I love cheesecake and even the hubby, who doesn’t eat cheese, loves cheescake! I’ve never been brave enough to try making a baked cheesecake so I stick to chilled cheesecakes. This one is pretty classic and I love the jelly layer on top. You can leave it off if you can’t find lemon jelly, though I also think it would be nice with passionfruit jelly.
I used an adjustable cake ring for my cheesecake, though it would also work in a regular springform tin. Take a look at my recipe for a White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake for more details on the cake ring.
Lemon Cheesecake
makes one 9 inch cheesecake
1 (200g) packet plain sweet biscuits
120g (4 oz) butter, melted
2 packs cream cheese, softened (500g/16 oz total)
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice (juice of 1 medium lemon)
grated zest of 3 lemons (about 2 tbsp total)
3 teaspoons powdered gelatine
2/3 cup Greek yoghurt
2/3 cup cream, lightly whipped
1 packet lemon jelly (jello)
Line base of a 9 inch round springform pan with baking paper. As mentioned above, I used the adjustable ring, so I didn’t line or grease it. I just sat it on a flat plate.
Put the lemon juice into a small saucepan and sprinkle gelatine over the top.
Blitz biscuits in a food processor into crumbs (or smash up inside a ziplock bag). Melt the butter and mix into crumbs. Pour the crumb mix into the bottom of the tin and flatten with a spatula or your hand. Put into the fridge to chill and firm up.
Heat lemon juice and gelatine over low heat, stirring with a fork until dissolved. Set aside to cool (gelatine and cream cheese mixtures must be at the same temperature before combining). Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and lemon rind until smooth.
With the mixer on low, beat gelatine into cream cheese mixture. Mix in the yoghurt, then lightly fold in cream, mixing until combined. Spoon filling over base. Smooth surface. I like to gently wobble the plate to flatten out the mixture. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight until set.
Make up the lemon jelly according to the packet instructions. I like it to set slightly firmer than regular jelly, so I leave out about 10% of the water. Allow jelly to cool to room temperature, then carefully pour onto the top of the cheesecake. You want the jelly layer about 1cm (3/8″) high. Return to the fridge and leave for at least 4 hours to allow jelly to set. Mine did spring a tiny leak but I only lost a teaspoon or two of jelly.
To remove the cheesecake from the tin (or ring) I like to run a kitchen blowtorch quickly around the outside. It melts the mix just enough to let the ring easily come away.
christina says
that looks amazing! i love lemon anything!!!
abby says
thanks Christina!
Margi says
Hi. Can this awesome looking cheesecake be frozen and if so does how long ? Thank you
Margi
abby says
Hi Margi,
I don’t think it would freeze well because of the gelatine. If you do give it a go, please let me know how it turns out.
Thanks,
Abby
Mel says
Yum that looks awesome, no bake is perfect for Summer. don’t be scared of baked cheesecake though, they’re not really hard. Worse case you’ll get some cracking but we call that rustic 😉
abby says
nothing a little icing sugar can’t hide I suppose 😉
Jane says
oh this looks sooo good!
abby says
thanks Jane!
Mirjam says
Yum this looks great 🙂 I almost can taste it. I think I’ll give this one a try…
abby says
thanks Mirjam!
Ashlea @ Glamour Coastal Living says
Looks delicious!I love cheesecake, one of my favourite deserts! 🙂
Jolien says
I actually baked cheesecake once, it was lovely, but nothing like this. Just made it (my son’s birthday is tomorrow) and it’s just the bit of summer I needed. Thanks so much for the recipe, it is less “cheesecakey”, but more like the “kwarktaart” I grew up with. Not too sweet, just right. Not sure yet if I’m going to try to find something to replace the jello or just leave it like this…
Also thanks for adding grams! I have to admit I just cleaned the bowls, without washing up… But eeh, that’s allowed, right? 😉
abby says
so glad you enjoyed it! Haha! My husband is an expert at cleaning bowls without washing up!
Polly says
Hi, where it says, “mix into the cream cheese mix” what is the cream cheese mix as i cant seem to find that step?
Please reply ASAP as I am currently making this recipe and have only just noticed this.
Thanks! 🙂
Polly says
Whoops! Sorry! Found it!
hahaha sorry!
Lachie says
Hi, I’m making this for my mum; would it still turn out well if I add a little berry compote
Anonymous says
inside the cake
Abby Rudakov says
yes I think you could swirl some compote through the cheese mixture