Recipe for lemon curd cheesecake

What exactly is lemon curd?

Lemon curd is a creamy and spreadable spread, recognizable by its rich texture. Unlike traditional jam, it is made from dairy ingredients – namely butter, eggs, sugar, and fresh lemon juice. Those ingredients give it smoothness and a noticeably creamier texture than standard fruit spreads.

How to use lemon curd?

This lemon curd is extremely versatile in the kitchen. You can use it as a quick spread for morning croissants, warm toast, or pancakes. It also works wonderfully as a filling for puff pastry, pies, and shortcrust cookies.

In pastry making it is regularly used as a final glaze for cakes and pastries, giving them freshness and an attractive shine. For preparing desserts, it is practical to use a ready-made product such as Mackays Lemon Curd namaza, which has an excellent texture, is ready for direct spreading and greatly speeds up cake making.

Cheesecake with lemon curd

When it comes to a lemon curd cake, a baked cheesecake is one of the best choices. This cheesecake is sturdy, creamy and not too sweet. The making requires a little patience during cooling, but the baking process itself is simple.

Ingredients

For base:

• 275 g Digestive biscuits
• 85 g butter or margarine (melted)

For the cream:

• 900 g cream cheese
• 250 g crème fraîche (or milerama)
• 250 g sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 eggs + 1 yolk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• Mackays Lemon Curd (for final glaze)

Additional for decoration:

• 200 ml whipping cream

Preparation

1. Base preparation: Grind or crush Digestive biscuits and mix them with melted butter or margarine. Press the resulting mixture evenly into the bottom of the cake pan.
2. Baking the base: Bake the cookie crust for 9 minutes in a preheated oven at 180 °C. After baking, remove the pan and let it cool slightly while you prepare the cream.
3. Cream preparation: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, crème fraîche, and sugar just until the ingredients are combined. Add flour, eggs, an extra yolk, and vanilla extract. Gently mix until you obtain a smooth mixture, making sure not to incorporate too much air. Pour the cream over the baked crust.
4. Baking the cheesecake: Place the cake in the oven and bake it for 10 minutes at 230 °C. Then lower the temperature to 110 °C and bake for another 30 minutes.
5. Cooling in the oven: This step is crucial for the texture. After 30 minutes, completely turn off the oven. Leave the cheesecake inside with the door slightly ajar for exactly 2 hours. Then remove it and let it cool completely at room temperature, and then refrigerate.
6. Final layer and decoration: Spread the fully cooled cheesecake evenly with a layer of lemon curd. Whip the cream into stiff peaks and use it to decorate the edges of the cake.

This lemon cheesecake is best served well chilled. The dense cheese texture and the refreshing tangy top layer make it a very practical dessert that you can prepare a day ahead and serve the next day without rushing.