About 20 miles southwest of downtown Minneapolis, in the small town of Excelsior, a curiously named business sits wedged in a strip mall between a taqueria, a nail salon, and a pet groomer.

Wander inside and you might think you’re in a museum dedicated to Prince, the Minneapolis-born musical genius who lived just four miles south of here at his private home and recording studio complex, Paisley Park. The purple walls are dotted with photos of the homegrown superstar, who passed away ten years ago this year. The business may double as a de facto homage to the self-proclaimed “Purple Yoda,” but it’s actually one of the hottest bakeries in the Midwest. Welcome to Cheesecake Funk.

When owner Vanessa Drews opened the cheesecake bakery in September 2025, it quickly became the talk of the baked good-loving Twin Cities. And the Prince connection goes far beyond the bakery’s purple walls. But for lovers of all things sweet and creamy, Cheesecake Funk is today a veritable mecca for those in the know.

Dig, if you will, the superlative turtle cheesecake laden with rich dark chocolate, gooey caramel, and crunchy toasted pecans, with a crispy bottomed crust. The exact recipe for that crust is a secret, but Drews admits to using cinnamon and a healthy portion of brown butter. It’s a masterpiece of contrasting textures and layered flavors, which perhaps explains why it’s Cheesecake Funk’s best seller.

For Drews, a single Black mother of two, it all started back in 2002 when she was still a hobby baker. A lifelong lover of cheesecakes, she baked them for family and friends who began requesting them for every party and holiday gathering. “I started tweaking the recipe over time, mixing the crust with brown butter, adding cinnamon here and there,” Drews says.

Courtesy Cheesecake Funk

At the time, she was working a day job as a senior paralegal and making cheesecake in her free time. But money was tight, and she picked up a part-time gig selling merchandise at Paisley Park on the occasional evenings that Prince threw open-to-the-public parties. One day in 2013, she showed up with a cheesecake.

“Prince always had band members and other employees coming here from other parts of the country and the world,” Drews recalls. “So, I put the cheesecake in the fridge with a note saying that anyone was welcome to a piece. I wanted to provide some good food for them and say: ‘Welcome to Minnesota.’” Stocking the fridge with cheesecake became a ritual.