Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake Review | Ingredients | Price | Servings — Snarkle-Sauce on Wry (2024)

What immediately impressed me is how fresh the pumpkin tastes, and how smooth and moist the cheesecake texture is. Although I can perceive some tangy cream cheese, I mostly taste mellow pumpkin. There is even a little pumpkin texture in the puree, which I relished. I was definitely surprised by how wholesome and natural the pumpkin consistency is.

I would describe the entire cheesecake texture as “soft.” It’s probably the softest cheesecake I’ve eaten in a while (except maybe this one from Aldi, which was more like weird pudding). But, despite being soft, it has a wonderful fluffy structure. It’s velvety smooth. Buttery smooth. Smooth like the smoothest truffle in a chocolate box. It doesn’t ooze or feel soggy. It’s almost like a tender pumpkin pie with a little cheesecake added in.

There IS a strong, delicious flavor in this cheesecake. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is — sort of pumpkiny. But pumpkin flavor from an enhanced, alternative universe. Pumpkin flavor that makes your tastebuds do a choreographed flash-mob in your mouth.* It’s addictive flavor. I was mega-bummed when I realized it may be from the “artificial flavors” listed on the label. More about the ingredients later.

I was also impressed how restrained the sweetness is. I prefer “less sweet” desserts, and this one is perfect. Sugar is the fourth ingredient. It’s sweet enough to be delicious, but not so sweet that it overpowers. I was able to enjoy all the other flavors without sugar dominating the conversation. Sugar is such a bully.

There’s a yogurty, thin layer on top of the cheesecake that offers a pleasant taste transition from the rest of the pie. It looks like there are specks of spices mixed into it, but it has almost no spice taste. Mostly, it is creamy and tangy — more so than the pumpkin base of the rest of the dessert. There is technically cinnamon, ginger, and cloves listed in the ingredients, but I can't really taste it here. The yogurt layer adds a lovely visual stripe in the pie design.

The crust isn’t spicy, but it does have a warm, molasses-infused graham flavor. It’s a VERY moist crust, but thin. Almost syrupy-moist. It’s sweet enough to be tasty, but not sugary enough to taste like a cookie. The crust holds together neatly during serving, and sticks loyally to the base of the cheesecake without falling apart. I need a man in my life like this crust.

Surrounding the rim of the cheesecake is a tidy, piped, white garnish. Unlike most grocery store garnishes, this one is NOT fake whipped topping, but rather a sugary-sweet icing. It has little flavor of its own — just some extra sweetness and a smooth, light texture. On this dessert, I don’t hate the garnish, but I didn’t particularly want to eat it either — it clashed a bit with the tastes of the pumpkin cheesecake. It’s sweeter than the rest of this dessert, so if you prefer more sweetness, this will be a welcome pitstop.

Did I weigh my cheesecake? Of course I did. Mine is a full 5.5 pounds. The label says 4 pounds, 14 ounces, so I got some extra. Yay. This is a TON of cheesecake. Well, not an actual ton. A ton is technically 2000 pounds. So, not a ton, but definitely enough to feed a large gathering. Enough to freeze, and eat all year long — until the next round of Pumpkin Cheesecakes appear at Costco.