The Cheesecake Factory’s Cheesecakes Are Now In S’pore, But Are They Nice Or Not?

The Cheesecake Factory’s classic New York-style cheesecake — characterised by its dense, firm texture and graham cracker crust — is one of the better NY-style cheesecakes we’ve had. Its all-American recipe, developed by the Factory’s founder and erstwhile home baker Evelyn Overton, calls for cream cheese topped with a thin layer of sour cream, all plonked on a base of crushed graham cracker.

The slice we tried boasts a fab texture: smooth, decadently creamy and rich but not stodgy — it’s a bit dense yet fluffy. The flavour is also pretty spot-on: suitably creamy, cheesy with a tang from the sour cream to keep it from getting too jelak, though there’s a mild hint of what seems like faux vanilla essence that goes away after a few bites. Though we wish the graham cracker crust could be crisper and slightly thicker, it’s still pretty yummy and buttery, with a wheaty-ness to it. One slice feeds two.

This gorgeous number has chocolate chip-spiked cream cheese on a chocolate brownie, all topped with chocolate mousse and a whipped cream rosette. The chocolate used, from San Francisco-based chocolatier Ghirardelli, is luscious, though we found the entire slice of cake too sweet and jelak after a few bites. The brownie base is also too hard, even though we let the chilled cake thaw out at room temperature for almost three hours.

If you must have chocolate cheesecake, we say go for this Godiva version instead. It’s baked with chunks of milk chocolate from the Belgian chocolatier, and topped with choc mousse, choc ganache and a choc whipped cream rosette. Compared to the Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate Cheesecake, this slice is moreish with its full-bodied choc flavour, and not too cloying. Its cream cheese texture is also somewhat airier than the other cheesecake flavours, so we scarfed down an entire slice in no time.

Strawberry-infused cream cheese, wild strawberry mousse and white chocolate shavings on a graham cracker crust come together for this slice. It’s not our favourite, though. The Barbie-pink strawberry tastes a tad artificial, like eating generic supermarket strawberry ice cream out of a tub, though its texture is just as good as the other flavours’. We foresee this being more of a hit with kids.

This chocolate graham cracker-crusted cheesecake has raspberries and white choc bits baked into its cream cheese filling, topped with a layer of whipped cream and white choc shavings. The berry flavour and earthy, fragrant crust is quite lovely, but we aren’t big fans of the excessive amount of whipped cream on this. Decent, but we’d go for the yummier picks like the Classic Cheesecake and Godiva Double Chocolate.

If you find the usual cheesecakes too jelak, go for this one, which has cream cheese spiked with tangy mangoes and key limes and a layer of mango mousse. The piquant fruits cut the heavy richness of the cream cheese nicely. The cheesecake’s vanilla coconut macaroon crust is light and fun to eat, too.