8 Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best

If you've ever been to a shopping mall, chances are you've come across the chain restaurant The Cheesecake Factory at least once or twice. Upon being seated, you're confronted with a truly massive menu that includes everything from pizza and pasta to burgers, salad, sandwiches, and even seafood. But the restaurant isn't known primarily for its entrees, and true to its name, The Cheesecake Factory boasts a whopping 36 cheesecake flavors that customers can enjoy for dessert. 

As with any restaurant that has such an expansive menu, there are definitely some dishes you should avoid when dining at The Cheesecake Factory, and its cheesecake selections are no exception. While the chain is known for its titular cheesecakes, some of them simply miss the mark due to being a complete sugar overload or not delivering on promised cheesecake elements. On the other hand, a wide variety of cheesecake options means that you're likely to find at least one you enjoy. In fact, an interesting fact about The Cheesecake Factory is that you can order whole cheesecakes, should you find one that blows your mind. 

As a lifelong baker with a particular fondness for cheesecake in nearly any form, I decided to put The Cheesecake Factory to the test by tasting eight of its signature cheesecakes and ranking them. Overall, the results were surprising — many flavors I expected to enjoy were downright disappointing, while a few unexpected flavors ended up coming out on top.

Rounding out the bottom of our list is, unfortunately, a cheesecake that I'd once considered one of my favorites from The Cheesecake Factory. The Cookie Dough Lover's Cheesecake with Pecans is something I've remembered fondly despite not having The Cheesecake Factory for many years. I'm not sure if the company has changed the recipe or if I'm simply less tolerant of sweets than I once was, but this cheesecake gave me a sugar overload that left me spitting my second bite straight into the trashcan. 

Where to begin? Firstly, this cheesecake is nightmarishly sweet and rich, with absolutely no alternative elements to balance out its sweetness. The pecans may have been introduced to help with this, but they were barely detectable. Even a touch of Maldon salt on top could have gone a decent way toward tempering the dense slice of what tasted like concentrated sugar. The proverbial icing on top of this unpalatable (cheese)cake is that it's topped with soft, raw cookie dough. This and the chewy cookie layers throughout the cheesecake gave it virtually no textural variety, something I look for in specialty cheesecakes that incorporate multiple elements. Chocolate chip cookie super fans with a mega sweet tooth are probably the only viable target audience for this selection from The Cheesecake Factory; to everyone else, I'd suggest steering clear of this particular cheesecake. 

I need to make one thing perfectly clear before launching into everything I didn't like about this cheesecake: I generally really enjoy Cinnabon. That said, I was expecting to at least enjoy The Cheesecake Factory's Cinnabon Cinnamon Swirl Cheesecake. My concerns started when I removed it from the box — as you can see in the above picture, the layers started to droop toward the middle pretty significantly. Structural integrity is central to crafting a good cheesecake, and I was disappointed that this piece started to collapse on itself during a simple transfer from container to plate. 

As far as the flavors go, they were unbalanced in the worst way. I tried each of the layers separately and it seems that Cinnabon icing makes up three layers, making this another sugar overload of a cheesecake. It also tasted overwhelmingly of cinnamon, and as a cinnamon lover, it's a huge red flag when I think a cinnamon flavor is too strong. The only reason this Cinnabon cheesecake ranks higher than our last selection is because of the textural variation throughout the cheesecake. The cakey bun layers did a little bit to balance out the sweetness of this cheesecake, but not enough. This cheesecake could be great by just using the Cinnabon icing on top and alternating between cake and cheesecake layers throughout. 

Basque cheesecake is one of my favorite types of cheesecake to make, so it goes without saying that I was excited to try The Cheesecake Factory's Classic Basque Cheesecake. It even came served with berries on the side, an added bonus in my book. What makes Basque cheesecake unique is its characteristic "burnt" top, which lends itself to a delightfully caramelized, naturally sweet top layer that complements the richness of the rest of the cheesecake perfectly. 

Unfortunately, the Basque cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory doesn't hold up to the stellar reputation of a traditional Basque cheesecake. Firstly, the slice was indescribably bland. To me, bland is better than overly sweet, which is why this cheesecake made it slightly higher in our ranking. But it was incredibly disappointing — the caramel notes that the "burnt" top layer should carry were indistinguishable from the rest of the cheesecake, making it taste basically like a plain cheesecake sans graham cracker crust. The only thing notable about this cheesecake is the berries served alongside it, but not even they could rescue this flavorless slice. 

Now, onto the cheesecakes I found at least somewhat palatable. I consider myself a moderate fan of coconut, and fortunately, I somewhat enjoyed this slice. My favorite thing about it was the texture and flavor that the coconut shreds in the middle layer gave the cheesecake. If you're a coconut lover, there's a good chance you'll enjoy this selection from The Cheesecake Factory. 

However, the Coconut Cream Pie Cheesecake had a few elements that left me hesitant to take more than a bite or two. Chief among them is the thick, fairly hard, and rich chocolate layer toward the bottom of the cake. Though I'm not partial to chocolate and coconut together, I recognize it's a classic pairing, and I feel I'd have enjoyed the duo more if the chocolate was incorporated in a less concentrated form — say, as a drizzle on top or a thin, fluffy cake layer. However, if you're into a decadent chocolate coconut combo, you may find this selection to be particularly satisfying. 

