No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake – Back to Basics
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A delicious, sweet and easy no-bake lemon cheesecake! Part of my back-to-basics series!
Back to basics
So heyyy there, I’m back with another Back to Basics recipe. That’s right, I thought I would post another delicious recipe, but explain it down to the ground so that anyone and everyone can enjoy it and make it.
This is my fifth recipe in my back to basics series, and I am loving them all so far! Everything else has either been vanilla themed, or chocolate themed, so I thought I would delve down the lemon route.
My no-bake vanilla cheesecake was a wonderful hit in the back to basics series, so I know you will all love this fresh and fruity no-bake lemon cheesecake as well!
Lemon cheesecake
The basic premise of this no-bake lemon cheesecake is extremely similar to the vanilla version. The only real difference is swapping out the vanilla for the lemon! The reason that I thought posting a new recipe for such a similar recipe, is partly because people google for a certain recipe, and this version will come up, as well as the other one. Also, because who doesn’t love a new recipe?!
Either way, lemon cheesecake is a cult classic that so many people adore, so many pubs and restaurants serve it as a dessert, it’s a classic flavour and it is just generally brilliant. I adore it so much, and this recipe is so unbelievably easy.
The biscuit base
For this beauty, I thought I would use shortbread biscuits in the base of the cheesecake. This is to show that you can use pretty much any and all biscuits for a cheesecake base! I mainly use digestives as they’re so classic, but shortbread is delightful, and for me are more synonymous with lemon cheesecake.
Blitzing up shortbread for a biscuit base, add a little melted butter, and pressing into the bottom of an 8″/20cm deep springform tin and squishing it down firmly results in a delicious biscuity base, it really is that easy.
If you wanted to use another biscuit that is basic, and not covered in chocolate and has no filling, the butter is always 150g. If you are using a biscuit with a filling (such as an Oreo) or a chocolate digestive, lower the butter to 100g. The reason you have to change the amount of butter is that the butter can make the filling/chocolate melt, and too much butter for those biscuits would be a greasy mess.
Cheesecake filling
For this recipe, and any cheesecake for that matter, you MUST use a full-fat soft cream cheese, never a light or low fat version, as they just do not set in the same way and you may get a sloppy mess which nobody wants. I prefer classic cream cheese for this particular recipe, as the tartness of the cream cheese mixes really well with the lemon juice, but if you prefer it sweeter, you can use mascarpone.
One key point about mascarpone, however, it is more likely to split in comparison to cream cheese as it needs less whipping in general! If you are in other countries, you just need to use your fattiest cream cheese you can find, along with the double cream. Often, double cream is called heavy cream in other countries, but you want the fattiest liquid cream.
I add icing sugar for a hint of sweetness as I find it better than caster sugar which can be a little grainy. If you want your cheesecake to be a bit more ‘yellow’ to represent the flavour of the cheesecake, you add the food colouring in at the same time as the lemon juice.
Method
So, once you whisk your cream cheese and icing sugar together so that they are smooth, you can pour in your liquid double cream. I much prefer to do it this way, but you can whip the cream separately and fold it in. If you have a lower fat content cream, you may want to whip the cream separately to stiff peaks and fold through the rest of the recipe, but generally I find whipping the mixture all in one super easy.
Once I have started whisking in the liquid double cream, and it has started to thicken, I will slowly pour in the lemon juice as it whisks. The lemon juice, as long as it’s not added too quickly, will thicken the mixture quite a bit. Once all finished and delicious, spread it over the base, and leave the cheesecake to set in the fridge for AT LEAST 5-6, or preferably overnight.
Leave the cheesecake the longer, the better. Some times, I have accidentally forgotten or neglected to decorate a cheesecake for a couple of days, and taken it out of the tin and it’s set PERFECTLY. If you find after setting overnight, your cheesecake is still very soft, it wasn’t whisked up enough.
Decorate
Once the cheesecake has set you can remove it from the tin and decorate however you fancy. Of course, you can just leave the cheesecake plain if you aren’t fussed, but I adore to decorate a cheesecake in simple ways; they make such a good dessert showstopper.
