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Active Time
30 min
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Total Time
8 hr (includes chilling)
Expect a line to form when you unveil this stunning dessert. It's swirled throughout with tangy lemon curd, which amplifies the richness of the surrounding cheesecake.
Ingredients
10 servings
For lemon curd:
For crust:
For filling:
Special Equipment
Make lemon curd:
Step 1
Whisk together zest, juice, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Add butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubbles appear on surface, about 6 minutes.
Step 2
Force lemon curd through a fine-mesh sieve into a wide shallow dish, scraping bottom of sieve, then cover surface with wax paper. Cool completely, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.
Make and bake crust:
Step 3
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Invert bottom of springform pan (to make it easier to slide cake off bottom), then lock on side. 3Stir together crust ingredients in a bowl, then press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of springform pan. Place springform pan in a shallow baking pan and bake 10 minutes, then cool crust completely in springform pan on a rack.
Make filling and bake cheesecake:
Step 4
Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.
Step 5
Beat together cream cheese and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add eggs 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in sour cream and vanilla until combined.
Step 6
Pour two thirds of cream cheese filling into crust, then spoon half of lemon curd over filling and swirl curd into filling with a small knife. (Avoid touching crust with knife to prevent crumbs getting into filling.) Repeat with remaining filling and curd.
Step 7
Bake cheesecake until set 1 1/2 inches from edge but center trembles when pan is gently shaken, about 45 minutes. (Center of cake will appear very loose but will continue to set as it cools.) Transfer springform pan to a rack and immediately run a knife around top edge of cake to loosen. Cool completely, about 2 hours, then chill, uncovered, at least 4 hours. Remove side of springform pan before serving.
·Lemon curd can be made 1 week ahead and chilled, covered.
·Crust (without filling) can be made 1 day ahead and kept, covered, at room temperature.
·芝士蛋糕可以冷冻,松散覆盖2 days. Cheesecake must be completely chilled before covering to prevent condensation on its surface.
Leave a Review
Reviews (205)
Back to TopThis recipe is perfection. I have been it for over 10 years to rave reviews each time. I usually make my own crusts with either ginger snaps (so good w/the lemon), or will add in a bit of ginger and nutmeg to the graham crackers. Added bonus: I can get creative and I use the base for any other cheesecake I can dream up!
Devvon Hinds
Los Angeles, CA
7/10/2022
I have made this cheesecake many, many times. Everyone really loves this dessert. Years ago my husband and I were in a coffee shop waiting to get in to a movie theater, so I picked up the Epicurious magazine and saw this recipe. I copied the recipe and the rest is history!
Libra
North Carolina
10/2/2021
我只是第一次。我跟着e recipe as is and added lots of blueberries to the batter. I also used vanilla wafers instead of graham cracker crumbs for the crust. The lemon curd was very easy to make. I think all of the blueberries I added may have increased the baking time which was fine. I ended up cooking it at 300 for 90 minutes instead of the suggested 45 minutes. I checked it beginning at 45 minutes and every 10 minutes after. I did have cracks but I didn't mind since they don't affect the flavor! The cheesecake turned out AMAZING!! I'm definitely adding this to the dessert rotation. It's also a great base cheesecake recipe so I will experiment with other flavors using this recipe in the future.
Anonymous
North Carolina
9/6/2021
Excellent! I followed the recipe exactly though left it in the oven for an extra 5 minutes. Made it in the late morning and it was just set by dessert time, next time I think I’ll make it the night before so it has a little extra time to set. It also cracked a little so definitely keep a little extra curd to fill in. I forgot to do that, but whipped cream and raspberries hid the cracks very well for me! Very light, creamy and lemony. Looked amazing . Everyone raved about it. Will make again for sure.
catherine31
NY
2/9/2021
This is SOOOOOO delicious. This first one is half gone and I am already planning my second one. I used vanilla wafers instead of graham crackers for the crust, but followed everything else to the exact way it was written. This is worth the effort!!!!!
Anonymous
Dawsonville, GA
7/18/2020
FABULOUS!! Made it for a dear friends birthday & it really is over the top delicious. Definitely a labor of love, but so worth it. It will be our dessert for Father’s Day, they deserve a slice of this lemony heaven!
MaineBB
Hancock County, ME
6/16/2020
The best cheesecake I've made so far, did take about 65 minutes to bake but was definitely a crowd pleaser!
