Lemon Cheesecake Recipe

I think I accidently solved the Cheesecake Factory's flawless cheesecake mystery

Cheesecake topped with berriesPhoto by Erol Ahmed on Unsplash

For years, I made subpar cheesecakes — that always cracked. They had good flavor, but they weren’t pretty and a little dry.

A cracked cheesecakeGroup Recipes

I’ve tried countless recipes chasing The Cheesecake Factory’s elusive super silky, incredibly creamy texture and tang and failed every time. Oh but this time, I got it right and it was a happy accident.

This weekend, I made one of the most dreamy, and delicious Lemon Cheesecakes and I barely tried. This was my first time making it, but it was so amazing I had to write about it.

I didn’t use a recipe. I just threw the following ingredients in my Hamilton Beach toaster oven and it came out delicious and made one phenomenal pie.

On a wierd note, cheesecake is actually a pie — but I digress. Here’s the rest of the story and the experimental recipe.

Dreamy Creamy Lemon Cheesecake

Ingredients

1–8 oz container of mascarpone cheese
1–3/4 oz packet of Philadelphia cream cheese
1 — beaten egg
1 — tablespoon all-natural sugar
1 — pinch of salt
½ — jar of Trader Joes lemon curd
1 — teaspoon of cornstarch
1 — Premade graham cracker crust
Zest of 1 lemon (optional)

Everything was room temperature unless specified

A pot of boiling water

Directions

Note: These are suggestions considering this was a happy accident)

I preheated my toaster oven to 325 Fahrenheit

I’ve tried all kinds of methods in the past, like seperating and beating the eggs and whipping the room temperature cream cheese with sugar.

However, this time I simply put everything in a food processor — and blended it until smooth. Next, I poured the mixture in a covered container and chilled and let the flavors meld in the fridge overnight.

The next day, I whipped the chilled mixture in a glass bowl using a handheld mixer (with two pre-chilled beaters) until it got a little fluffy.

Finally, I poured the creamy, whipped concoction in the pre-made graham cracker crust and gently placed the pie in a deeper aluminum pan.

I put the pan in the oven, leaving room to add the boiling water to the halfway mark of the pie tin. This is called the bain-marie method. Here’s a quick video from Good Housekeeping UK:

Because I used a toaster oven, my time and temperature isn’t the most reliable, but I kept it at 325 Fahrenheit for 30 minutes and then I added an additional 15 minutes.

Warning — my top browned a little so you may only want to cook it for an additional 10 minutes, but the texture and taste were perfect.

I turned off the heat and I let it cool in the oven for an hour and the put it in the fridge to set 3–4 hours.

Top with blueberries (optional)

It should have chilled overnight, but I couldn’t wait.

In my excitement, I cut and ate a slice of my first experiment before I topped it with blueberries and took a picture — IT WAS DELICIOUS AND LIGHT… The lemon flavor was spot on, and it far exceeded my expectations!

Cheesecake topped with blueberriesPhoto by Waranya Mooldee

Lessons Learned

I think the key to a creamy, delicious crack-free cheesecake with a super silky texture is a combination of things - starting with a lower temperature.

1- Using mascarpone cheese and using room temperature ingredients

2 - Letting the mixture chill and the flavors meld overnight and then whipping it — helped develop flavor from the lemon curd.

3- I only used one egg and one tablespoon of sugar because the lemon curd has eggs and it’s super sweet and is highly concentrated, lucious, lemony goodness.

4 - Low and slow is best - cooking the pie at a lower temperature allows the filling to gently cook and set

I’m going to make it again and see if this is indeed a good recipe or a lucky fluke. Or maybe you can try it, too and tell me what you think.

Thank you for reading.

For a dairy-free dessert options

How to Make Vegan Chocolate Pudding | Teressa P. | NewsBreak Original

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For other semi-homemade dessert shortcuts

5 No-Bake Strawberry Shortcake Shortcuts and Recipes