THE BEST LEMON CHEESECAKE EVER! 62
January 7, 2015
This is pretty much the only Cheesecake recipe you will ever need.
I mean, there’s my NUTELLA CHEESECAKE recipe and my TRIPLE PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE and yup, they’re life changers, and having them in the repertoire goes without saying, but this, THIS takes the cake (pardon the pun) when it comes to classic, simple, and easy cheesecake recipes to have on hand!
There are SO many great things about this recipe.
1) It is NO BAKE. So no oven needed.
2) Most “No bake” cheesecakes call for gelatine or raw egg or SOMETHING to help it set. This one doesn’t!
3) You will only need a few ingredients, all of which are “normal and accessible” to make it.
4) It’s EASYYYYYYY to make.
Like most no-bake cheesecakes, it is not as firm as baked ones are but that’s actually what I love about it. If you make sure to beat the cheese for a long time, preferably refrigerate overnight and follow the method correctly you will LOVEEEEEEEE the result!
INGREDIENTS
500 grams plain sweet biscuits – I use Arnott’s Nice but you can use Graham Crackers, McVitties etc
200 grams butter, melted
4 x 250 gram blocks cream cheese – room temperature
2 x 395 gram tins sweetened condensed milk
The juice from 2 medium lemons (finely grate the rind as you will use it to decorate the top of the cheesecake before setting – note, I didn’t top with grated rind in these snaps but I normally do!)
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
METHOD
1) Blitz the biscuits into fine crumbs in a food processor.
2) In a large mixing bowl, combine the biscuit crumbs and the melted butter until a wet sand consistency is achieved. (Don’t rinse the bowl that you melted the butter in just yet!)
3) Line the base of a 23 cm spring form pan with baking paper and brush the sides with a dash of melted butter (I get a pastry brush and just use the leftover drips of butter from the bowl that I used to melt it in in step 2 above!)
4) Transfer the butter/biscuit mixture to the tin and using your fingertips press the mixture evenly into base and up sides. Place this in the freezer whilst you make the filling.
5) In an electric mixer, on medium speed, beat your ROOM TEMPERATURE cream cheese until smooth, light and fluffy. This might take 10-15 minutes. Keep going unit there are NO LUMPS at all and it looks like fluffy marshmallow! You will need to stop the machine from time to time and scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl to make sure all of the cheese is well beaten.
6) Once you are happy with the “fluffiness,” still on medium speed, add in the cans of sweetened condensed milk, one at a time. I like to pour one can down one side and the other can down the other side. Whatever way you do it, just make sure to pour it in, in a slow, steady stream whilst the mixer runs on medium. Once you have added the condensed milk, you can move the speed to high and keep beating it together until well combined.
7) Turn the speed back to medium and add in the lemon juice and vanilla. Once you have added both, you can turn to high and mix again until very well combined.
8) Pour filling into biscuit base, use a spatula to smooth the top, sprinkle with finely grated lemon rind (optional but preferable!) and set in fridge for at least 8 hours (preferably overnight!)
9) Release gently from tin and serve immediately!
YUMMMMMMMY!
62 comments
Just put this in my fridge. can’t wait to serve it up tomorrow :)
How did it go?! :)
Made this cheesecake 2 days ago but halved the ingredients (and cake was still huge). Great cheesecake – tart and not too sweet. Base didn’t hold up well so you might want more butter in the base. Have made several cheesecakes and think this might be my favourite. Thanks.
So pleased to hear you enjoyed it! I prefer the look of a tall cheesecake but it’s good to experiment and find the right size for you! My base never has a problem holding so not sure what happened there – but again, no harm adding in more butter if that’s what you feel yours needed! Thanks for commenting :) :)
This is the first cheesecake I learned and still our favourite. I stir the grated rind into the cake and sometimes replace one tin of condensed milk with 300ml whipped cream to lighten the texture but then it needs a little gelatine and maybe I just have to beat the cheese for much longer like you do. Now to go check out your peanut butter cheese cake
So pleased to hear!! Thanks for your comment :)
Hi, this sounds delicious. You mention that the cheesecake doesn’t set as firm as baked cheesecakes, but does it set firmly enough, with enough refrigeration, to be cut into slices that will sit firmly on a plate….or does it sort of collapse when cut? I’d like to make it for a birthday cake and would like to make it look a bit fancy, so what about a possible topping, like a lightly set lemon curd or passion fruit curd? Thanks for your recipe.
