Best Cheesecake You Can Buy (Best Chocolate Cheesecake, Too!)

Can the best cheesecake at the grocery store taste like a homemade bake, with a creamy, tangy filling and golden brown crust? Can the best store bought cheesecake rival the best cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory in terms of decadence and fluffy texture? Spoiler: It can! 

Cheesecake might be the closest we ever come to world peace. Think about it—have you ever met a person who doesn’t like cheesecake? It’s the perfect dessert; not too sweet, easy to prepare, and undeniably comforting. Globally, we may not agree on some fundamentals, but we can all agree that cheesecake freakin’ slaps. That’s why major U.S. cities can’t stop naming their own tweaked versions of the classic cheesecake recipe (cream cheese and eggs) after themselves. New Yorkers added cream (heavy or sour) and called it New York style cheesecake. Chicago added extra cream cheese and called it Chicago-style cheesecake…the list goes on. I can’t even blame them. We’re all just obsessed with cheesecake.

For this taste test, we tried ready-made cheesecakes from national grocery store bakeries and a range of popular cheesecake brands you can find in the frozen aisle. We found the best New York cheesecake, the best chocolate cheesecake, and the best frozen cheesecake, too. All of these come ready to eat or ready to thaw and eat. When it comes to the best cheesecake, it really doesn’t get much simpler than that, y’all. 

Best Strawberry

Sara Lee makes a mean classic strawberry cheesecake—but you have to really like strawberry, because they layer that strawberry topping on pretty thick. Texturally, Sara Lee cheesecakes tend to be light bodied and fluffy, but still creamy and rich. These come with a thick graham cracker crust at the bottom, which nicely balances out the strawberry’s fruity sweetness. It’s safe to say that Sara Lee makes some of the best store bought cheesecake to bring home to the fam. 

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best Sampler

This Atlanta Cheesecake sampler includes a slice each of White Chocolate, Turtle, Raspberry Amaretto, and Chocolate Swirl. These are rich cheesecakes, and none of them shy away from sweetness—one forkful is going to go a long way toward satisfying your sweet tooth. If you’re looking for an impressive, classy sampler with unique flavor blends, grab this from Amazon Fresh. It comes ready to eat, no thawing necessary—definitely one of the best cheesecake samplers for a last-minute party.

Credit: Merc / Amazon

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best Frozen Cheesecake

I said it before, I’ll say it again: Sara Lee just gets cheesecake. The recipe is so simple and effortless, with a smooth, creamy cake body and a nice balance of sweetness and tang. It tastes so fresh, which is hard to come by in the frozen aisle. It’s easily the best frozen cheesecake we found and the best classic cheesecake, too—only one other traditionally flavored cheesecake surpassed it. (We’ll get there, don’t worry.)

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best New York Cheesecake

Atlanta’s New York style cheesecake includes a sour cream topping and a zesty lemon flavor, which is odd because the ingredients don’t list lemon. That was a head scratcher for the team, let me tell you. We can only assume that distinct lemon “essence” comes from the extra tangy sour cream (or we’re missing something in the ingredients because we aren’t food scientists). Regardless, Atlanta definitely makes the best New York cheesecake we tasted of the bunch. (A confusing sentence, right?) Its soft texture is almost reminiscent of ice cream and we loved its light, honey-tinged graham cracker crust. 

Credit: Merc / Amazon

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best Chocolate

Simply Clean Label’s Black & White Cheesecake is the perfect vanilla-and-chocolate yin-yang for any occasion. It’s simple, elegant, and yet boldly flavored with rich chocolate on one side and New York style cheesecake on the other. The recipe doesn’t include high fructose corn syrup, and it is noticeably less sweet than the others. But for people who love chocolate, this almost bitter, cocoa-forward blend of flavors (almost like a chocolate mousse) makes it the best chocolate cheesecake of the bunch.

Credit: Merc / Amazon

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Runner Up

Are we surprised to find a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake in our final two? Nope! Don’t let anyone tell you Cheesecake Factory cheesecake isn’t top tier. Their White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake is a mouthful to say, but it’s a mouthful of sheer indulgence, too. Cheesecake Factory understands the importance of dense, moist, velvety cake layers and bold, standout flavors. They absolutely make some of the best cheesecake you can (thankfully) find in stores. The one downside, though, is price—their cheesecakes tend to range from $22 to $30. Consider this the best cheesecake for special occasions, when you’re able to splurge. 

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Best of the Best

If Costco’s “signature” cheesecake was on The Great British Bake-Off, it would be inappropriately named. This massive and elegantly decorated cheesecake isn’t a signature bake—it’s a total showstopper. Somehow, despite having pretty simple ingredients, the decadence here is totally unmatched. This cheesecake is luscious, sharply tangy, and the definition of “a classic is a classic for a reason.” I can’t decide if this tastes like a professionally made cheesecake, with its satiny finish and perfect citrusy bite, or a homemade cheesecake with generations of love and wisdom poured into the recipe. Either way, it’s the best cheesecake we tried and it definitely brings people together; at least two dozen of our coworkers at the Mythical office crowded around this thing, vying for a slice. And uniting the workplace is the first step to world peace, if you ask me. 

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Other Store Bought Cheesecakes We Tried: Freshness Guaranteed Variety Cheesecake, Edwards Signature Cheese Cake Desserts Whipped Chocolate Cheesecake, Edwards Signature Cheese Cake Desserts Original Whipped Cheesecake, Trader Joe’s New York Style Cheesecake, Junior’s Original New York Cheesecake

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