.
The cafe’s menu focuses on Mexican-American favorites and pizza, with brunch on the weekends.
I enjoyed a bowl of hot pork green chile topped with two crispy, cheesy chile rellenos with sides of rice and creamy black beans.
The cafe’s menu also includes bacon burgers, a pollo asado and jicama salad, and thin-crust pizza options including one topped with creamy garlic sauce, shredded beef birria and mozzarella, served with and a side of ancho chile au jus for dipping.
As I was leaving the Wondervu Cafe, I admired the glass counter full of truffles and four pies: banana cream, pumpkin, cherry and cookies and cream. A slice of house-baked cherry pie went home with me.
Before descending the canyon, I stood for minutes, gulping the thin air and gawking at the bright yellow stands of aspen decorating the nearby slopes.
Local food news
Boulder County breweries bring home medals from Great American Beer Festival
Westbound & Down Brewing Co. (including Lafayette’s Westbound Mill) earned seven medals, including Brewery of the Year (5,001-15,000 barrels) at the recent Great American Beer Festival (GABF) competition.
Boulder County brews earning gold medals include Christopher’s Bier (Fritz Family Brewers), Dale’s Pale Ale (Oskar Blues), Breakfast in Brussels (Left Hand Brewing), and several ales and a pilsener from Westbound & Down. Bronze medal winners include NaughTea (Avery Brewing).
Openings
Mariscos a Todo Mar is open at 900 S. Hover Street in Longmont, serving Mexican seafood dishes.
Longmont’s Küper Wine Bar is offering an October pairing of a flight of four wines with a flight of Halloween candies, including Twizzlers, Starburst and Reese’s.
Closings
Myco Cafe, the three-year-old fungi-centric coffee house, has closed at 1629 28th St. (Boulder Reporting Lab covered the cafe in 2022.) Myco’s unique menu items will still be available at The Coffee Stand, 1201 Arapahoe Ave.
Tres Gringos Restaurant and Very Nice Brewing Company, along with many other small local businesses, were destroyed when fire broke out in Nederland’s Caribou Village Shopping Center on Oct. 9. Nederland’s only grocery store, B&F Mountain Market, has since reopened.
Coming attractions
Slice House, a fast-casual shop offering multiple pizza styles by the slice, is coming soon to Boulder’s 29th Street Mall.
Longmont Brunch Club, at 1135 Francis St., Longmont.
Culinary calendar
Pulling shots and farm-hopping on local food to-do list
Learn how to pull espresso shots and steam milk properly at the basic barista classes offered Nov. 2 and 9 at the OZO Coffee Roastery Lab in Boulder. Also: Latte art class, Oct. 26. Register here.
Boulder County farm stands are still jammed with freshly harvested produce, including fall vegetables that make the drive well worth it.
Aspen Moon Farm, 7940 Hygiene Road in Hygiene, is stocked with less-common finds like organically grown radicchio, kohlrabi, shallots, Red Torpedo onions, celeriac, Hungarian Hot Wax chiles and fennel. Also available: discount vegetable boxes for canning.
YA YA Farm & Orchard, 6914 Ute Hwy, Longmont, is harvesting a great lineup of fresh local apple varieties ranging from Snow, McIntosh, Cortland and Empire to Paula Red and Jonathan. Plus: The farmstand stocks apple cider and apple cider doughnuts.
Grant Farms stocks its self-service farmstand with produce, eggs, baked goods and an unusual but useful ingredient for cooking and cocktails: scratch-made local fruit and herb syrups. Flavors include peach, lavender, watermelon, chokecherry, grape and tart cherry. Open daily at 2155 North County Road 15 in Wellington.
Deep food thoughts
“People who habitually drink chocolate enjoy unvarying health and are least attacked by the host of little illnesses which can destroy the true joy of living.” — From “The Physiology of Taste” (1825) by Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
don’t forget Ollin Farms!
I volunteer at Red Wagon Farms in the beautiful barn on Baseline. For 3 hours of work they give me a vegetable share. Dedicated staff and great organic produce and store!
John, longtime Boulder resident here. I clipped and saved a recipe you published in the Daily Camera years ago when you were there and can’t find it now, and was wondering if you still have those or were they the property of the Camera. I’m looking for the Great Harvest brownie recipe. Can you help me out? I’d really appreciate it. Thanks
John, check out the new Boulder Olive Oil company location on Pearl- great inventory and many items I haven’t found in Boulder.