A taste test of supermarket lemon cheesecakes has found that while all are edible, the quality varies greatly, with the best offering a wonderful fattiness and the worst tasting of stale biscuits and plastic packaging.
Ingredients and additives
Traditional lemon cheesecake is made with just eight ingredients, but the average for store-bought versions is 24. Every cake in the test falls into the ultra-processed food category, typically containing at least five ingredients not found in domestic kitchens. While real lemon juice or concentrate features in every one, lemon oil and acidity regulators are used to ensure the tart, lemony flavour.
Best overall and best bargain
The best overall was Waitrose No 1 Sicilian lemon & mascarpone cheesecake, priced at £7.50 for 580g (£1.29/100g). It was described as dangerously moreish, not too sweet (19.2% sugar), with a wonderful bitter lemon edge. It contains no emulsifiers, preservatives, acidity regulators, colours or flavourings, but does contain seven additives, including certified sustainable palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm fat and invert sugar syrup.
The best bargain was Sainsbury's Taste the Difference lemon & mascarpone cheesecake, at £5.50 for 500g (£1.10/100g). It has a very deep mascarpone cheesecake with a layer of set curd on top, a spoon of lemon rind marmalade in the centre, and a 60:40 cheese-to-biscuit ratio. It is very sweet (25.3% total sugars), with four additives including palm oil and potassium citrates, but no emulsifiers, preservatives, stabilisers or thickeners.
Other contenders
Tesco Finest lemon & mascarpone cheesecake (£5.50 for 500g) scored four stars, with a light, moussey texture, quite sweet (21% sugar) and a strong lemon flavour. It has no emulsifiers, preservatives or acidity regulators, but six additives including palm oil, amidated pectin, algal carotenes and invert sugar syrup.
Morrisons the Best Sicilian lemon cheesecakes (£3.50 for 192g) earned three stars, described as super-sweet (27.7% sugar), with no preservatives, colours or stabilisers, and only four additives. M&S Sicilian lemon cheesecake (£5 for 585g at Ocado) also got three stars, but the base tasted a bit stale, with nine additives including palm oil, palm kernel oil, sodium citrates and invert sugar syrup.
English Cheesecake Company lemon & mascarpone cheesecake slices (£4 for 180g) received two stars, with an odd synthetic acidic aroma but a good, strong lemon flavour. It is the least sweet cake in the test (17.7% sugars), with eight additives. Gú Spanish lemon cheesecake (£3.95 for 170g) also got two stars, described as super-sweet (26% sugars) and less lemony than most, with a synthetic, sour flavour.
The Bakery at Asda zingy lemon cheesecake (£4.78 for 500g) scored two stars, with low actual lemon content (2%) and a distinct lemon oil flavour, plus seven additives. Co-op Irresistible lemon cheesecake (£4 for 160g) also got two stars, very sweet (23% sugars) with a distinctive lemon oil intensity, and seven additives.
Aldi Specially Selected lemon & white chocolate cheesecake slices (£2.09 for 180g, in store only) received one star, described as very sweet (20.8% sugars) with a powerful, bitter lemon flavour and eight additives, including palm oil, modified starch, soya lecithins and potassium sorbate.