I decorate my cheesecake as per usual, with some whipped cream swirls, and the theme of the cheesecake. This time? Lemon slices, and lemon zest. All done, and delicious. You can add in anything you want such as chocolate drizzle, but I really was just sticking to the lemon theme personally for this one.
Tips and Tricks
- I use this cake tin
- This cheesecake will last 3+ days in the fridge
- This cheesecake can freeze for 3+ months
- I use these piping bags
- I use this piping tip for the decoration
- Make sure to use full-fat ingredients
No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake!
Ingredients
Biscuit Base!
- 300 g shortbread biscuits
- 100 g unsalted butter
Cheesecake Mix!
- 600 g full-fat cream cheese
- 100 g icing sugar
- 300 ml double cream
- 75 ml lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
Decoration!
- 150 ml double cream
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- Lemon slices
- Lemon zest
Instructions
For the Biscuit Base!
- Blitz your shortbread biscuits to a fine crumb. Melt your unsalted butter carefully, and then add into your biscuits.
- Blitz the biscuits again to combine, and add to the bottom of your 8"/20cm deep springform tin.
For the Cheesecake Mix!
- Add your cream cheese to a stand mixer bowl, or a large bowl. Add in your icing sugar, and whisk until smooth using the whisk attachment on the stand mixer, or using the whisks on your electric hand whisk.
- Pour in your double cream, and whisk. As the mixture is starting to thicken, add in your lemon juice (and yellow food colouring if using), and whisk again.
- Continue to whisk until very thick. Be careful to check the mixture frequently to see how thick it is, and fold through with a spatula to make it all even.
- Once whisked, spread over the biscuit base, and then leave to set in the fridge fully for at least 5-6 hours, or preferably over night for longer.
For the Decoration!
- Whisk together your double cream and icing sugar until pipeable. Pipe onto your cheesecake with your favourite tip.
- Add a bit of lemon per slice, and sprinkle over some lemon zest.
Notes
- I use this cake tin
- This cheesecake will last 3+ days in the fridge
- This cheesecake can freeze for 3+ months
- I use these piping bags
- I use this piping tip for the decoration
- Make sure to use full-fat ingredients
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J x
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I can’t get this to set at all 🙁 not sure what I’ve done wrong I followed the recipe to a tee ! Made the biscoff one and it set perfectly – any tips ?
Any recipe can fail for any number of reasons. If you used the correct ingredients (not low-fat, not single cream), then its probably down to under mixing or over mixing. I suggest watching some of my youtube videos to see where you may have gone wrong!
Yep exact ingredients and made many of your others that have worked perfectly – seemed thick in bowl but hasn’t set properly when I take off the springform tin 🙁 will keep trying thanks.! 🙂
If it’s still smooth and basically there, but a bit soft, that means underwhipped!
I changed the shop brand cream cheese for Philadelphia and whisked more and it’s turned out perfect! Yay 🙂 thank you !
Ahh yay! I do often prefer using Philadelphia over most as I find it’s a lot thicker and contains a lot less water so makes the better cheesecake! x
You can add a tablespoon of gelatin in the lemon before mixing it it. Let the gelatin sit in the juice for around 5 min n then warm it a bit inorder for the gelatin to dissolve when u r ready to mix in the lemon juice… I did the same after reading the comments and it settled pretty well
I made the cream cheese at home so i couldn’t risk it setting or not. So use gelatin safe side
I love this recipe and I am about to make it again but I only have 200 ml of cream. Will it make a big difference?
It will make it a bit more dense and less light, but it should still work well!
Hi Jane, I was just wondering whether the cheesecake would work the same if I was to use lemon juice from concentrate instead of the juice from fresh lemons
Yes you definitely can! I use bottled lemon juice all the time! x
I love lemon cheesecake.
Do I put it in the fridge then decorate the top.
I create the cheesecake, let it set, remove it from the tin and then decorate personally!
