This Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake is creamy, light, and fluffy. It’s topped with lemon curd and full of lemon flavor with fresh raspberries in the cheesecake.

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I’ll be honest and say I’ve never been a cheesecake person. The crust is always soggy and too thin even to be considered a cheesecake crust.

My favorite flavor combination inspired this lemon raspberry cheesecake. It’s bright and tangy with the perfect sweetness from the raspberries. Lemon and Raspberry are in every bite of this cheesecake. You have a perfectly amazing graham cracker crust with a fluffy and tangy cheesecake with fresh raspberries folded in. The cheesecake is topped with an easy and delicious lemon curd decorated with fresh whipped cream candied lemon slices and more fresh raspberries.

Why You’ll love this lemon raspberry cheesecake:

Fluffy, creamy: So fluffy, you will think you are eating a no-bake cheesecake but with the creaminess of a baked cheesecake.

Light: It’s so light it’ll make you go for another slice

Perfect for Spring/ Summer: What about Lemon and Raspberries doesn’t scream Spring and Summer to you? It’s so colorful and bright. It’s the perfect dessert to bring for a Spring/Summer potluck.

Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake Ingredients:

Cream Cheese: Use good quality full fat Cream cheese. A low fat cream cheese has excess water that will change the consistency of the cheesecake. Make sure the cream cheese is taken a room temperature before using. (2 Hours minimum)
Heavy Cream: Lightens the cheesecake, make sure it’s also room temperature.
Sour Cream: The key ingredient to a creamy filling. Use full fat sour cream.
Eggs: I always use large eggs. Make sure they are room temperature, so they create a smooth batter.
Lemon: Use only fresh lemons. Don’t use the bottled lemon juice. Fresh lemon zest and juice are used in the cheesecake batter and lemon curd.
Sugar: Sweetens the cheesecake filling. Most recipes call for over one cup sugar but it’s perfectly sweet with the crunchy graham cracker crust.

Crust:

Graham Crackers: Premade graham cracker crumbs may be used, or a food processor can be used to grind your crumbs. Graham crackers can also be thrown into a storage bag and crushed with a mallet or rolling pin.
Butter: Only Butter, no margarine. The butter binds the graham crackers together to form the crust.
Sugar: This additional sweetener can be skipped but creates a slightly sweeter crust.

Ingredient substitutions:

The Crust: Graham crackers are classic, but surely you can substitute with any cookie you’d like. Your crust may need less butter if you’re using an Oreo cookie with filling. (If you have a Trader Joes near you I really wanted to use Meyer Lemon Cookie thins for the crust! But I wanted to use something that is easily accessible to all my readers.)
Raspberries: You could substitute the raspberries in the recipe for another berry if you’d like. Follow all the steps and instructions and just simply replace the fresh berries of choice with the raspberries in the recipe.

How to make Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake:

Graham cracker crust:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Prepare the springform pan by lining the bottom with parchment paper. Crush the graham crackers into a food processor until fine or if using pre-crushed crackers just add the melted butter and sugar and mix until combined. Pour the crust mixture into the prepared pan and press the crumbs up and down the sides and bottom of the pan. Bake the crust for 12 minutes, the sides of the crust should be golden brown and then allow the crust to cool.

Lemon cheesecake filling:

Reduce the oven to 325F.

In a large bowl add your sugar and lemon zest and mix with your fingers to get the full lemon flavor.

With your stand mixer place the cream cheese into the bowl and add in the lemon sugar, using a paddle attachment cream the mixture on low to medium speed scraping down the sides of the bowl until it’s nice and creamy. Add heavy cream, sour cream, and lemon juice beating well and scraping the sides of the bowl. Crack your eggs and add them one at a time waiting for each to incorporate before adding the next one. Once the last egg has been mixed in count 30 seconds and turn off the kitchen aid.

Fold in the fresh raspberries with your spatula and then pour the lemon raspberry cheesecake mixture onto the cooled crust.

Wrap the sides with two sheets of aluminum foil and then place them onto the roasting pan. Add hot water to the roasting pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or once the cheesecake is ready. The center of the cheesecake should jiggle but the sides should be firm.

Turn off the oven and crack open the oven door for 30 minutes. Close the door after 30 minutes and then let the cheesecake cool down to room temperature before placing the cheesecake into the refrigerator to set.

Allow the lemon raspberry cheesecake to chill for at least 8 hours, but 24 hours is preferred.

Lemon Curd

In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, egg yolks, eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice.

Pour the ingredients into a medium-sized saucepan and cook on medium to low heat. Whisk consistently until the mixture begins to thicken and bubble. Add in the butter and mix until combined.

Place the lemon curd into a bowl on top of an ice bath and place a plastic wrap on top of the lemon curd to prevent skin from forming.

