This is the only lemon cheesecake recipe you’ll ever need. Between the buttered graham crackers and homemade lemon curd, you get the sweet and sour taste of the creamiest, dreamiest cheesecake, flavored with fresh lemon. Top it with whipped cream and a slice of sun-kissed lemon for a simple yet impressive presentation.
This is truly a lemon cheesecake.
This cheesecake is best made the day before serving. It needs time to bake, cool and firm up in the refrigerator. Don’t you need a little time to yourself before the big event?
Lemon Cheesecake Components
- Graham Cracker Crust The classic graham cracker crust is the perfect base for this lemon cheesecake. If you don’t have graham crackers, you can find a substitute in How to Make Graham Cracker Dough.
- Lemon Cheesecake Topping. A creamy, velvety filling that doesn’t stick to your mouth like New York-style cheesecake.
- Lemon curd. A layer of lemon curd on top of a baked cheesecake. Have you ever made it? It’s surprisingly easy – if you can beat an egg, you can make lemon curd.
Start with a crumb crust.
This recipe is essentially the same as my traditional graham cracker crust, but with more breadcrumbs and less butter because cheesecake is so heavy and moist. Note that I’m using a little more breadcrumbs today than I normally would for a cheesecake because the dough is a little thinner (so we want to start with a slightly drier crust).
The crust will be buttery soft and crispy at the same time. Bake it for 10 minutes before adding the filling.
Preparing the filling.
Have you tried vanilla sugar? I’m asking because I do the same thing. Some readers have asked for more lime flavor in my lime cheesecake, so in today’s recipe, I’m going to add some lemon flavor without changing the basic recipe.
Whisk the lemon zest with the sugar needed to make the cheesecake topping. This gives the sugar a lemony flavor. The lemon zest is now broken down into the sugar (along with the cream cheese that forms the base of the filling) instead of just in the batter. It’s very simple.
You can make any recipe that calls for top white sugar and lemon zest. Grab a food processor (you’ll need it for the zest graham crackers too!) ) and pulse.
Arrange the ingredients for the cheesecake filling in a certain order. First, mix the sugar with the cream cheese and lemon zest mixture, then mix in all the other ingredients except the eggs. Add the eggs one at a time, beating just enough to combine them. If you beat the eggs too much, too much air will be added to the batter, causing the cheesecake to puff up and fall apart.
The main concern when baking cheesecake is often to keep it from cracking, but this recipe is topped with lemon curd, so that doesn’t matter. However, I always bake my cheesecakes in a double boiler. Cheesecakes prefer a moist environment so they can bake smooth, creamy, high and without cracking. I usually use the double boiler method, but you can find other methods in the recipe notes below.
Follow my instructions exactly for baking and cooling the cheesecake. You won’t have time to test your will for more than a few hours while the cheesecake bakes and cools. Meanwhile, you can prepare the lemon filling.
Making the lemon map
A video tutorial on how to make the lemon map is available on a separate page. This is an optional ingredient, but it really accentuates the lemon flavor in the dessert. We encourage you to add it.
Let the lemon curd cool completely. Then, once the cheesecake has cooled to room temperature, spread it over the lemon cheesecake before refrigerating it. This allows the lemon curd to cool and harden on top of the cheesecake.
Optional topping.
This lemon cheesecake can be nicely topped with creme fraiche (or should I say “sub lemon” – lol). You can also add fresh lemon slices and berries, or top with raspberry sauce, blueberry jam or strawberry jam.
No one will refuse to eat this wonderful dessert plain, with its sparkling homemade lemon curd.
In the lemon cheesecake pictured, I used a Wilton 1M fluted tip to spread the whipped cream over the dessert.
Secrets to a successful lemon cheesecake
- Dough should be at room temperature. Make sure all cheesecake batter ingredients are at room temperature so that the batter remains smooth and can be mixed quickly. Beating cold ingredients will cause the dough to crumble too much. This is not the way you want to start
- Bake the cheesecake. Lemon cheesecake may take 55-70 minutes. It is done when the edges are set. Use an oven mitt to lightly tap the pan. The center of the cheesecake should still be slightly wobbly.
- Allow the cheesecake to cool. Cheesecake does not like large temperature changes, so cool it the way I guarantee it will. You turn off the oven, open the door, and place the cheesecake in the oven water bath for one hour. Then remove from the water bath and place on a room temperature counter to cool completely.
- Freeze the cheesecake. Once the cheesecake has cooled to room temperature, place the chilled lemon curd on top and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
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