Maple Grove Entrepreneur Slices into Cheesecake Market
Magical things can happen in a kitchen.
Bilal Mamdani discovered that little fact during the COVID shutdowns.
“I started baking over the pandemic like everyone else,” said Mamdani. “I baked a few different desserts. This is the one dessert that I kept coming back to.”
The dessert he’s referring to is Basque-style cheesecake, which originated in Spain.
“Which is a very creamy cheesecake. It’s crust-less, so it’s naturally gluten-free,” said Mamdani.
He currently makes four different varieties of Basque-style cheesecake. He eventually got so good at it that he decided to launch his own business — Crème.
“Ours is a really good cheesecake that you can’t get locally,” he said. “I spend a lot of time perfecting the texture, because the texture is where this cheesecake shines.”
Mamdani launched Crème in February and spends about four days a week creating his concoctions out of MSP Kitchenery, a rental kitchen space located within Nikkolette’s Macarons in Plymouth.
“John and Nikkolette, who own MSP Kitchenery, are very friendly, very warm and very helpful as well,” Mamdani said. “And this kitchen, the entrepreneurs who are at this kitchen, are very helpful as well. So it was a perfect fit for us to start here.”
Bilal Mamdani, the founder of Crème, shows off his four flavors of Basque-style cheesecake.
But in the business world, creating a delicious product is only one step of the process. Mamdani works full-time as a management consultant, so he spends his free time trying to get Crème off the ground.
“They say in the olden days, ‘build it and they will come.’ That’s no longer true. You’ve got to go out and spread the word,” he said.
Crème is a business that’s entirely online. Customers can place orders on the website and then pick up their cakes on Saturday’s from 3 to 5 p.m. at Nikkolette’s Macarons in Plymouth. You can buy Crème cheesecakes whole or by the slice.
For the time being, he’s trying to build a following through social media.
He enlists the help of Twin Cities “influencers” to help with marketing, and he makes the occasional appearance at local farmer’s markets.
“We’re not where I’d like to be, but we’re slowly getting there,” said Mamdani, who sells dozens of cakes per week.
His hope is to one day have a physical location to sell his creamy concoctions and turn this part-time hobby into a full-time job.
“I mean this is fulfilling for me, putting an idea and watching it materialize and manifest into actual products that people can enjoy,” Mamdani said.
Crème’s cookie butter cheesecake is the most popular of Mamdani’s four flavors.
