Aldi Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cheesecake (Belmont) Review
Weird pudding.
I saw Aldi shoppers online raving about this Belmont Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cheesecake, so I bought one.
That was a mistake.
I don’t like it. I hate the texture. Sorry. Not sure why this pie is so popular. I wanted to like it. I tried to like it. I even ate it all. But I just cannot like it.
I shan’t. You can’t make me.
The filling is more like soft, oozy pudding. It barely keeps its shape when ice-cold, and it starts to puddle in the plate quickly after being removed from the refrigerator. I totally understand that this is a “whipped” cheesecake, and I was expecting softness and less density, but this is an entirely different animal. In fact, I think calling this a “cheesecake” is quite a stretch. Mine doesn’t look anything like the texture of the pie on the box label. The product picture looks like fluffy cheesecake; my pie looks like weird pudding.
This is sweet pie. It’s VERY sugary stuff. It’s creamy. There’s a little whisper of tanginess from the cream cheese, but not much. Normally, the cheesiness of a cheesecake is my favorite part, so the lack of it here was an additional let down. Pudding taste, but not cheesy taste. Cruel, cruel world.
Absolutely the best part of this pie is the “pumpkin spice” flavor. It’s strong, intoxicating, and addictive. Spicy pie! From looking at the ingredients, there is cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. I love nutmeg. I love all of these things. But especially nutmeg. I wish I could surgically remove this pie flavor and transplant it into a more worthy dessert.
Well. That sounded a bit diabolical.
There’s a small pool of shiny, tangy, jam-like brown stuff on top of the pie. It has a slightly gelatinous texture, which I don’t mind. Although the brown stuff looks like it should be a more concentrated spice taste than the rest of the pie, it actually has a blander taste. So IDK. It’s a nice visual contrast, but that’s about it.
This is tasty crust! They aren’t lying when they call it a “cookie crust.” The crust is sweet and flavorful, with a wonderful crunchy texture. Super crunchy. My taste-buds might be addled, but it seems like there are spices in the crust, too. I enjoyed this crust more than the rest of the pie. But that wasn’t hard to do.
The whipped garnish is, erm, interesting. It starts melting and deflating pretty quickly after thawing. It’s not quite a “whipped cream” or even “whipped topping” — I’d describe it as slightly marshmallow-y. Yep. Marshmallowy. It’s a word now.
Thawing Instructions for Aldi’s Belmont Whipped Cheesecake
The cheesecake is frozen, and there are options to thaw it in the refrigerator or at room temperature — whole, or by the slice. I thawed mine whole at room temperature for about 2 hours. It took longer than I expected, especially since I live in balmy Florida and my house is kinda hot. The other frozen Aldi cakes I’ve purchased thawed much faster than the label suggested; this one thawed more slowly. Just FYI.
My pie arrived home squashed and deformed. It looks like it defrosted partially at some point before I opened the box. This might be my fault — I had a longer car ride home than usual. But, since the pie is boxed, there’s no way to know if it was that way before I bought it, or if it happened afterwards. I froze the pie as soon as I got home. Either way, this wasn’t an attractive dessert. It’s not something I’d serve to guests. But it was fine for a casual weeknight dessert at home.
In the grand (or not-so-grand) scheme of things, this is a small pie. I measured it at barely 7.5 inches diameter. The slices are short. I do like the sturdy plastic pie lid; it was easy to store my leftovers.
Nutrition Facts in Aldi’s Belmont Whipped Cheesecake Pumpkin Spice
There are 8 servings per “cheesecake” of 85 grams each (3 ounces). Each slice has 290 calories, 14 grams of fat, 29 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein. As previously mentioned, this is a sugary dessert.
Price and Shelf-life of Belmont Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cheesecake
The 24 ounce pie cost $5.99. Since there are eight servings, each serving costs 75 cents. I personally only got about 6 servings from this pie — these are small slices! At six servings, each slice is still only $1. Even so, I don’t consider this a good value — the pie was just too insubstantial and full of air to be worthwhile. Plus, it had a cheap appearance. And I didn’t like it. I wouldn’t buy this a second time.
My pie started to leak liquid and ooze and flatten after only a day. After three days, there was a significant puddle of thin liquid in the bottom of the pan, and the crust had softened. I’d say this dessert needs to be eaten within 2 days of thawing for best taste.
The expiration date on the box allowed me approximately 1.5 years to keep this in my freezer, which is nice.
Ingredients in Belmont Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cheesecake
I’m not entirely enthused by these ingredients, although I appreciate how prominently real cream, cream cheese, and sour cream are featured. There are too many unnecessary preservatives and chemicals for a frozen pie. The front of the box says there are no artificial flavors and no high fructose corn syrup, but there is “glucose-fructose syrup” on the ingredients list. Also, what exactly is “milk protein product”? What the heck is “mono and diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono and diglycerides of fatty acids”??? Pimento was an unexpected find. Despite featuring a pumpkin on the pie box, there is no actual pumpkin in this pie.
Here is the ridiculously long list of ingredients:
- Wheat flour
- Cream
- Sugar
- Sour cream (Cream, Culture)
- Invert sugar
- Vegetable shortening (Palm oil, Water, Vegetable oil [Canola, Palm], Mono and diglycerides)
- Water
- Brown sugar
- Nonfat milk
- Cream cheese (Soft cheese, Cream, Butter, Culture)
- Food starch-modified
- Glucose syrup
- Palm fat
- Glucose-fructose syrup
- Maltodextrin
- Palm oil
- Natural flavor
- Salt
- Sodium carbonate
- Ammonium bicarbonate
- Caramel
- Dextrose
- Cinnamon
- Bovine gelatin
- Mono and diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono and diglycerides of fatty acids
- Lactylic esters of fatty acids
- Mono and diglycerides
- Soy lecithins
- Polysorbate 60
- Carotene (color)
- Milk protein product
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- Citric acid
- Pimento
- Clove
- Dry whole milk
- Pectins
- Guar gum
- Sodium citrate
- Diphosphate
- Calcium phosphate
This pie is made in Germany.
More Reviews of Aldi Desserts You Might Like (or Hate)
Check out these other reviews of Aldi desserts I’ve recently written:
- Aldi Cherry Frangipane Tart (Deutsche Küche)
- Aldi Bienenstich Indulgent Cakes (Deutsche Küche)
- Aldi Fruits of the Forest Strudel (Deutsche Küche)
- Aldi Donauwelle Indulgent Cakes (Deutsche Küche)
Author’s note: I have no affiliation with Aldi or Belmont, and I was not compensated in any way for this review.
