This no-bake lemon cheesecake is easy to make and absolutely beautiful to eat. Its luxuriously smooth lemon filling is made with cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk that perfectly balances with the zesty tang of the fruit, rounded out by a biscuit base that’s so simple to make you could easily use it for other recipes. Plus, you only need 20 minutes of prep time before setting it in the fridge.
What you’ll need…
Lemon cheesecake recipe
Ingredients
Method
Combine biscuit crumbs, butter and cinnamon in a bowl. Press firmly into base and sides of a foil- or plastic wrap-lined 20cm pie plate. Chill until firm.
Make filling by using an electric mixer to beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually stir in condensed milk, followed by lemon juice, lemon rind and vanilla essence until creamy. Pour into shell.
Chill overnight before serving with cream and extra lemon and lime rind.
A 250g packet of biscuits makes more crumbs than required. Use crumbs to sprinkle over ice-cream or add to crumble toppings. Biscuit crumbs can also be kept in freezer.
Test Kitchen tip
Test Kitchen tips for the perfect biscuit crumb crust
• Blend or process the biscuits in small batches until they’re evenly crushed; not too fine – they need a bit of substance. Or you can smash them in a strong plastic bag with a meat mallet or a wooden rolling pin.
• Melt the butter – most recipes use half the weight of butter to biscuit crumbs – mix it into the crumbs, then press the crumb mixture evenly over the base and side of the tin. There’s no need for greasing as the butter in the biscuit mixture is enough.
• Try to avoid making the crumb mixture too thick where the side meets the base of the tin. Use the side of a glass to press and smooth the crumbs firmly onto the side of the tin. Use the base of the glass to press the crumbs firmly over the base of the tin.
Can you freeze lemon cheesecake?
While some cheesecake recipes are suitable to freeze for up to 2 months, you may find that the texture of this lemon cheesecake is different once it has thawed depending on how long you freeze it and the moisture content of your filling, and your freezer settings. You could also store it in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days (if it’s not all eaten before that!).
Some cheesecake recipes also call for freezing the filling to set it (such as this lemon and blackberry cottage cheesecake) but this no-bake lemon cheesecake should be set in the fridge to ensure you get the best results.
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