This delicious Lemon Cheesecake is so easy to make! It has a velvety filling and wonderful sweet and sour lemon taste. A luscious dessert that everyone would love!
You can prepare this recipe all year round and enjoy the fresh taste and flavor. It is especially nice and refreshing in the summer when you are not in a mood to use the oven but your family still want to enjoy a tasty sweet treat.
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What ingredients you need
For the crust you would need graham crackers and melted butter. Alternatively and depending which country you live in, you can use vanilla wafers or plain cookies: digestive, petit beurre or shortbread cookies.
For the filling you need cream cheese (Philadelphia or similar), sour cream, powdered sugar and granulated sugar.
The flavor of the cheesecake is achieved with lemon juice and extract, but some vanilla also goes well here.
Last but not least you need some gelatin to make the consistency firmer.
The glaze is made with just lemon juice and white chocolate. It resembles lemon curd but is much easier to make!
See recipe card for quantities!
Preparation summary
You need to prepare first the crust and the filling and then let the cheesecake rest in the fridge overnight. On the next day you can serve it with the glaze.
- First make the crust and press it onto the bottom of a 7 inch/ 18 cm spring form pan.
- Then make the filling by whipping the cream cheese, sour cream, flavors and powdered sugar. Fold in the gelatine melted with the lemon juice and the granulated sugar.
- Pour the filling into the pan and let sit in the fridge for at least 8 hours.
- Before serving pour the glaze, after mixing together the melted chocolate with the lemon juice
Hint: make sure the glaze has cooled down until room temperature before pouring it on top of the cheesecake.
You will find the detailed instructions in the recipe card below!
Keto variant
It is easy to make this cheesecake keto friendly! Use erythritol or other low-carb sweetener instead of sugar and substitute the graham crackers/ cookies by ground almonds or hazelnuts.
Beware that you need to taste the filling to adjust the quantity of your sweetener. Also consider that you may need to use less butter in this case as the nuts contain more fat.
In this case it is recommended to skip the glaze, unless you can find a low-carb white chocolate.
Variations
You can potentially substitute the cream cheese with mascarpone but the cheesecake will have a slightly different taste.
You can also prepare the same cheesecake with another citrus fruit: oranges or tangerines, for example.
Equipment
I used a 7 inch/ 18 cm spring form pan for this recipe. For a larger pan, check the Cake Pan Size Conversions Calculator.
For no-bake cheesecakes acetate sheets are very useful to make the sides of the cake as even as possible. Alternatively you can use parchment paper to line both the bottom and the sides of the pan.
Storage
Store this cheesecake for 3-4 days in the fridge, covered with aluminium foil.
It is not recommended to freeze it since it contains gelatin.
Sweetness tip
The listed below sugar quantity may vary, depending on the size and the type of your lemons and also depending on your taste. Some people like their lemon desserts sweeter but others prefer them a bit sour.
If you use meyer lemons, your cheesecake might be quite sweet (you may even need to decrease the quantity). With large regular lemons it could be even too sour and you may need to increase it.
My advise is to taste the filling after adding the gelatin mixture and if it feels sour, just add 1-2 tablespoon powdered sugar,
I hope you liked this easy Lemon Cheesecake and you will make it for your family! It is a really nice no-bake citrus dessert that you would surely love!
Want more Lemon desserts? here are several to choose from:
- Lemon Cake with Chocolate Hazelnut frosting
- Easy Lemon Brownies with Glaze
- No-Churn Lemon Cheesecake Ice Cream
- Soft Lemon White Chocolate Cookies
- Lemon Tart with Orange Zest and Blackberries
📝 Recipe
No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 ½ cups/ 150 g graham cracker crumbs
- ⅓ cup / 75 g butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the filling:
- 21 oz/ 600 g cream cheese
- 1 ¼ cups/ 300 g sour cream
- 1 ½ lemons, just the juice
- 3 tsp/ 10 g unflavoured gelatin, about 1 envelope + 1 teaspoon
- 1 cup/ 120 g powdered sugar
- ½ cup/ 100 g granulated sugar, see notes
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon lemon extract , or zest of 1 lemon
For the glaze:
- 3,5 oz/ 100 g white chocolate, melted
- juice of ½ lemon
Instructions
Crust:
- Line a 7 inch/ 18 cm spring form pan with a circle of parchment paper. Line the sides with an acetate sheet (for food uses) or with more parchment paper.
- Crush your cookies/ graham crackers in a food processor (skip this step if using store-bought crumbs).
- In a bowl combine all ingredients for the crust. Mix very well.
- Press the mixture at the bottom and the sides of the prepared pan.
Filling:
- Mix the gelatine with the lemon juice in a small bowl. Stir and set aside to bloom.
- In a large mixing bowl combine cream cheese, sour cream, powdered sugar, vanilla and lemon extract.
- Beat with an electric mixer first at a low speed and then at high speed until creamy and fluffy.
- Transfer the gelatine mixture to a heatproof bowl. Add the granulated sugar. Place the bowl on top of a small saucepan with gently simmering water (double boiler). Mix until the gelatin and the sugar are both dissolved.
- Remove the bowl from the heat and set aside for 10-15 minutes to cool. Mix from time to time to avoid the gelatine thickening.
- Gradually fold the gelatin mixture into the filling, using a rubber spatula, until uniform.
- Pour the filling into the crust in the pan. Smooth out the top with the spatula.
- Cover the pan with aluminium foil and let stay in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Glaze:
- Combine the lemon juice with the melted white chocolate and mix until smooth. If the lemon is too large and juicy, don't use the whole quantity.
- Mix for a few minutes with a spatula so the chocolate mixture cools down to room temperature.
- Pour the glaze on top of the cheesecake.
Notes
- Store the cheesecake about 3-4 days in the fridge, covered with aluminium foil or plastic wrap.
- Sugar: you may need less or more of it, depending on the type and size of your lemons and how sweet you want your cheesecake. The indicated quantity might not be enough if you use large regular lemons. But it can be just right or even too much if you use meyer lemons. My advice is to taste the filling after adding the gelatin mixture and if you find it not sweet enough, add some more powdered sugar.
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