Cheesecake is the classic "maybe" of home food businesses. It's made with cream cheese and eggs, so it needs refrigeration to stay safe: in the FDA Food Code's terms it's a time/temperature control for safety food, an animal food that's been heat-treated. Most cottage food laws were written for foods that don't need refrigeration, so in many states, cheesecake from a home kitchen is out, and selling it means a licensed kitchen. Minnesota is one of those: its cottage food law covers only food that isn't potentially hazardous. A few states allow it with conditions. North Dakota's cottage law names cheesecake outright: foods that need refrigeration can be sold if they're kept and transported frozen, with safe handling instructions and a statement that they were kept frozen, on top of the state's usual sign or label. Check your own state before taking an order. In the example below, a Bismarck home baker works out how to sell cheesecakes legally.
The short version
- Cheesecake needs refrigeration, so it's a time/temperature control for safety food.
- Many cottage laws exclude it; you'd need a licensed kitchen.
- Minnesota: not under the cottage food law.
- North Dakota: allowed if kept and delivered frozen, with safe handling instructions and a frozen statement.
- Selling to cafés and stores needs a licensed kitchen either way.
- Check your state's cottage food rules before the first order.
- TaroStack keeps each bake as a batch with its date and lot, and what's in the freezer. More below.
Cheesecake, state by state
| State's approach | What it means for cheesecake |
|---|---|
| Cottage food is only for foods that don't need refrigeration | No cheesecake from a home kitchen; use a licensed kitchen |
| Refrigerated foods allowed with conditions | Allowed, on that state's terms, like North Dakota's frozen rule |
| Food freedom laws with few limits | Possibly allowed; check what the law excludes |
The North Dakota rules in full are in North Dakota cottage food laws, and how foods are sorted by risk in TCS foods list.
The rules
| Rule | Where |
|---|---|
| Why it's different | Animal food that's been heat-treated is time/temperature control for safety food (Food Code 2022, 1-201.10) |
| Minnesota | The cottage food exemption covers food that isn't potentially hazardous (Minn. Stat. 28A.152) |
| North Dakota | Foods that need refrigeration, cheesecake named among them, labeled with safe handling instructions and as transported and maintained frozen (N.D.C.C. 23-09.5-02(7)) |
This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: frozen cheesecakes in Bismarck
Sakakawea Sweets, a made-up home baker in Bismarck, North Dakota, sells cookies and bars at a market and kept getting asked for cheesecakes. Under North Dakota's law it can sell them, frozen:
| Product | Needs refrigeration? | How it's sold |
|---|---|---|
| New York cheesecake, 8 inch | Yes | Frozen, delivered frozen, safe handling label |
| Pumpkin cheesecake bars, box of 6 | Yes | Frozen, at the market from a freezer chest |
| Seven-layer bars, box of 6 | No | Room temperature, with the sign |
| Chocolate chip cookies, dozen | No | Room temperature, with the sign |
The cheesecakes go into the freezer the night they're baked and go out frozen, on the label: "Kept and delivered frozen. Keep frozen. Thaw in the refrigerator and keep refrigerated." A customer in Moorhead, Minnesota, asked for one; Minnesota's cottage law doesn't cover cheesecake, so that order waits until the baker uses a licensed kitchen. What a cheesecake costs to make is in cheesecake business plan.
Get the checker
Download the home cheesecake checker. Two sheets: your products, whether each needs refrigeration and whether it contains meat, and how North Dakota's and Minnesota's cottage food laws treat it; and each state's rules as read for this article. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Frozen cheesecakes sell over weeks, not days. The freezer fills with bakes from different dates, and the oldest has to go first, which a freezer full of identical white boxes doesn't show.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each bake as a batch with its date and lot, and what's in the freezer.
Each bake a batch. A bake of cheesecakes is a batch from its recipe, with its date, lot and best-by date.
First-expired-first-out. Orders take the oldest cheesecakes first by default, so the boxes from three weeks ago go before last night's.
Counts with no signal. The freezer can be counted on a phone, even in a basement with no signal.
| The job | Freezer full of boxes | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which cheesecakes are oldest | Dates in marker | Lots with best-by dates |
| What's in the freezer | A guess | A count on a phone, offline |
| What a cheesecake costs | A guess | True cost from the recipe and batch |
Recipes, batches, lots and counts are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.