No Bake Lemon Cheesecake – Quick and Easy Recipe

To make the Oreo cookie crust you’ll need:

• Oreo cookie crumbs — I use pre-crushed cookies but you can certainly make the crumbs yourself. You can use a food processor or place the cookies in a Ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them into fine crumbs.

• Unsalted butter

• Salt

For the lemon curd cheesecake filling:

• Cream cheese — full-fat is best

• Lemon curd — I make my own lemon curd but you can certainly use your favourite store brand

• Granulated sugar

• Heavy cream — this is cream that has at least 36% milk fat content

Tools you’ll need

I use my stand mixer to whip the cream and my electric handheld mixer to combine the cream cheese filling. In addition:

• 9-inch spring form pan (see below for alternative pans)
• Mixing bowls
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Spatula

Line the bottom of your pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir all crust ingredients until evenly moist (resembling wet sand). 

Transfer to your prepared pan. Make sure to pack the crust firmly and evenly on the bottom of the pan. Chill while you prepare the filling.

Using an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese, lemon curd and sugar until smooth and incorporated. 

Fold in your whipped cream until combined.

Transfer to your pan and smoothen the top. Chill 6-8 hours, preferably overnight. Serve with whipped cream (optional).

Always use room temperature cream cheese

Whether you’re baking your cheesecake or not, using room temperature cream cheese is a must. It just makes it easier for you to beat the mixture and results in a smoother filling.

The ingredients won’t combine as easily if you’re working with a cold block of cream cheese. And you will most likely end up over beating it.

Use cold heavy cream

If you’re worried that your cheesecake won’t set properly without gelatine, just make sure you use heavy cream (fat content between 36 and 40%). 

And that you whip it properly to stiff peaks.

You can’t substitute low fat cream because you just won’t achieve the volume you need. 

And to get that nice volume, make sure that:

• Your heavy cream is chilled
• Your whisk and your bowl are chilled before you use them
• When you’re folding the whipped cream into your mixture, do so gently so you don’t deflate it

Taste, then taste some more

Since we don’t use eggs in this recipe, it’s safe to taste the cheesecake filling as you’re making it. So go ahead and taste at every step if you like.

This way, you can make it as sweet or as lemony as you want.

Allow enough time to chill

Seriously, the hardest part of this recipe is waiting for the cheesecake to set. But wait, you must, so that you get those nice, firm cheesecake slices.

I usually chill my no bake cheesecakes overnight, which makes this a perfect make-ahead dessert.

What to use if I have no springform pan

If you don’t have a springform pan, you can still make this delicious recipe.

• Line a regular cake pan with parchment paper with an overhang, which you can then use to lift the cake once it sets.

• You can also use a square cake pan and slice the cheesecake into squares or bars.

• Assemble the cheesecake in mason jars (good for 8-10 small jars).

• Or assemble them in a cupcake pan lined with cupcake liners (good for 10-12 regular-sized cupcakes).