You’ll Love The Results When You Make This Easy Lemon Cheesecake
Don’t be intimidated by cheesecake! You can wow your friends and family by following my below tips to a make this easy lemon cheesecake recipe that turns out great every time. The wonderful lemon taste is light and so refreshing this time of year!
True confession – I am intimidated by cheesecake. I consider myself a halfway decent cook/baker/recipe follower, but I have tried, repeat tried, to make different flavored cheesecakes over and over again only to wind up with an ugly, mushy mess. Very frustrating. 🙁
But wait! Don’t let my cheesecake fail tales scare you off! These tips are sure to help you out:
- You’ll get a better result using full-fat ingredients – cream cheese and sour cream.
- Bring ingredients to room temperature before mixing, then mix at low speed.
- Having problems with your cheesecake developing cracks? There are two reasons to consider – overcooking or too fast cooling. Cook your cheesecake until the outer ring is slightly puffed, but the inner part has a slight jiggle to it, kind of like jello that is barely set. When cooling, allow it to sit in the turned-off oven for about an hour with the door slightly open. Then remove it from the oven and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Use lighter vs darker pans to help prevent cracking.
- If ugly cracks develop anyway, spread a layer of fruit over the top of the cake prior to cutting.
- For a nice, firm cheesecake it must chill for at least four hours prior to serving. Overnight is better.
Following the above tips, I’ve had great success with my cheesecakes turning out beautifully.
Easy And Delicious Lemon Cheesecake Recipe
A creamy and delicious lemon cheesecake recipe that's a real crowd pleaser!
Ingredients
CRUST
- 18 gingersnap cookies
- 3 Tblsp real butter melted
CAKE
- 4, 8 oz full fat cream cheese blocks, at room temperature
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 Tblsp cornstarch
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 Tblsp grated lemon zest
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice at room temperature
TOPPING
- 16 oz. sour cream
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- liquid yellow food color optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325° F.
CRUST
- Break cookies into a food processor.
- Add melted butter; pulse until fine crumbs form.
- Press crumbs over bottom of pan, and up the sides, if desired.
CAKE
- Beat cream cheese, sugar and cornstarch in a large bowl on low speed until smooth.
- Continuing on low speed, beat in eggs 1 at a time, just until blended.
- Beat in lemon juice and zest.
- Pour over crust.
- Place on cookie sheet, bake 1¼ hours, or until puffy around the edges and the center slightly jiggles when shaken.
- Cool 5 minutes, or until filling sinks slightly.
TOPPING
- Stir sugar and sour cream together in a small bowl until sugar dissolves.
- If desired, tint to a pale yellow with yellow food coloring.
- Pour over cake filling, spread to edges.
- Bake 5 minutes to set.
Notes
Allow the cheesecake to SLOWLY cool in the turned-off oven, with the door slightly open for 1 hour, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Carefully, run a thin knife around the edge of the pan to release the cake, but leave the pan sides on.
Cover loosely, refrigerate at least 4 hours.
Up to 4 hours prior to serving, remove pan sides and place the cake on a serving plate.
If desired, garnish with mint leaves, whipped cream or lemon slices.
Carefully, run a thin knife around the edge of the pan to release the cake, but leave the pan sides on.
Cover loosely, refrigerate at least 4 hours.
Up to 4 hours prior to serving, remove pan sides and place the cake on a serving plate.
If desired, garnish with mint leaves, whipped cream or lemon slices.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a Nutritionist. I rely on information from third parties to provide all nutritional information, which can vary depending upon brands of products used.
Tried this recipe?Mention @worthingcourtblog or tag #worthingcourtblog!
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I am going to make this soon. The gingersnap crust is something new to me, sounds yummy. Thanks for sharing!! Enjoy your day.
This sounds delicious.
I love anything lemon and this sounds yummy!!!
MMmmmm, lemon cheesecake! I may have to be brave and try your recipe.
I will definitely try this!! Looks delicious!
Love, love, love lemon desserts. I plan to make this for Mother’s Day dinner tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe and great tips.
Gotta try this one out on hubby. He loves the stuff!
Gingersnap crust! Wow! I never thought of that! I’m gonna use this the next time with our family recipe. Heck! I’m gonna try your WHOLE recipe next time! Thanks, Suzy!
Sounds amazing!
This sounds delicious and so refreshing this time of year.
Thanks for the tips! I have not been successful with my cheesecake attempts, so hopefully your advice will help!
What a refreshing dessert for the summer months. Looks like the perfect recipe for a luncheon I’m planning for my girlfriends.
This looks so amazing. I love lemons and in dessert it’s refreshing.
I never used to be a fan of lemon but I LOVE it in my sweet treats! Thank you for joining The Creative K Kids’ Tasty Tuesday linky party – I can’t wait to see what you share next week!
Great tips. Cheesecakes can be hard to make. I’ve had a few failures over the years. Yours looks delicious. Thanks for sharing at Snickerdoodle. Pinning.
I am intimidated by no-bake cheesecakes. Sometimes, not at all. Your cheesecake looks so pretty and I know for sure that this tastes fabulous! Thank you for bringing this and for the useful tips you shared at this week’s Fiesta Friday party. I’ll keep everything in mind.
So yummy! I’d love to have this on my cheating day. Thanks for the useful tips. Visiting from #SITS
This is such a pretty and perfect looking cheesecake! Lemon is perfect for summer! Thanks for bringing it here for FF and sharing with us all the very useful tips! I am saving the recipe!
Suzy your recipe sounds delicious I want to try it because it looks so easy and I love all the desserts with lemon but I have one question for you. Because I live in a small village in Greece it’s not easy for me to find all the ingredients that some recipes call for .So because I wont be ale to find sour cream what can I substitute it with? Thank you and have a wonderful day.
Hi Barbara. Please forgive my delay in responding to you! We were out of town and then my computer had to go into the shop for repair for several days after we returned. I googled “substitute for sour cream in cheesecake” and got several ideas. I’m afraid to suggest a specific one since I haven’t tried it before, but it sounded like there were several alternatives. Hopefully, if you google the same phrase, you’ll be able to find one that will work for you. By the way – I’m totally envious of where you live!!!
Congratulations!
Your recipe was featured on Full Plate Thursday Top Ten. Your recipe has been pinned to our Feature’s and thanks so much for sharing with us!
Miz Helen