Hi, I’m a Brit living in America. I’ve never managed to find double cream here, any suggestions for how I can still make this? I had to shelf the milky bar cheesecake just now cause they don’t have milky bars ☹️. Chocolate is terrible here
Ooh yes, I’ve heard the chocolate situation isn’t the best! I think the best American alternative is heavy cream – it’s got about 10% less fat to it, but it should still be fine to use! x
Hi Jane, would it be possible to add white chocolate to this recipe ? Also would you change the amount of lemon if adding white chocolate ? Thank you x
Yes so basically I would add melted chocolate (such as in my Milkybar cheesecake) to the cream cheese mix personally!
Lynsey I was born in UK but live in States, you can get milky bars and Cadbury at some grocery stores in the international aisle or WORLD IMPORTS sell a ton of Brit food/ sweets. Milky bars are also called “3 Musketeers” bars here.
Sounds lovely. Bring on lockdown we have all ingredients to make but only bottled lemon juice…. Would it work as well as fresh lemons? 🤔 Thanks😋
Oh yes definitely! I use bottled lemon juice allllll the time!
Is it possible to make this without the double cream in the cheesecake?
Thanks!
No – you need cream to make a no-bake cheesecake.
Hi Jane
I love your recipes. I’m struggling to get hold of icing sugar in any of my local shops. Can I ask if there is an alternative I could use?
Thank you
If you using anything else it may be slightly grainy!
Hi Nichola, I had the same issue, no icing sugar available anywhere! I made this yesterday and used castor sugar instead as I had some left from a baking project last year, and it still worked really well, it didn’t seem to impact the texture.
Could you please covet the measurements into cups and ounces . I had a heck of time trying to figure it out
Love this recipe it’s so easy and absolutely delicious
Thank you 🙂
Now One of our favourites ! I’m wanting to add white chocolate to this recipe but not sure when too – before the lemon juice is added or could it curdle? I added a tiny bit to some left over mixture a few days ago and it was divine!
I would add the lemon in and whisk it fully, and then fold through the white chocolate! It shouldn’t curdle!
hi, what is double cream?
It is our fattiest liquid cream – about 47% fat. I believe your closest is heavy cream, but thats only about 35% from what I’ve read so you need to whip it up really well!
Could I add sherbet to the lemon cheesecake or would it affect it setting?
In all honesty, I haven’t got a clue! I imagine it could dissolve and not necessarily have the correct effect?!
Could I use Lemmon curd in this instead of lemon juice?
I would stick to the lemon juice as it helps it set – but you can swirl some in the top, or decorate with it!
I used lemon curd making this yesterday. I was delicious and set perfectly. I used about 1 tbsp
I’m looking to make a gold themed cheesecake as a gift and I was wondering could I add green food coloring to the cheesecake mix to give it a green color would that effect the taste?
As long as you use a good quality colouring (Such as sugar flair, pro gel, etc) where you need very little colouring, it won’t effect the taste. If you use cheap and nasty ones from the supermarket, they can cause problems.
I meant a golf themed caked😅 perfect thank you!
Hello!
A friend of mine has hinted that he would like a lime cheesecake. This is my usual go-to website for everything and this recipe is the closest I could find, do you think swapping everything lemon in this recipe for lime will work?
Thanks in advance x
Yes it would!
When making the base using the stated amounts I found when I added the melted butter, the mix was so wet, I ended up having to add more shortbread and even some digestives before I could out it in the tin. How did others find using 150g of butter? I thought it sounded a lot but assumed it would work but I think half the amount would have worked
As with all of my biscuit bases, I use those quantities. It can depend on the shortbread you use I guess, but standard shop bought worked well for me!
I’ve just begun the recipe and used 300g of Tesco All Butter Shortbread Fingers and mine too is just slop in the mixer, I’ll definitely try a different branding Shortbread next time or much less butter. Unsure how much more biscuit to add.
Yes sometimes depending on the brand of biscuits the amount of butter required can differ – if you use the same biscuits, use 100g next time, or add in 100g more biscuits if its too sloppy!
Hi jane, im very impressed you mentioned u prefer whisking everything together after pouring the double cream mixture to the cheese. I would like to know whats the difference between your preferred way and whisking the double cream first separately. Many thxx.
Toby
I find my way sets much better – always have and it’s never failed me!