Hi Kay! Yes I always make it and am able to cut and serve as slices but definitely the longer it is refrigerated the better. I also bring it out of the fridge JUST as I am serving it – especially in Summer. Both toppings sound lovely – I am a but of a purist when it comes to this – I’ve experimented but still prefer it plain! But thats just me! A boring but yummy option might just be whipped cream! Hope you make it and enjoy! Phoodie
My mother used to drain a tin of pineapple pieces and arrange them in a circular pattern (OCD) then make up some lemon jelly with 3/4 liquid stated and pour over top and refrigerate to set. Spectacular
Sounds amazing!!
Thanks for the photos
Welcome!
I made this for dessert last night and it was amazing!!! I am wanting to make a toblerone cheesecake and was wondering if you could add melted toblerone to this recipe instead of the lemon or do I need to do more like your nutella recipe? Thanks for your help.
Hooray! I would adapt the Nutella one if I wanted to make a Toblerone Cheesecake… but you would still need the Nutella….. I have an amazing Toblerone Mousse Recipe – have you seen that?!
Hi Phoodie! I am wanting to make this for a work birthday but am busy the night before the event. Would this be ok to make 2 nights before or will it go crusty on top and soggy in the crust? TIA.
Hey there – I tend to make it fresh but we always eat it for a few days after and it’s still yummy….. up to you but I think it should be ok! Phone :)
Looked wonderful, but unfortunately my cheese cake didn’t set. I followed the recipe to the latter so don’t know where I went so wrong. It must be something that I did, but even after being in the fridge over night it is still relatively liquidly. May try it again another day, as it tastes delicious!
Have you ever done these as mini lemon cheesecakes? How many would this mixture make?
Great idea but no I have never done it and don’t know how many it would make! The only way would be to test it out!
i have made 4 from these ingredients
Margaret, I put one sachet of gelatine mixed with 1/3 cup hot water. and substitute 1 x phili cheese for 250 ml whipped pure cream gently folded into mix at the very end before loading mix into little tins, well, my small tins are the baby cake tins with spring on them! You might get 5 from this mix. depends how big your tins are!
This really is the best lemon cheesecake ever! I made it yesterday for my mum’s birthday and everyone loved it. The biscuit base was perfect – it stayed in tact but wasn’t hard to cut through and the cheesecake mixture is honestly the creamiest, most decadent consistency and the flavour is perfection. I topped mine with fresh berries.
Like some other commenters, I also halved the recipe and found it to be plenty.
Will definitely make this again, and look forward to trying some of your other recipes too! Thanks Phoodie :)
Yay, yay and yay! FABULOUS news! :)
Love this cheesecake, exactly like my Mum used to make. I had a friend who told me their cheesecake didn’t set. Discovered they were using light cream cheese. It definitely won’t set if you use light cream cheese, you would need to use some gelatine to have that set.
Fantastic! Yes, I wouldn’t suggest using light!
Hi I have 3 of the juiciest lemons in the world and am just wondering if the juice of 3 lemons is going to be too much. About how many ml would be good for the cheesecake.
Hi There! Yummy – juicy lemons! I have no idea how many mls but if they are SUPER juicy I would use 2 instead of 3! Phoodie
Thank you. I received this too late but will let you know how it went after the party tonight. it seems okay but the proof ……
I made this for my cheesecake loving boyfriend’s birthday and it was such a success I then made it for the family for Christmas. He has requested it again for his birthday next week :) It is the easiest cheesecake recipe I have come across and so delicious too!
I am SO pleased to hear this! I agree! It’s a fab recipe. Thanks for your message Melissa. Phoodie
Hi there, I love this recipe and have made it a couple of times now but was wondering if it could be frozen or would that ruin the texture upon defrosting?
