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Simple (But Tasty!) No Bake Lemon Cheesecake

Cheesecake is a firm favourite on many menus, but there are a variety of ways to make it. Recently we experimented with making a no bake lemon cheesecake. Yes, that’s right – a cheesecake that requires absolutely no cooking!

serving of no bake lemon cheesecake on a plate with strawberries

How To Make A No Bake Cheesecake

There aren’t a huge amount of ingredients in a no bake lemon cheesecake, especially as I used digestive biscuits as the base – this meant that there was no need to add any extra sugar to sweeten it up.

Making The Base

steps to making the base of a cheesecake

The  cheesecake base is super simple to make – you only need digestive biscuits and butter combined together. Once you have crushed the biscuits stir in the melted butter.

Making The Topping

steps to making cheesecake topping

The topping is slightly more time consuming to make, but with the use of an electric mixer, is still relatively quick. I highly recommend the use of an electric mixer, as otherwise you will be mixing for ages, and potentially end up with a sore arm.

Leaving It To Set

You may have finished making the no bake cheesecake but you’ll need to practise a little more patience and leave it to set in the fridge for at least 4 hours, but preferably over night if you have the time/willpower to achieve the best results.

eating no bake lemon cheesecake with strawberries

serving of no bake lemon cheesecake

No Bake Lemon Cheesecake

Yield: 6-8
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Additional Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 25 minutes

This no bake lemon cheesecake is an indulgent yet simple dessert to make. The hardest part is only having 1 slice 🙂

Ingredients

  • 18 digestive biscuits
  • 150g butter, melted
  • 500g cream cheese/mascarpone
  • 150ml double cream
  • 150g icing sugar
  • zest and juice of 2 small lemons
  • 2 tbsp lemon curd, heated in saucepan

Instructions

  1. Crush the biscuits into a fine a powder as you can. You can do this by putting them in a bowl, and striking them with the end of a rolling pin, or by putting them in a food bag, and repeatedly hitting them.
  2. Combine with the melted butter, flatten into a greased cake tin with a spoon, and put in the fridge to harden.
  3. Put the cream cheese or mascarpone into a bowl, and mix briefly with a handheld mixer. Add the double cream, and mix again until combined.
  4. Add the icing sugar and lemon zest, and mix again.
  5. Finally, add the lemon juice and, you guessed it, mix again. Mixing in between each addition ensures that all ingredients are thoroughly combined for a smooth, consistent cheesecake.
  6. Pour the cheese mixture onto the chilled base, and flatten with a spatula or knife.
  7. Melt some lemon curd in a saucepan, until it has thinned. Pour globs of it onto the top of the cheesecake, and create a swirly pattern with a skewer or kebab stick.
  8. Chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or, preferably, overnight.

Notes

Using a springform or removeable base tin is recommended to ease serving, and to maintain the cake's shape, but some excess liquid may drain out the bottom, so place the tin on a plate when chilling in the fridge.

Be careful if using the food bag method to crush the biscuits - after the Great Biscuit Incident of 2018, all I can say is make sure your bag is strong, and that there's no air trapped inside, or else it will pop.

Did you make this recipe?

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Sadia Iqbal

Sunday 16th of June 2019

Oh absolutely delicious!! I used ginger biscuits too for the base and was so yum, thank u so much for this epic easy, amazing recipe.

Liana Green

Sunday 16th of June 2019

Thanks for your comment Sadia - I'm so happy to hear how much you enjoyed the lemon cheesecake recipe! I love ginger biscuits too :)

Sandra

Saturday 9th of March 2019

I made this but with ginger biscuits for the base and it disappeared in no time. Great recipe! Thanks!

Sandra Rumsey

Monday 20th of November 2023

@Sandra,so did I. About to start making another one. Very yummy. Lemon and ginger go so well together and my favourite biscuit to be honest.

Liana Green

Sunday 10th of March 2019

Thanks for your comment Sandra. I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe and I must ginger biscuits sounds delicious for the base!

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