This is hands down, one of the best cheesecakes I have ever made! Lemon paired with dairy and white chocolate in particular, is a match made in heaven. The tartness and sourness of the lemon marries well with the mild silkiness of dairy and the sweetness of white chocolate. The three balance each other out beautifully in this no-bake, chilled cheesecake.

It is however a bit ironic that I would develop a recipe for a dessert featuring lemon. Growing up, and actually quite far into adulthood, I didn’t at all enjoy anything flavoured with lemon. Luckily, in recent years, I have grown to truly appreciate it in both baking and cooking, as long as it is not too overpowering.

It is therefor with great pleasure that I present to you one of my most proud inventions. If you are not an avid baker, this might not be the first recipe you should try. It involves quite a few steps and lots of bowls, but if you are in for the ride – the end result will not disappoint! To my surprise, I even managed to achieve the aesthetic look I was after. So if I can do it, so can you!

What you’ll need:

• 4 mixing bowls (preferably glass)
• Electric mixer
• Kitchen Scale
• Plastic wrap
• Spatula
• Small hand whisk
• Kitchen aid (or plastic bag and rolling pin)
• Measuring cups
• Sieve
• Microwave (or small pot on the stove)
• Spring form ⌀22 cm
• Space in the freezer and/or the fridge

Print

Ingredients for the base

• 25 g sugar

• 350 g Digestive biscuits

• 130 g salted butter

Print

Directions

• Melt the butter and let it cool.
• Mix the Digestive biscuits and the sugar in a food processor until fine (alternatively, crush the biscuits with a rolling pin in a plastic bag until fine and then pour into a bowl and mix with the sugar).
• Pour in the cooled, melted butter and mix until combined.
• Line the inside of a spring form with cling wrap (plastic wrap). You will need the type of form where you can remove the side.
  
  Press the biscuit mixture into the form. Start with the edges, all the way up, then do the base. Take care not to make it thicker at the corner of the base. You want it as even as possible.
• Place the base in the freezer for about 30 minutes, or in the fridge for minimum 1,5 hours.

Print

Ingredients for the filling

• 500 g cream cheese

• 45 g brown sugar

• 50 ml sour cream

• 150 g white chocolate

• 1/2 cup (125 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 2 tsp clear, unflavoured gelatine powder

• 3 tbsp lemon zest

• 250 ml fresh cream

• 20 g icing sugar

Print

Directions

• Bowl 1: Mix the room-temperatured cream cheese and brown sugar with an electric whisk until fluffy. Make sure there are NO lumps in there.
• Bowl 2: Melt the white chocolate in the microwave.
  
  Tip: White chocolate is very sensitive to heat and burns easily. Make sure you take it out every 30 seconds and stir until fully melted.
• Bowl 3: Mix the lemon juice with the gelatine powder. Use a small whisk to make sure there are no lumps.
  
  Microwave for 30 seconds.
• Add the melted and slightly cooled chocolate to the lemon mixture. Stir constantly and add it gradually. It is important that both the chocolate and lemon mixture are similar temperatures, or the chocolate can seize up.
• Add chocolate mixture, lemon zest and sour cream to the cream cheese bowl. Mix thoroughly with an electric mixer until properly combined and smooth, but take care not to over-mix it.
• Bowl 4: Whip the fresh cream. Once is starts getting a bit thick, add sifted icing sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
  
  Tip: Fresh cream is best whipped cold, directly from the fridge to form stiff peaks.
• Fold the fresh cream into the cream cheese mixture. Make sure they are properly combined.
  
  Pour into the biscuit base. Level with a spatula and let set in the fridge for 3 hours.
  
  Tip: Push the filling slightly higher at the edges against the side of the base to avoid the glaze from getting soaked into the biscuit base later on.

Print

Ingredients for thE mirror glaze

• 200 g water

• 100 g freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 100 g castor sugar

• 70 g honey

• 3 drops yellow gel food colouring

• 1,5 gelatine leaves

Print

Directions

• Pour water, lemon juice, sugar and honey into a thick base pot. Let simmer on medium to high heat until it has thickened and resembles a runny syrup. This will take approximately 20 minutes. But keep checking it, without stirring too much. Stirring will create air bubbles, which we don’t want. Take off the heat and let cool slightly.
• In a small bowl, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water. Let it soak for about 2 minutes, until soft.
• Squeeze out the excess water from the leaves, then add to the lemon syrup together with the food colouring. Stir until properly combined and gelatine is dissolved. Again, do not stir too much and create air bubbles or you will have bubbles on your cake.
• Let the syrup cool a bit more, then pour it onto the cake.
  
  Place in the fridge to set for minimum 1 hour.

Print

Decorations

• 200 g strawberries

• 100 g raspberries

• 50 g blueberries

• thin strips of lemon peel

Print

Directions

• I strongly recommend moving the cake over to a cake stand or platter before decorating it.
• Cut some of the strawberries in halves and a few in quarters. Place the berries around the outside edge of the cake, as you please.
  
  Cut thin strips of lemon peel, and place in some hot water to soften. This will enable you to twirl them a bit before using them in your decorations.
  
  This is your chance to be creative. You can add any fruit or berries to your decorations. I personally love the contrast of the pink, red and purple fruit on top of the deep yellow glaze. Raspberries in particular also happen to go very nicely with lemon and white chocolate.

You’re gonna need help eating this, because however delicious it is, it is a cheesecake, and cheesecakes are rich. The good news? – You can make it days in advance. Even though it is not baked, it will last days or even a week in the fridge. Whatever expiry date your dairy products had before you made it…well, that will technically be the expiry date of your cake.

Midsummer is coming up in Sweden. Why not try something new? It has most of the elements of a typical Swedish summer dessert. You can even leave the glaze off and just decorate with berries on top. Your call.

And if you’re in SA and approaching winter, this cake will be the perfect escape to those summer days. Lemon really works all year around. They even say lemon is good for you. So, you’re welcome! You’ll practically be making a vitamin bomb to fight those winter infections.