6-inch & 7-inch Whole Cheesecakes

Four to six slices, and for a mousse cake that's the size I'd buy.

Mousse is cream with air whipped into it, and the air starts escaping after about 24 hours in the fridge. The layer sinks. It goes dense and heavy, and the texture you paid for is gone by day two, which is why a small cake eaten in one sitting beats a large one eaten over a week.

1,220 calories a slice, 94 grams of fat, and gluten, wheat, milk, egg and soy listed. Don't freeze it.

Four to six slices, and this is the one size in the range I'd tell you not to freeze. Frozen strawberries collapse when they thaw, the glaze turns cloudy, and you're left with a wet pink layer on a cheesecake that was fine before it went in.

Buy it for two or three people and finish it within 48 hours. On a cake this small the whole berries cover almost the entire top, which makes it the best-looking of the strawberry sizes. 1,000 calories a slice. Gluten, wheat, milk, egg, soy.

Four to six slices. This is the one that makes sense for two people, and it's the only cake size here that doesn't commit you to eating cheesecake for a week.

It's also the best of them to freeze. Plain cheesecake takes freezing better than anything topped or layered — no fruit to go watery, no mousse to separate. Portion it first, wrap each slice, then thaw one in the fridge for three or four hours when you want it.

830 calories a slice, gluten, wheat, milk, egg and soy on the list.

Four to six slices. Small enough for a household of two to finish before it gets tired, and the raspberry swirl through the filling means you can freeze whatever's left without wrecking it.

1,220 calories a slice, 89 grams of fat, chocolate cookie crust.

No 6-inch or 7-inch cake has more protein than its 18 grams a slice.

Second-saltiest in that range, too: 750 mg, behind only the Oreo Dream Extreme. That salt keeps 94 grams of sugar from tasting like 94 grams.

$40.95 to $43.95. Freeze any leftovers in single slices. The candy pieces soften a little when they thaw.

Six to eight slices, which is a family birthday rather than a party. The 10-inch is a lot of sprinkles to still be eating on Thursday. Same layered build: confetti sponge, pink and blue mousse bands, white frosting, 1,380 calories a slice.

Buy it the day of. This isn't a cake that improves overnight — the mousse layers are the reason it looks good, and they start settling within about twenty-four hours.

Six to eight slices at 1,220 calories each. This is the size to buy if chocolate cake is the point of the evening but you're not feeding twelve people.

Dense chocolate cheesecake under aerated mousse, 94 grams of fat a slice, 480 mg of sodium. Buy it the day you're serving it. The mousse is the reason — a plain cheesecake improves after a night in the fridge, but a mousse layer starts giving up its air within about 24 hours, and the texture that justifies the cake goes with it.

Six to eight slices. At 110 grams of fat each, only the Red Velvet has more among the 6-inch and 7-inch cakes.

Dulce de leche is milk and sugar cooked slowly for hours until it thickens and browns, which makes it softer and more dairy-forward than caramel made from sugar alone.

The caramel mousse on top settles within a day or two. So does the brickle's crunch. Buy it the day before, not earlier. Tree nuts are in the brickle.

For a cake that won't keep, smaller is smarter: $40.95 to $43.95, against $65.95 to $72.95 for the 10-inch.

The fresh banana on top starts browning within hours of being cut. A cake that gets finished at one dinner beats a bigger one you're still working through on day three. 1,250 calories a slice.

Classic Bavarian cream is custard set with gelatin and folded with whipped cream, which is why the top of this cake eats closer to banana cream pie than to cheesecake.

Six to eight slices. The strawberry cake sized for a family dinner rather than a party. Don't buy it to keep. A plain cheesecake will sit in the fridge for 5 days without complaint, but the glazed berries on this one go soft and watery within 2, and once juice has run into the filling there's no reversing it.

1,000 calories and 550 mg of sodium a slice.

Six to eight slices of the only cheesecake here made without flour. The base is flourless chocolate cake, so gluten and wheat are absent from the recipe, which makes this the size to buy for a small dinner with one guest who can't eat either. It's very rich. 1,400 calories and 105 grams of fat a slice, and dark enough that people tend to want smaller portions than they think — a 7-inch will stretch further than the serving count suggests.

Milk, egg and soy are listed.

Of the 6-inch and 7-inch cakes, only the Fresh Strawberry and the Original are lighter, at 1,000 and 830 calories a slice against this cake's 1,040.

Bring it after a rich main course. Lemon cuts richness. Chocolate adds to it. Sodium is 420 mg, the second-lowest in the range after the Godiva.

Raspberry ladyfingers soften as the days go by. Serve it within two days of buying.

Six to eight slices, the size that fits a household.

It's built the same as the 10-inch: chocolate cookie crust, cookies through the cheesecake, mousse and crumb on top. 1,510 calories a slice.

Freeze it in portions if you won't finish it in 3 days. Wrap each slice on its own and freeze them flat, then move one to the fridge 4 hours before you want it. A whole cake frozen as one block thaws unevenly. The outside mousse goes wet while the middle is still hard.

Six to eight slices of the plainest cheesecake they make, which is the size to buy for a family dinner rather than a party.

830 calories a slice, the lightest of the standard cheesecakes. Sodium's 510 mg.

What makes the Original the right choice at this size is that it keeps. A 7-inch will sit covered in the fridge for the best part of a week without turning, and nothing on top of it can go wrong — no strawberries weeping, no whipped cream collapsing. Cut what you need and put the rest back.

Six to eight slices, no nuts, and a caramel mousse layer on top that wants to be eaten within a day or two of collection.

The glaze and the brownie base hold up fine in the fridge. The mousse is the part that softens first, so if you're buying for a weekend, buy on Friday rather than Wednesday. 1,240 calories and 130 grams of carbohydrate a slice.

At 1,580 calories and 116 grams of fat a slice, this is the heaviest cake in the whole 6-inch and 7-inch range, heavier even than the Chocolate Mousse.

Six to eight slices, for a family occasion that still wants a cake that looks like one. Red layers, white layers, white chocolate curls. I think it's the best-looking cake at this size.

The curls are the weak point. They soften fast at room temperature, so take the cake out of the fridge only when you're ready to cut.

Six to eight slices. Unlike the Fresh Strawberry, this one freezes, because the raspberry is swirled through the filling rather than sitting on top as whole fruit that goes watery on thawing.

Wrap the slices individually and freeze them flat. A slice thaws in the fridge in about 4 hours with the marbling intact. 1,220 calories and 550 mg of sodium each.