Cinnabon Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory

 

There is some wisdom here that tells me to upload the review of this before anything else because I am afraid I might forget what mental notes I made about the cheesecake. So ok, this is my first of 5 drafts, I have many articles lined up after this. 

It was my birthday on 11 July, but I was quite busy back then, so I instead redeemed by free Cheesecake Factory slice on the 25th of July. I had a wonderful day, and I journaled it all so if anyone is interested  feel free to leave a like or a comment, and I might share that entry. 

Focussing back, the cheesecake pictures above is a recommendation of the bartender there. I had come there twice before and tried the coconut cheesecake, and another flavor I am not able to properly recall. But I remember they were very stuffy. I had gone with one other person first, and then 2 other people, and it was hard both times to complete the cake. So I was aware that if I planned to have the cheesecake at 3 PM, I would have to make sure my lunch was light and I wasn't snacking prior to it. (I googled, the two cheesecakes I have had are the Oreo® Dream Extreme Cheesecake and the Coconut Cream Pie Cheesecake both were very good.)

The bartender suggested the Mango Key Lime Cheesecake, and some Raspberry flavored one. But I told him to serve whatever he felt was right, and he came back with the Cinnabon flavored. More specifically as Cheesecake writes it as

Cinnabon® Cinnamon Swirl Cheesecake

Layers of Cinnabon® Cinnamon Cheesecake and Vanilla Crunch Cake Topped with Cream Cheese Frosting and Caramel

 

What did I think of it? I thought the layers were amazingly distinct. Let's start with the top. There was a dense frosting that was absolutely delicious. However, for my taste the entire cake was too sweet. And the frosting being both so dense and sweet, made it a little difficult to find the cheesecake parts if you took a clean vertical cut. The way I was eating it made sure that my tongue hit the top layer first in almost every bite. I took a few bites like that and then decided to dissect it because the frosting was overwhelming the actual cheesecake. The rest of the cake is interesting. It formed an interesting double feature. So it goes cheesecake, cinnamon roll layers, and then the vanilla cake and then again, all three of them. In the picture you can see a thick middle with some spottiness, that would be the vanilla cake.

The actual cheesecake was shockingly cheesy. It wasn't stretchy, but isolating it, I could totally see where the cheesecake parts of it was. And I would say, that's a conventional cheesecake there. If anyone is expecting like a cinnamon flavored cheesecake or a variation in the smooth parts of it, I would say they'd be disappointed, but whenever I have a cheesecake generally I focus on the base plus the cream. I would still advise again, to go easy on the sugars there. It is intoxicatingly sweet.

The next feature I can elaborate on is the cinnabon. It's interesting cuz it feels like I am eating an actual cinnabon. Layers drenched in syrup coating that is very cinnabon signature tasting. On it's own, it can get boring fast, which is why I would advise pairing it with the cheesecake in your bites. I know this should apply for all the layers and the whole cheesecake, but it's hard to appreciate every layer when every layer feel like it's overpowering each other.

Finally, you hit the cake. I prefer hard bases in my cheesecakes, because the hard base with the soft cream on top feels like a dance in my mouth. The buttery base is always appealing because it feels like a normal biscuit but enhanced with cream. This cheesecake twists that because the cinnabon acts as the hard base instead, and the vanilla crunch cake is fine on it's own, and with the cinnabon and cheesecake it actually felt unfairly overshadowed. Yes, I liked the base, more than I liked the culmination of the entire cheesecake. It would benefit to reduce the repetition of the layers,, instead of opt for a cheesecake where the cream leads right after the frosting all the way down to a cinnabon base. I say this because this way, in a perfect vertical cut, a person can effectively taste the cheesecake (because it would beat the frosting quantity and density wise then), and when you hit the base, you get a surprise of cinnabon, which pairs perfectly with the moisture of it. It would also simplify the cheesecake, but then I am not sure if it would be stable. I would not appreciate a thicker cinnabon layer, the cinnabon layer in this cheesecake was perfect.

Overall, it was definitely too sweet for me, mostly attributed to the frosting. I wanted more of the vanilla cake so I would advice, reducing the frosting layer, thickening the cake and cheesecake layers. A few millimeters would make all the difference. The aftertaste of the cheesecake is not very pleasant. The stuffiness left me feeling a little nauseous. I understand if someone would say that it's cuz you are supposed to share and I understand that. It definitely delivers for it's value anyway, so I wouldn't hold that up as a major complaint. For it's price, it's delivering more than enough. Plus, I paid 0 cuz happy birthday to me.

Thanks for reading! I shall attach pictures from my older cheesecakes because... why not.

Oreo Cheesecake

Coconut Cheesecake (person in the photo is not me by the way)