Very good question! I have never ever tried to freeze it because its the type of dessert that can be made in advance so if I am ever short for time, I just make it a couple of days ahead of my function. Let me know how you go if you try it! Phoodie
I freeze this all the time. Still amazing and I love having it still slightly frozen and super cold!!
FANTASTIC!
Hi! just wondering if this cake is very ‘lemony’ ? my son like ‘plain’ or New York style cheesecake? Thanks ?
This is an amazing recipe, I much prefer no bake cheesecakes to the dense and often stodgy baked ones! Also wanted to let you know that your recipe was used with no reference to you here http://www.mykitchenstories.com.au/2016/04/no-bake-lemon-cheesecake/
You can leave the lemon out – it will still work!
I agree re no bake! Thanks so much for the other link too!
Can I bake the crust? I’m not sure but I would think it would stand up better.
I never do but I don’t see why not!
I have just finished making it for a coworker’s birthday tomorrow – hope it goes well!
Hope you love it!
Hi, just finished making this to serve at tomorrow night’s dinner. It looks absolutely fabulous and tastes pretty bloody fantastic (I licked the bowl clean)!
It is sooooooo delicious!
Hi, here’s some feedback and lessons learned: 1. make it half the size as it’s H-U-G-E!! 2. needs more lemon juice to make it lemon-y. I used two massive lemons from my tree and it looked like I had double the quantity of juice to you, but still couldn’t really taste the lemon. Maybe can you give an approx measure of how much lemon juice you used?
On the positive side – the cheesecake was amazing!!! Lots of compliments from the family :) Thank you Phoodie
Awesome – thanks for the feedback! Phoodie
Rich! Decadent! Impressive! I’m very impressed with this simple yet stunning cheesecake. I made the full recipe the first time and it was massive and for my mother… Biggest critic of everything. She loved it! Second time, I have halved it and will take it into work tomorrow for a couple of birthday people. I’m hoping everyone enjoys… I’ll wait and see. Thank you so much for a citrus cheesecake recipe without gelatine. I cannot use that stuff, it’s awful! Thank you heaps :)
Oh Erica! This is awesome! Thanks so much for your message! Glad Mum enjoyed it too! Phoodie
I’ve made this so many times now…. It is truly the Best Cheese Cake ever. Im a baked cheesecake kind a gal…. But this may have converted me! Not only because its so delicious its really really easy and quick, my 12 year old is Making it again in the morning for my Dads birthday. Thankyou Phoodie
Thanks for your beautiful comment! I also ADORE this recipe XX Phoodie
I keep coming back to this recipe again and again….so good
Makes quite a thick cheesecake, I have used it in a slice tin aswell.
Thanks for my ‘quick i need to make somthing cake’!
It’s so so so good isn’t it!!!
Hi there
Do you not need to use gelatine with this recipe?
I haven’t seen any unbaked ones with it before. Thanks
No gelatine!!
I just made this cheesecake a couple of days ago and it’s all gone!!! I don’t know what to say..Kudos to you Phoodie, it was absolutely divine. I’ve made cheesecakes before, but this is without doubt, the easiest, and most delicious I’ve ever made :) I used choc cream biscuits for the base, which helped give it a velvety texture.It was perfect..I like others halved the ingredients, and I still had a good size cheesecake. Thank you for sharing this recipe, it will be my go to one from now on..Very easy to tweak to your own preferences also..Well done
Best comment ever! Thank you so so much! So glad you all loved it! Phoodie
Hi can it be frozen?
I don’t think so but I am not sure! Phoodie
In regard to the question on can it be frozen – I answer yes! I make this amazing recipe into mini cheesecakes and keep in the freezer at Christmas time – I find them beautiful straight out of the freezer and my family agree.
So good!!!!
The VERY BEST cheesecake recipe, thank you. Have shared this recipe with many. So simple to make with minimal accessible ingredients. Perfect, perfect, PERFECT!
Thank you so so so much!!!!! Phoodie
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