Beyond Our Sky

No-bake Lemon Cheesecake

I’m very excited to share one of my favourite recipes, and it is actually quite a sentimental one as my mum used to make this when we were kids.

I decided to make individual cheesecakes, but you can make one large using a 20cm springform or rectangular cake tin. If you’re in Australia, I recommend using Arnotts scotch fingers for the biscuit base. You can of course graham crackers or any digestive biscuits.

For the actual cheesecake part, it involves a few simple ingredients – cream cheese, sugar, lemon, vanilla, gelatin and cream. You can even use lime or orange instead of lemon for a different flavoured cheesecake, or fold fruit such as blueberries or peaches into the mixture. It’s completely customisable.

 

You don’t have to decorate these with edible flowers, I mainly did it for the photographs. It usually tastes better the day after you make it, as the flavours to develop properly and allows the cheesecake to set properly. So I hope you enjoy the recipe!

 

No-bake Lemon Cheesecake 

Ingredients

  • 250g digestive biscuits
  • 125g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 250g cream cheese
  • 100g sugar
  • 1 small lemon (zest and juice)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract/bean paste
  • 500mL heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 tsp gelatin
  • 65 mL hot water

Method

  1. For the biscuit base, process the digestive biscuits into a fine crumb, or place biscuits in a large ziplock bag and crush using a rolling pin.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine the biscuit crumbs, melted butter and 1 tsp of sugar – it should be the consistency of wet sand.
  3. Pour the mixture into greased individual cheesecake tins (or 20cm springform or rectangular cake tin), and press evenly into the pan using the bottom of a glass . Refrigerate until ready to use.
  4. For the cheesecake batter, beat the cream cheese and 100g of sugar together until completely smooth. Then add the lemon zest and juice, and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.
  5. In a medium bowl, whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture in 2 batches.
  6. Combine the gelatin and hot water, and mix until gelatin has dissolved. Gently fold into the cheesecake batter.
  7. Pour the cheesecake batter onto refrigerated biscuit base, and spread until completely even. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
  8. Remove from the pan, then serve and enjoy!