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Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake Review

Written byThe Snarkle Sauce Posted on Updated on
A slice of Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake sitting on a white plate on a wooden table.

Some taste buds are lousy dancers.

Ah, the famous Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake. At last we meet. A year ago, I tried to buy one, but I was too late and they were gone for the season. I was forced to hear everyone else on the internet gush about how good this dessert is, while having none of my own. Cruel, cruel world.

Spice-lovers may be sad to hear that there is effectively no spice flavor anywhere in this cheesecake. This is a pumpkin cheesecake. It’s not a pumpkin-spice cheesecake, or a spice cheesecake, or anything else you might imagine. It’s pumpkin. And some cheesecake. But mostly pumpkin. So. Much. Pumpkin. If you don’t love pumpkin, this is probably not the dessert for you.

Close-up of the end of a slice of Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake from the Kirkland store brand, sitting on a white plate.

What immediately impressed me is how fresh the pumpkin tastes, and how smooth and moist the cheesecake texture is. Although I can perceive some tangy cream cheese, I mostly taste mellow pumpkin. There is even a little pumpkin texture in the puree, which I relished. I was definitely surprised by how wholesome and natural the pumpkin consistency is.

A fork holding a bite of Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake.

I would describe the entire cheesecake texture as “soft.” It’s probably the softest cheesecake I’ve eaten in a while (except maybe this one from Aldi, which was more like weird pudding). But, despite being soft, it has a wonderful fluffy structure. It’s velvety smooth. Buttery smooth. Smooth like the smoothest truffle in a chocolate box. It doesn’t ooze or feel soggy. It’s almost like a tender pumpkin pie with a little cheesecake added in.

The back edge of a Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake, showing the texture and piped garnish.

There IS a strong, delicious flavor in this cheesecake. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is — sort of pumpkiny. But pumpkin flavor from an enhanced, alternative universe. Pumpkin flavor that makes your tastebuds do a choreographed flash-mob in your mouth.* It’s addictive flavor. I was mega-bummed when I realized it may be from the “artificial flavors” listed on the label. More about the ingredients later.

Side view of a slice of Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake, sitting on a white plate.

I was also impressed how restrained the sweetness is. I prefer “less sweet” desserts, and this one is perfect. Sugar is the fourth ingredient. It’s sweet enough to be delicious, but not so sweet that it overpowers. I was able to enjoy all the other flavors without sugar dominating the conversation. Sugar is such a bully.

Yogurt layer on top of Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake.

There’s a yogurty, thin layer on top of the cheesecake that offers a pleasant taste transition from the rest of the pie. It looks like there are specks of spices mixed into it, but it has almost no spice taste. Mostly, it is creamy and tangy — more so than the pumpkin base of the rest of the dessert. There is technically cinnamon, ginger, and cloves listed in the ingredients, but I can’t really taste it here. The yogurt layer adds a lovely visual stripe in the pie design.

Close-up of graham crust texture from Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake.

The crust isn’t spicy, but it does have a warm, molasses-infused graham flavor. It’s a VERY moist crust, but thin. Almost syrupy-moist. It’s sweet enough to be tasty, but not sugary enough to taste like a cookie. The crust holds together neatly during serving, and sticks loyally to the base of the cheesecake without falling apart. I need a man in my life like this crust.

Garnish icing around rim of Pumpkin Cheesecake from Costco Kirkland bakery.

Surrounding the rim of the cheesecake is a tidy, piped, white garnish. Unlike most grocery store garnishes, this one is NOT fake whipped topping, but rather a sugary-sweet icing. It has little flavor of its own — just some extra sweetness and a smooth, light texture. On this dessert, I don’t hate the garnish, but I didn’t particularly want to eat it either — it clashed a bit with the tastes of the pumpkin cheesecake. It’s sweeter than the rest of this dessert, so if you prefer more sweetness, this will be a welcome pitstop.

A whole Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake, sitting on a wooden table.

Did I weigh my cheesecake? Of course I did. Mine is a full 5.5 pounds. The label says 4 pounds, 14 ounces, so I got some extra. Yay. This is a TON of cheesecake. Well, not an actual ton. A ton is technically 2000 pounds. So, not a ton, but definitely enough to feed a large gathering. Enough to freeze, and eat all year long — until the next round of Pumpkin Cheesecakes appear at Costco.

Ingredients in Costco bakery Pumpkin Cheesecake.

Ingredients in Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake

Yes. There are artificial flavors. And yes, I hate this so much. I especially hate that I like these artificial flavors. They taste so dang good. I don’t want to like them. I am liking them against my will. I feel violated. Where’s my lawyer.

Minus that, these are mostly decent ingredients. There’s a tiny bit of junk at the end.

Here are the ingredients:

  • Cream Cheese (Pasteurized Milk and Cream, Salt, Carob Bean Gum, Cheese Culture)
  • Sour Cream (Cultured Cream)
  • Pumpkin
  • Sugar
  • Water
  • Eggs
  • Butter (Cream and/or Milk, Salt)
  • Whole Milk (Pasteurized Milk with Vitamin D)
  • Bleached Enriched flour (Wheat flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic acid)
  • Graham Floour [yes, misspelled]
  • Contains 2% or less of the following: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Molasses, Sodium Bicarbonate, Nonfat Milk, Corn Syrup Solids, Salt, Canola and/or Palm and/or Soybean Oil, Modified Corn Starch, Mono- and Diglycerides, Nonfat Dry Milk, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Corn Starch, Spices, Cinnamon, Ginger, Cloves, Polysorbate-60, Soy Lecithin.
A whole Costco Pumpkin Cheesecake inside the plastic bakery box, sitting on a wooden table.

Servings and Size of Kirkland Pumpkin Cheesecake

Costco’s Pumpkin Cheesecake costs $18.99. There are at least 16 servings (potentially more), which means each serving costs $1.19. As previously mentioned, I weighed mine at a monstrous 88 ounces. 16 servings would be 5.5 ounces each, which is pretty generous for a dessert serving.

I don’t love the plastic box this comes in — the lid kept popping loose, and the cheesecake is too heavy for the flimsy plastic base. It needs to be supported carefully from the bottom to prevent buckling and the cheesecake falling out. That would be an epic disaster.

The Costco item # is 30719. This is a “Kirkland Signature” (store brand) bakery item.

*Certain restrictions on flash mob apply. Cannot guarantee cooperation of all tastebuds. Also, some tastebuds are lousy dancers.

More Reviews of Pumpkin Desserts You Might Like (or Hate)

Check out these other reviews of Pumpkin/Pumpkin Spice desserts I’ve recently written:

Author’s note: I was not paid or compensated to write this review, and I have no affiliation with Costco. I bought this pumpkin cheesecake with my own grubby money.

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