My biggest qualm with the Cheesecake Factory's Lemon Meringue Cheesecake is that all the meringue completely melted off by the time I got home from the restaurant. Given that I was super excited to try the meringue, this was a huge disappointment and knocked what may have otherwise been my favorite cheesecake down a couple of pegs on our ranking. While meringue can melt if not kept cold, there was no reason for this meringue to melt in the 20 minutes it took me to get home, leading me to believe that it may not have been stiff enough to begin with. 

Though meringue could have elevated this dessert significantly, I nevertheless was a huge fan of the lemon flavor throughout the cheesecake. It was delightfully tart without being overly sweet, and the flavor carried well throughout. This slice also held its own structurally better than some other selections on our list, an automatic bonus for me. The only things I'd say the cheesecake could improve upon (other than the tragic melting meringue) are the overall texture and the crust. While the cheesecake was wonderfully smooth, it had an almost gelatinous quality, making me wonder if gelatin sheets are used in this recipe, which could also contribute to its structural integrity. The crust had a good flavor, but unfortunately it was more soggy than crispy. Nonetheless, this is a cheesecake I'd order again if dining at the restaurant. 

Now, onto a cheesecake that surprised me by how much I enjoyed it. The Cheesecake Factory's Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake was delightfully rich, and though I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate, I found myself wanting to take a second bite. Moreover, it's very visually appealing. The layers are even, straight, and there's no sign of collapse anywhere in the cheesecake. The real selling point for me, though, was a little Cheesecake Factory hack I employed when ordering the chocolate cheesecake: I got it completely gluten-free. 

I chose to get the gluten-free version of this cheesecake because I was interested in seeing whether I noticed anything off-putting texturally. I'm happy to report that the textures of this cake were beautiful. Moreover, each layer offered a slight variation in texture. Though the middle layer looks thick and dense, it was actually fairly soft and gentle to balance out the richness of the rest of the slice. Overall, this cheesecake had a rich, velvety texture throughout, and I'd recommend it to anyone who loves to indulge in a decent amount of chocolate as a sweet treat.

You really can't go wrong with the classics, and The Cheesecake Factory's Original Cheesecake is ample proof of that. This slice delivered exactly what I was expecting: a no-frills, simple cheesecake that could be enjoyed perfectly well on its own or with some homemade toppings like jam or candied nuts. The Original Cheesecake offers a great template to have some fun with your dessert without going to all the effort of making your own cheesecake. If hosting a party, you could grab a whole Original Cheesecake and decorate it yourself with edible flower petals and fresh fruit for a stunning, yummy centerpiece. 

True to form, this cheesecake boasted a smooth, velvety texture throughout. It also retained the tartness of its central ingredient, cream cheese, and I was relieved to find it neither too sweet nor too bland. The simplicity of this cheesecake allowed its graham cracker crust to take center stage, and, as I love a good graham cracker crust, this was a major selling point. Perhaps the only elements keeping me from giving it top marks are that the crust isn't as crisp as I'd like, and the cheesecake did start to lose some of its structure toward the middle. 

When I chose to review the Triple Berry Bliss cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, it was a bit of a last-minute addition rather than something I was fiending to taste. This may be why this cheesecake garnered the top spot on our list; I was simply very pleasantly surprised by what an otherwise under-the-radar flavor offered in terms of flavor, texture, and visual appeal. 

Simply put, the first bite I took was pretty delightful. The vanilla cake incorporated throughout went a long way toward tempering the richness of the berry and cheesecake layers, and the vanilla frosting on top was neither too thick nor too sweet. The berry layers ribboned throughout tasted more natural than artificial, and I was happy to find that the berry flavors sat on a fine line between being tart and sweet. But perhaps my favorite element of the cake has to do with the stunning visual of its outside. White chocolate shavings adorn the back of this cheesecake, lending the dessert an elegance that I haven't seen on any other cheesecake selection from The Cheesecake Factory. Overall, this selection was yummy, visually pleasing, and boasted very balanced flavors, and it's one I'd easily order again. 

I have an admittedly rather high bar for cheesecakes, and as expected, some of The Cheesecake Factory's selections didn't quite meet the mark. To rank these cheesecakes, I headed to my location and tried to choose a variety of flavor profiles. It was important to taste the bare-bones original cheesecake to gauge the baseline level of the restaurant's cheesecake quality; from there, I chose selections that I hoped would give me the biggest variety of flavors, textures, and interesting elements to explore in the cheesecakes.

As a cheesecake lover, it wasn't too hard to temper my personal preferences when ranking these selections. For example, though I'm not the biggest chocolate fanatic, the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake was among my favorites. I'll admit that my own tolerance for sweetness likely played a role in ranking some cheesecakes lower; however, cheesecake is meant to be slightly tangy rather than overly sweet, and these selections strayed too far from what I'd consider to be an appropriate flavor profile for a cheesecake.