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Lemon Meringue Cheesecake

This Lemon Meringue Cheesecake is the dreamiest thing I’ve made in a long time. It’s one of those recipes that make you do a little dance after eating the first bite! It’s the perfect mixture of tart, sweet and creamy – I can’t get enough!

Lemon Meringue Cheesecake Recipe

On my quest to lose weight, I find myself craving the most indulgent desserts.

Isn’t that the way?

And believe me, I don’t deny myself a bite or 15.

Maybe that’s why the scale isn’t working for me? It’s a vicious cycle I’ve created and perpetuated.

But I will say that while cutting back a bit has helped my waistline, it it has also sparked a creativity that I had been lacking recently.

In other words, the less I eat dessert, the more I think about it.

Which has pushed me into creating some over the top stuff lately.

Good for you, not for me.

 

I mean, take a look at this Lemon Meringue Cheesecake. It’s heaven times infinity.

Lemon Meringue Cheesecake..a light lemon chessecake topped with creamy meringue!

Not only do you have a lightly lemon flavored cheesecake..you have a giant pile of the creamiest meringue topping ever to exist in history.

And it’s all on a graham cracker crust. Winning fo life.

How to Make a Lemon Meringue Cheesecake

First make your crust…

Graham Cracker Crust

Then make your filling. It’s easy, I swear it. This is coming from a true cheesecake reformant.

Also, if your family doesn’t like lemon stuff, use only a bit of the lemon zest…or if you love lemon you can up the zest. Totally up to you!

Making the lemon cheesecake

When it bakes it will look like this…

My Mother In Law bakes her cheesecake, turns the oven off and leaves the cheesecake in the warm, closed oven for a few hours after. I tried that technique here and it worked perfectly!

Lemon Cheesecake

I let mine cool completely and chill in the fridge overnight before making the meringue.

Another good thing about this recipe is that the cheesecake uses egg yolks, but I saved the whites to use on the topping. No waste!

Just whisk your white and some sugar together…

Making the Meringue

Then heat it over a double boiler until it reaches 140°.

Then pop it into your stand mixer bowl and using the whisk attachment, mix it on high for 10 minutes. The meringue will be super glossy and stiff.

Whipping the meringue

Just spread it all over your cheesecake…

Spreading the meringue

Make little peaks when you spread the meringue…

Fluffy Meringue ready to be torched!

And then using a kitchen torch or lighter lightly toast the meringue…

LIghtly torching the meringue

Like, how totally gorgeous?

Toasted Meringue on the Lemon Meringue Cheesecake

And you must try a slice.

A Perfect Slice of Lemon Meringue Cheesecake

Make this asap!

 

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Lemon Meringue Cheesecake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.9 from 16 reviews
  • Author: Shelly
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
  • Yield: 12 slices 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American

Description

This Lemon Meringue Cheesecake is the dreamiest thing I’ve made in a long time. It’s one of those recipes that make you do a little dance after eating the first bite! It’s the perfect mixture of tart, sweet and creamy – I can’t get enough!


Ingredients

Scale

Crust

  • 2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 6 Tbsp butter, melted

Cheesecake

  • 4 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 6 egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue)
  • 2 Tbsp flour
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 Tbsp lemon zest (2 large lemons)

Meringue Topping

  • 6 egg whites
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 300°

Crust

  1. Combine all ingredients for crust in a bowl evenly. Press mixture into a 9″ springform pan and up the sides, about one inch.
  2. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool.

Filling

  1. In bowl fitted with paddle attachment beat cream cheese and sugar together until combined and smooth. Add in egg yolks and beat until mixture is just combined, scraping sides as necessary.
  2. Add in flour, sour cream and lemon zest and mix until smooth.
  3. Pour mixture over prepared crust. Bake for 75 minutes. Then turn off oven and leave cheesecake in the warm oven with the door closed for 4 hours.
  4. Finally, remove it from oven, run a knife along the edges to loosen from pan and chill for 6 hours, or overnight.

Meringue Topping

  1. Whisk 6 reserved egg whites with sugar. Place over a double boiler and stirring constantly heat mixture until it reaches 140° on candy thermometer. Pour mixture immediately into bowl of stand mixer, fitted with whisk attachment and beat for 10 minutes, until glossy and stiff peaks form.
  2. Spread the meringue over chilled cheesecake and with kitchen torch lightly brown the tops of the meringue.

Notes

if you would like to amp up the flavor of lemon in this recipe, you can add another tablespoon of lemon zest.

Store covered in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

recipe adapted from Amazing Cakes Magazine.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size:
  • Calories: 404
  • Sugar: 51.3 g
  • Sodium: 174 mg
  • Fat: 17.2 g
  • Carbohydrates: 54.4 g
  • Protein: 9.5 g
  • Cholesterol: 221.3 mg

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Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake is a super easy one and SO good!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry CheesecakeOr this S’mores Cheesecake, omg so good!

S'mores Cheesecake | www.cookiesandcups.com #cheesecake #smores #hershey

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71 comments on “Lemon Meringue Cheesecake”

  1. Turned out great! My family (especially my mom) loves lemon meringue pie, but I’m pants at making pie, so this worked out well. Instead of adding extra lemon zest like suggested, I made some lemon curd to put on top under the meringue. Tastes amazing!






  2. I made this cheesecake a few days ago and it was delicious! Love that it didn’t require a water bath and it turned out perfect with no cracks on top! I’ll definitely be making it again, but next time with some extra lemon zest!






  3. I had attempted to make another cheesecake a few weeks ago and it was just ok. Then I happened upon your pin and I gave it a go yesterday and this it it! This is the be all, end all of cheesecake! The technique is perfect-low and slow and I only had a very minor crack that disappeared after the meringue was added. By the way, the meringue is absolutely to die for! I added a perfect amount and just dried the rest in a low oven for a few hours-Eaton mess anybody? It’s delicious, too! I got two desserts for the effort of one. Since this recipe is the perfect base, I’m going to experiment with other combinations. Thank you, so much!






  4. Jerri Gleason

    I think 10 minutes was too long to beat meringue. It was too thick and dense at 10 minutes, not fluffy enough to swirl pretty. Maybe only 5 or 6 minutes next time.

  5. Our son’s bride wanted cheesecake for the special day. She also liked the lemon meringue pie. Out of three I looked at this seemed best. There were a few deviations like half the sour cream and the other half a mix of half n half and coconut milk. Lemon juice went in to “amp” up the flavor. A chocolate cheesecake baked at the same time and because I saw a recommendation for baking in water bath, tried that. Unless you want the cake to be more the consistency of pudding and have it sweat water and butter from the crust inside the foil and need more baking time to re-crisp the crust, skip the water bath. I also sprinkled flaked coconut on the meringue. Out of three cakes, the new couple chose to feed each other a small piece of the lemon. when they got themselves cleaned up they raved about how good it was. I knew it would be a winner before it was even baked. Will do it again when they can have a non-COVID reception next year.






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