"Old World Treats"
from "Edible Wow" magazine

Imagine a scene where smiling bakers in floppy white hats load cakes and desserts into wood-fired ovens. Customers line up nearby, while the bakers chat with a young girl and her mother who eagerly await a hot treat from the oven. This old-fashioned experience has been captured by Tim Edinger in the beautiful open space of his Old World Bakery in downtown Ypsilanti.

Customers lured in by the sweet smells wafting out of the building enter a long, airy space. Tin ceilings and warm wood floors frame a clear view straight back from the retail counter through the production area and on into the kitchen at the back of the store. “It’s totally open and honest,” Edinger says. “I wanted the customer to be able to talk directly to the bakers.”

The Old World Bakery specializes in desserts with an emphasis on the Ann Arbor–style cheesecake—a creamier, lighter version of traditional cheesecakes with extraordinary height and crust on both the bottom and sides. While the taste is delicate and light, an Old World cheesecake weighs in around 4 pounds and can serve 12.

It took Edinger more than a year of testing to develop his cheesecake recipe. It has simple, high-quality ingredients sourced locally whenever possible: cream cheese, sour cream, heavy whipping cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla. He adds other ingredients in their purest form to create 31 flavors of cheesecake. In the fall, for example, he adds pumpkin and cinnamon for a seasonal pumpkin cheesecake.

The five most popular flavors are Oreo Cookie, the Original, Raspberry Chambord, Black Forest and Godiva White Chocolate. Adventurous eaters might select from more uncommon flavors including Sabra Orange Chocolate, Smores or Southern Egg Nog. According to Edinger, cheesecake is the most popular dessert ordered in restaurants nationwide, and Old World has a strong wholesale business with restaurants, cafes, gourmet grocery stores and caterers.

With the popularity and variety of the cheesecakes at Old World, it is easy to overlook the other desserts, but the bakery does make an extensive range of cakes, tortes, brownies, cookies and sweet coffee cakes as well. Sour cream coffee cakes come in a range of flavors including chocolate cinnamon and the more unusual chocolate beer coffee cake. There are also flourless chocolate and French lemon tortes. Old World even has lemon ice cream made from an old family recipe.

Though it is not part of his official hours, Edinger opens the shop when he is baking. One morning he serves a cup of coffee and a cookie to a woman who stops in—her head full of foil—from the hair salon next door. That afternoon he chats with a local bed-and-breakfast owner about collaborating on a Valentine’s Day package. “It’s all about community,” says Edinger. There is a steady flow of foot traffic stopping in for a sweet treat, conversation and a taste of Old World goodness.

Nicole Ray
Edible Wow Magazine