Ultra-creamy lemon cheesecake, filled with pockets of lemon curd and topped with a billowy-soft swiss meringue. This is the ultimate decadent dessert for lemon lovers!
My oh my, the lemon addiction rolls on! This recipe was inspired by a Lemon Meringue Cheesecake I had back in Paris. When I booked my flights to France, I never thought I’d find the most amazing slice of cheesecake. Macarons and croissants, yes. Cheesecake? Not so much. But when we came across the cutest little shop, Berko, and then went inside and saw cases filled with cheesecake, we obviously had to try them. I ordered the Lemon Meringue Cheesecake because LEMON and I just about died because of how good it was. Actually, all of the cheesecakes were amazing, but the consensus was the Lemon Cheesecake was the favorite.
So, I’m no Berko, but I can make a mean cheesecake that tastes ultra lemony, extra creamy and super decadent. It’s a gift, what can I say? Whether you’re a passive cheesecake lover or at the addictive level, this is the kind of dessert that always gets finished, that always has people raving and that doesn’t get easily forgotten.
In a nutshell, this cheesecake has three parts: the crust, the filling and the topping.
The crust is a simple graham cracker crust, made with crushed graham crackers, melted butter and sugar. Press that into a springform pan and bake before throwing in your filling.
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The filling is cream cheese, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, lemon extract, vanilla extract and lemon curd. The lemon curd gets dolloped into the bottom of the pan before the cheesecake filling gets poured over the top! Bake and leave to cool in the oven.
The topping is simply just a swiss meringue (made in a double boiler) that has been toasted.
It is a bit of a long recipe, but the directions couldn’t be simpler. I promise it’s easier done than said! My biggest tips would include using cream cheese that is absolutely at room temperature and leaving the cooked cheesecake in the oven for a good 6 hours (or overnight!) after baking to cool and avoid cracking, though a crack in a cheesecake never stopped me from eating it. That’s basically it!
Here are a few photos of the process to use as a guideline, but generally speaking if you have a moderate amount of kitchen experience, this recipe should be relatively stress free! Just plan ahead because its not a one and done.
Have a great day, friends!
Lemon Meringue Cheesecake
Ultra-creamy lemon cheesecake, filled with pockets of lemon curd and topped with a billowy-soft swiss meringue. This is the ultimate decadent dessert for lemon lovers!
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons melted butter
For the filling:
- 4-8 oz. packages cream cheese completely at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/4 cup very loosely packed lemon zest
- 2/3 cup cold lemon curd
For the Swiss Meringue topping:
- 3 egg whites
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, stir graham cracker crumbs with sugar and melted butter until combined and moist. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 minutes and set aside to cool.
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Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
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In a large bowl, stir cream cheese and sugar together until smooth and combined. Stir in vanilla and lemon extracts. Add in one egg at a time and stir in completely before adding in the next egg. Scrape edges and stir in lemon zest.
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Add lemon curd into the cooked crust by dolloping it around the edges and into the center. (Using cold lemon curd with allow it to hold it's shape while baking.
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Pour prepared batter overtop of the lemon curd and smooth the top. Bake 1 hour, then turn oven off completely, leaving cheesecake inside oven to cool completely, about 6 hours.
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Refrigerate cheesecake until completely chilled.
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For the topping, using a hand mixer, whisk egg whites, granulated sugar and cream of tartar together in the top of a double boiler OR in a large, heat-safe bowl overtop of simmering water. Whisk 5-7 minutes or until topping is very thick, glossy and billowy. Fold in vanilla.
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Spread over top of cheesecake and broil on low until topping has browned. OR use a kitchen torch to brown. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Sandy Manning says
Questions: Just dollops of the curd over the crust not spread out evenly? Also, any reason swiss meringue and not meringue just mixed cold in a mixer until firm? This looks so delicious!
Rona says
Oh My. That’s looks sooo good. Lemon is my weakness.
Sheenam says
Hi Lauren. Excellent recipe. The cheesecake looks amazing. If i have understood correctly, you haven’t used the water bath process here?
Rebecca P says
Lemon is my jam. Can’t wait to try it!
Debbie Lahrson says
This looks so delicious, I love Lemon Meringue Pie so I will have to try this!
Patty says
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it!
Rhaelyn Haist says
I adore lemon meringue pie and cheesecake so to put them together looks amazing!!! I’ve had my eye on this recipe since you posted it and now that the temperature is finally cooling a little I’m definitely going to give it a shot! Looks sooo delicious!
miwa says
hi
this looks sooo good.. lemon cheesecake is the best!
Lacey Lyle says
This looks amazing! And lemon is my favorite but I don’t think I’ve ever made meringue. Will have to try soon.
June H says
This looks wonderful! Congratulations for reaching 1,000,000!!
Carlota says
Need this in my life!
Danielle says
This sounds so yummy! I love cheesecake but have never tried lemon meringue cheesecake!