Breyedgirl23
Millis, ma
6/3/2020
What a magnificent cheesecake ! I like the creamy texture so much. The lemon curd was so so tart, my favourite way. Definitely one to repeat .. as soon as possible !
saponebolla
Vancouver Canada
3/5/2020
我不能相信我没有牧师iewed this cheesecake yet; I've made it at least 10 times over the past 6 or 7 years, it's one of my all-time favorites. I happen to prefer a softer cheesecake rather than a firm cheesecake so the recipe as written is just perfect for me. The only change I make, is to add 1 cup of sour cream instead of 3/4 cup because it aids in the soft silky texture and I like the extra sourness for balance. I also don't follow the crust recipe because I have my own favorite graham cracker crust recipe to which I add a teaspoon or two of lemon zest to amp up the lemon flavor even more. The curd in this recipe is some of the best I've had and it's super easy to make but take note, it's a little more runny than most traditional lemon curd recipes (and it's that way on purpose so you can marble it in easily and not have big clumps) so keep that in mind if you're going to be using your own curd recipe or store-bought (which also tends to be thicker); you may want to thin those out just a tad with some extra lemon juice. I've topped this with blueberry compote, raspberry coulis, whipped cream, fresh strawberries and even toasted coconut one time, but honestly I like it as-is with no topping at all so the lemon curd can really shine.
Anonymous
San Diego, CA
11/20/2019
Even though my cheesecake didn’t come out perfect, I’ll still give it a 4 fork rating as it tasted sublime. I opted to make it without the flour as many have suggested. Baked according to instructions for 45 min but since it still looked wobbly, I added another 10 min to the baking time. I know it’s supposed to be wobbly in the middle but how wobbly? Anyway there were no cracks when I took the cake out of the oven but deep cracks formed on cooling This seems to be due to the curd in the cake. I will have to try the cake again, baking at 300 F as others have suggested. I really liked the lemon curd. So easy to make. On cutting the cake, the center was not fully set. I guess if I had cooked it a tick longer, this would have done the trick. It was still edible. The whole cake was still pretty soft and the knife didn’t come out clean. I had it chilled for 2 days! Nevertheless it was really delicious and everyone ate two slices!!
fcordeiro
Germany
11/10/2019
This is perfect exactly as written. Don’t worry about it not appearing to be done. It will set beautifully as it cools. I didn’t change a thing and it was so creamy with an intense lemon flavour. Outstanding!
amandadawnferguson
Canada
4/21/2019
This is the very best cheesecake I've ever made. Ever. I'm so sorry it's gone.
seethemoon
Los Angeles, CA
11/27/2018
I will make this again...but only for a crowd! It was refreshing, not too sweet, and satisfying! Also Very rich (small slices are good!) and lasted too long in the fridge for my waistline! LOL! The only change I made was using a combination of gingersnaps and crushed roasted almonds for the crust. I used the food processor to crush up cookies and almonds. Homemade lemon curd is most certainly easy to prepare and better than what can be bought at the store. YUM!
lecknox
San Francisco Bay Area
7/19/2018
This was great, made as directed except used gluten free graham crackers since one of my guests was gluten free. Cooked it 15 minutes longer and had a few small cracks, but used some lemon curd to fill those, as others suggested.
szatlanta
Atlanta, GA
6/9/2018
One of the best desserts ever. I have made this twice: once with lemon curd, another with strawberry curd (used 3 cups of strawberries, and orange juice/grated peel). Every one was mesmerized by the silky, creamy, light texture. As one guest said, many cheesecakes taste like a "brick of cream cheese with topping". This cake is sublime. I baked it according to the recipe the first time, and it cracked. The second time, I baked it 60 minutes at 300 degrees, with a dish of hot water at the bottom of the oven, then shut off the heat, and let it sit in the oven for 30 minutes, as another reviewer recommended. This turned out great and with no cracks whatsoever. A few last suggestions -- replace the graham cracker crumbs with finely ground almonds. It tastes lovely, fewer carbs, too. I also prefer using Wegmans Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese for this recipe. I also mix the sour cream with whole milk Greek yogurt. I tried using regular cream cheese and found that the version with Wegmans Greek yogurt cream cheese tasted much better.
jtois
Shrewsbury, MA
5/16/2018
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