A shrine in a strip mall

In Excelsior, Minnesota, a purple-walled shop sits between a taqueria, a nail salon, and a pet groomer. The photos of Prince everywhere make it look like a museum. It is actually a bakery.

Cheesecake Funk, four miles out

Vanessa Drews opened the shop in September 2025, just down the road from Paisley Park. It became the talk of the Twin Cities almost immediately.

The turtle is the point

Dark chocolate, gooey caramel, toasted pecans, and a crisp bottom crust. The recipe is secret, but Drews admits to cinnamon and a generous amount of brown butter.

Twenty years of tweaking

A single mother of two working as a senior paralegal, Drews started baking cheesecakes for family in 2002. Friends asked for them at every party, so she kept adjusting the recipe.

“I started tweaking the recipe over time, mixing the crust with brown butter, adding cinnamon here and there”

A note on the fridge

Money was tight, so she sold merch at Paisley Park parties. In 2013 she left a cheesecake in the staff fridge with a note: anyone was welcome to a slice. It became a ritual.

“I wanted to provide some good food for them and say: 'Welcome to Minnesota.'”

The monkey meme

The cheesecakes kept vanishing fast. Then a post from an account Prince managed showed two monkeys reviving a third, captioned about eating the last piece of Vanessa's cheesecake.

“I thought: 'Oh my God, I'm the Vanessa he's referring to!' I was euphoric.”

He gave it the name

Prince started calling it cheesecake funk and put HELPYOSELFTOSOMECHEESECAKEFUNK on party invitations. He would pass her with a smirk and ask what was for dessert. So much for the vegan rumor.

“What's for dessert, Vanessa?”

Prepare for volume

In 2019 a restaurant CEO tasted it and put it on one Crave menu, then all eight Twin Cities locations. Drews pulled from her 401(k), bought equipment, and rented a hotel kitchen.

“You'd better prepare for volume.”

Seventeen flavors and counting

Summer brought a tart lingonberry that earned a permanent slot. Fall means apple with stewed cinnamon fruit. Fans now detour from Paisley Park, some flying in from Germany and the Netherlands.

“Prince is like the gift that keeps on giving.”