A Buttery Biscuit Base, Smooth Lemon Cheesecake Filling, and an Italian Meringue make this No-Bake Lemon Meringue Cheesecake the perfect Dessert & Showstopper!
I honestly don’t know what has taken me so long to produce this recipe. I like just can’t understand it! I have had a few requests for another few lemon related recipes, and a few of my regular readers have asked for this in particular.. so I simply HAD to do it!
I took some inspiration for the recipe from some of my other posts such as my No-Bake Lemon Cheesecakes and my Lemon Meringue Pie. I sort of made it up as I went along and assumed that a No-Bake Cheesecake would work and it did!
I used real lemon in this cheesecake recipe as I didn’t want to do the same thing as my other recipes, and I loved it. I’ve always been a bit wary of using citrus in something that is dairy related, but if you are careful about it and don’t use too much it works extremely well.
However, as I went along the No-Bake root for the cheesecake, I decided to use an Italian Meringue for the topping, so that the meringue is basically cooked. I wanted to make sure the meringue was cooked so that I could get away with the non-baked cheesecake as I prefer them, but you can do a normal meringue if you prefer or find it easier! (Notes for this below in the Tips section!)
Some people are slightly scared of making a basic meringue to top something, as a basic meringue that isn’t baked does contain raw egg. I recommend that the elderly, pregnant, or children don’t necessarily eat a meringue that contains raw egg if you are nervous, but any egg with the British Lion symbol is technically safe from salmonella.
However, making an Italian Meringue is a lot less scary then you think! If you don’t have a stand mixer, but have an electric hand whisk, I recommend that two people do the Italian meringue so that one person can pour the hot syrup into the bowl, whilst the other holds the bowl and whisks!
Once it’s made, give it some texture by using a blowtorch, or grill in the oven briefly so that its coloured, but so that the cheesecake doesn’t melt! I do recommend using a blowtorch over putting it in the oven as you risk melting the cheesecake a bit too much otherwise!
Lemon Meringue Cheesecake!
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Ingredients
Biscuit Base
- 300 g Digestives
- 150 g Unsalted Butter
Cheesecake Filling
- 500 g Full-Fat Cream Cheese
- 100 g Icing Sugar
- 300 ml Double Cream
- Juice of 2 Lemons
- Yellow Food Colouring
Decoration
- 185 g Granulated Sugar
- 85 ml Water
- 100 g Egg Whites
Instructions
Biscuit Base
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Blitz the biscuits in a food processor to a fine crumb, add the melted butter and pulse a few times until it is combined well.
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Tip into a 8″/20cm Deep Springform Tin, or a 9″/23cm Tart Tin and press down firmly – chill in the refrigerator whilst you do the rest!
Cheesecake Filling
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With an electric mixer (I used my KitchenAid) Mix the Cream Cheese and Icing Sugar together until smooth, it’ll only take a few seconds.
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Whilst whisking slowly, pour in the liquid double cream and continue to whip on a medium-high speed until it is starting to thicken.
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Once it’s starting to thicken, add in the lemon juice and continue to whip till very thick. If you are using food colouring, add it in now too!
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Spread onto the biscuit base and spread evenly. Leave to set in the fridge, covered, for 5-6 hours, or preferably overnight.
To Decorate
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Pour the sugar and the water into a heavy-based saucepan and bring to boil, stir it occasionally with a wooden spoon. When the mixture starts to boil monitor the temperature until it reaches 120C (Firm Ball Stage) with a sugar thermometer!
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When the mixture is heating up and boiling, if any sugar splashes up the side of the pan, brush the sides with a pastry brush and cold water to get rid of it – this will stop the mixture crystallising and messing up!
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Whilst the mixture is starting to get towards the temperature whisk the egg whites in your electric stand mixer! When the sugar syrup has reached the temperature and the egg whites are at stiff peaks start to pour the sugar syrup onto the egg whites at the edge of the bowl whilst still whisking – make sure you do this slowly so its a constant trickle of sugar syrup so that the egg whites stay smooth!
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Continue to whisk throughout whilst the sugar syrup is pouring in, and after its all whisked in continue to whisk the mixture fast and on a high speed for 5-7 minutes until the mixture is smooth, and has cooled down.
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Remove the set cheesecake from the tin, dollop the meringue on top, and then blowtorch lightly, or flash under a hot grill to brown the edges of the meringue!
Notes
- I recommend this blow torch!
- If you don’t have a blow torch, use the grill setting on your oven, and carefully put the cheesecake underneath to toast slightly! (If you are doing this, it might be easier to keep the cheesecake in the tin till after you have toasted it under the grill)
- If you don’t want to or don’t feel confident enough to make an Italian Meringue then you can do a normal Meringue using the 4 Large egg whites, and 200g of Caster sugar and mix like you would a normal meringue – blowtorch or flash under the grill in the same way as above to brown!
- If you are doing the Italian Meringue – When pouring the sugar syrup onto the egg whites try to do this more towards the edge of the bowl so the heat isn’t going directly into the largest part of the egg white mixture!
- This recipe does make a reasonable amount of meringue – I piled all of mine on as I wanted to use it on this, but you can easily pipe a few separate meringues if you wished! I wouldn’t recommend reducing the meringue amount any more as it might not work as well!
- This will last for 2-3 days, in the fridge.
ENJOY!
Find my other Lemon & Cheesecake Recipes on my Recipes Page!
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