Trader Joe's Lemon Ginger Cheesecake

While slicing my first piece of this cheesecake, I accidentally cut a bit too shallow in the middle of the dessert, leaving a bite-sized triangle of graham crackery crust all by itself with no lemony cream cheese on top still sitting there near the center of the confection. I made another incision to free the little section of grahamy goodness and popped it into my mouth. There was the expected graham cracker flavor, typical of traditional cheesecake, but there was also an unexpected blast of raw ginger.

Dang, I thought. This has too much ginger flavor. There's no way the lemon can shine through all this ginger. It was like a gingersnap cookie with, if anything, a bit too much raw ginger in the mix. Then I dug my fork into the slice, getting plenty of the creamy lemon layers, and tasted it...

Not only did the sweet-tart lemon outshine the ginger, it nearly eclipsed it completely. Each bite got more and more lemony, with real bits of lemon peel and rich, creamy cheese flavors. By the end of that slice, I'd nearly forgotten the gingery zing of that first bite of crust. I actually found myself wishing for a little more ginger flavor. It was nice to have it in the crust, but I feel like the body of the cheesecake could have used some ginger in order to balance out the lemon...and I'm a big fan of lemon flavored desserts.

The texture was just a tad spongier than I would have preferred, but you tend to get that with frozen cheesecakes. It's difficult to replicate that perfect dense creaminess you get with something fresh from a bakery. And the day-old slices tasted and felt tangibly less fresh than those that we tried immediately after thawing. Still, the cheesecake was thick and smooth and had a pleasant mouthfeel even if it wasn't a flawless representation of true fresh cheesecake.

The real draw here is the sweet and sour lemon zing. It's a nice summer dessert, and even just a small slice is quite satisfying. There are supposedly six servings in the box, but I think you could easily stretch it to eight or more.

$7.99 for the whole cheesecake. I don't think Sonia and I will buy this again just for ourselves, but I'd consider taking this to a group picnic or large gathering in the future. I give Trader Joe's Lemon Ginger Cheesecake 7/10 stars. Sonia will go with 8/10.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.