New York cheesecake taste test: homemade v supermarket
Never in the history of lovefood has a taste test been more popular. Twenty-two greedy colleagues tried seven different New York cheesecakes to find just one winner… will it be the homemade entry?
Cheesecake: it’s summer on a (buttery) biscuit base. Seeing as the weather has started to pick up, team lovefood decided to taste test a variety of different New York cheesecakes (the most coveted flavour, according to our Facebook fans, and one which always requires the addition of sour cream and vanilla) to try and find the very best one. In the mix was a homemade New Yorker, made by yours truly in the lovefood studio kitchen. As the test began, I had my fingers crossed that I would be crowned cheesecake champion!
The contestants
Five of our cheesecakes came from supermarkets (M&S, Tesco, Aldi, Co-Op and Waitrose), then there was the homemade offering and one more from Bea’s of Bloomsbury, a café chain in London. The ingredients in my cheesecake were cream cheese, sour cream, lemon, vanilla, golden caster sugar, eggs, and a buttery biscuit base.
Of the supermarket cheesecakes, M&S was the most expensive (£4.49) and Aldi was the cheapest (£1.85) – the latter was also the only frozen one.
Each cheesecake was cut into same-size slices and put on to plates. There was no way to tell which was which. Each participant had to taste all seven cheesecakes, and give a mark out of 10 for each one. I should stress that our panel of taste testers are simply the people who share the office with us, and they don’t pretend to be cheesecake experts!
So starting from the lowest performer and working up to the winner, here are the results…
7th place – Aldi (frozen)
Aldi’s frozen offering scored just 52%. It came as no surprise to me – the topping looked beige instead of white, and it was significantly thinner than the rest. It was by far the cheapest cheesecake at £1.85. Negative comments included ‘a tad bland’; ‘tastes more like custard’; ‘looks processed’; ‘eggy’; and ‘boring’. Although some did like the ‘crunchy base’ and ‘creamy finish’.
6th place – Bea’s of Bloomsbury
Surprising, seeing as a 25cm cheesecake ordered online costs a whopping £35. I must confess that Bea’s cheesecake was my favourite (their chocolate peanut butter flavour is to die for), but it just didn’t deliver on the day. It scored 55% and generated comments including: ‘bit too dry’; ‘salty’; ‘heavy and full’; ‘stodgy’; and ‘tastes similar to the one my mum made unsuccessfully’. But some appreciated the cheesecake’s chunkiness (‘now this is a proper pudding’), and many remarked that it had the best biscuit base. And at least with a café cheesecake, you know that it is made using only natural ingredients (I checked the label online).
5th place – M&S
Not a good result for poor old M&S, seeing as their New Yorker was the most expensive supermarket cheesecake in our taste test (£4.49). It scored 58% and was criticised for being ‘too soft’, ‘overly strong in taste’, and ‘quiche-like in texture’. However, some loved the ‘light and fluffy finish’ and ‘just the right amount of cheesiness’. It was definitely a divisive cheesecake.
4th place – Co-op ‘Truly Irresistible’ range
We’re still in the 50s – Co-op just about scored 59%. It seems we picked hard-to-please taste testers! Comments range from the flattering (‘creamy and yummy’; ‘light, crumbly and sweet’; ‘lovely cheesecake’) to the downright rude (‘oh-so-greasy’; ‘bland, bland, bland’; ‘not much flavour’; ‘sticky in texture’). It is fairly cheap at £3.75 – especially when comparing it with Bea’s of Bloomsbury and M&S, who both scored lower than Co-op.
Bronze medal – Tesco
We taste tested one of three Tesco New York cheesecakes – the most expensive one they do, at £3.50. It scored 61% and was hailed for its ‘very creamy texture’; ‘crispy touch – I like that’; ‘very good base’; and ‘lemony tang’. Also in its favour is the fact that, of all the supermarket cheesecakes, Tesco’s contains the least saturated fat – 9.4%. But, as ever, for every good comment we got a bad one too. ‘Tastes cheap’; ‘just OK’; and ‘not much flavour’ were among them.
Silver medal – my homemade cheesecake
I primarily based my recipe on this one by Eric Lanlard, taking away some of the digestive biscuits for a lighter base (I used 85g butter to 150g biscuit crumbs), and opting for golden caster sugar over white sugar to give the cheesecake a little more colour. It came out of the oven with a beautiful golden hue around the sides – something only Bea’s also managed to achieve. Plus it was one of only two cheesecakes, along with Bea’s, without added stabilisers, raising agents, starch, or palm oil.
I’m just about happy with a score of 63%, although won’t put as much lemon in next time – ‘too citrusy for me’; and ‘definitely the most lemon-y cheesecake here’ were the clues. Other comments included ‘velvety texture’; ‘light and airy’; ‘must be homemade’; and ‘the flavour is amazing’. But it was also apparently ‘too pale’; and ‘the base could have been harder’. Perhaps I’ll add more biscuit next time. All in all, the ingredients cost about £9.50 – but it did make a cheesecake that was twice the size (23cm) of all the rest, bar Bea’s.
Gold medal – Waitrose
We’re not surprised by a Waitrose win. And if there’s any supermarket I’d choose to lose to, it would certainly be them! Their New York cheesecake (£3.99) scored 66%, and coincidentally contains the most saturated fat of all the supermarket cheesecakes – 15.8%.
66% isn’t an outstanding result for a gold medal winner, but there were compliments aplenty. ‘Very sweet and lots of cheese – delicious’; ‘crunchy base and looks the best’; ‘very good taste and texture’; and ‘thick and creamy’ were among them, although some detected a ‘weird nutty taste’ and ‘an ice cream-esque texture’. As ever with our taste tests, there’s just no pleasing everyone.
What’s your favourite New York supermarket cheesecake? Or do you bake your own? Talk to us in the Comments box below.
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