Allow the lemon curd to come to room temperature and then place it into a jar or container and place in the fridge until ready to use.

Candied Lemon slices

Wash and thinly cut the lemon into slices. De-seed the lemon and then boil the lemons for 5 minutes and then place into an ice bath. This removes the bitterness from the lemon.

In a medium saucepan add the sugar and water and allow it to come to a boil. Place the lemon slices into the simple syrup and allow it to boil for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes turn off the heat and let the lemon slices set there until it’s cooled. Carefully take out the lemon slices and lay them on a wire rack to dry for up to 24 hours. Lemon slices can be used to decorate as is or can be dipped in sugar.

Assembly:

Remove the lemon raspberry cheesecake from spring form pan and place on a serving plate. Spread the lemon curd on top of the cheesecake].

Place the heavy cream and powdered sugar into a large bowl and whip until you get stiff peaks. Place into a piping bag with a star tip and pipe dollops all around the cake. Decorate the lemon raspberry cheesecake with candied lemon slices, fresh raspberries, and mint. Slice and enjoy!

Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake Tips:

Cheesecakes require lots of love, time and details. If I ever plan to make a cheesecake, I know that I have to prep in advance to make sure I make my cheesecake right. Cheesecake isn’t one of those baked goods that you get to enjoy a couple of minutes later, it takes time, and I mean a long time. The longer you allow the cheesecake to set the better the cheesecake will taste. I always recommend consuming the cheesecake after 24 hours. Not just 8 hours or overnight. Just trust me on this one.

Use Room Temperature ingredients:

Let all the ingredients come to room temperature for at least 2 hours before making the cheesecake batter. I find it helpful to take the cream cheese out of the boxed packaging and letting them lay on the counter separated and not stacked to ensure that you get softened cream cheese.

Scrape the sides of the bowl:

Frequently scrape down the sides of the bowl when the cream cheese and sugar is mixing. The sugar helps break down the cream cheese making the cream cheese soft and pliable. Once the liquids are added continue to scrape the bowl to reduce cream cheese clumps.

Overmix:

Avoid beating the cream cheese on high, this will produce too much air pockets in the cheesecake. Instead, mix on low speed first and then go no higher than medium speed.
A general rule of thumb that I learned from a bakery that I used to work in, is after you add in the last egg count 30 seconds and let the batter mix no longer than that to reduce overmixing of the batter. Overmixing will cause the cheesecake to sink in the middle and can cause the cheesecake to crack.

Slow bake:

Cheesecakes are generally baked at a low heat of 300 to 325. Mini cheesecakes are generally baked at 350F with no water bath needed.

Water bath:

Baking in a water bath ensures that your cheesecake will be baked evenly with a creamy filling.

Knowing when the cheesecake is ready:

Look for a jiggle, not a wiggle. A jiggle is when the sides and outer edges of the cheesecake are firm, but the middle of the cheesecake moves like Jello. Overbaking your cheesecake will cause your cheesecake filling to curdle, while a perfectly baked cheesecake filling is creamy and set.
This lemon raspberry cheesecake recipe bakes at 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes but adjust the bake time according to your oven temperature. Times may fluctuate depending on the heat of the oven, the temperature of the water poured into the water bath, and the temperature of the ingredients.

Equipment Tips:

Spring form Pan: If you don’t have a springform pan, you can use a regular round cake 8in or 9in cake pan. Just follow these steps:

Line the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper so the cheesecake comes out easier.
Take a butter knife and gently drag it along the outer edge separating the cheesecake and the pan.
Make sure the cheesecake has been chilled for at least 8 hours or overnight before flipping over the cheesecake. If time permits, I suggest freezing the cheesecake for 1 or 2 hours before following the next steps. Take a large plate with a sheet of parchment paper over it and place it on top of the cheesecake. Gently flip it over, and you should hear a flopping noise that indicates the cheesecake has come out of the pan. Carefully lift the cake pan to see if the cheesecake has been fully released. If it hasn’t then use the butter knife tip and run it through the sides of the pan and try to flip the cheesecake pan again. After the cheesecake is flipped over onto the plate flip it back onto a large plate so the crust is on the bottom.
Parchment paper: Line the bottom of the cheesecake with a large square of parchment paper and clamp the sides shut. This will help with easier cleanup!

What is a water bath?

A water bath is also known as a “Bain Marie.” It essentially allows the cheesecake to sit in a larger pan filled with hot water. The hot water allows the cheesecake to bake evenly and protects the cheesecake from cracking. For best results, I recommend not skipping out on this method.

How do I prevent water from leaking into my cheesecake?

No matter how many times I’ve tried wrapping aluminum foil around my cheesecake it always leaked in no matter how many times I wrapped the whole cheesecake. The biggest and best tip that works for me every time is to use large commercial-sized aluminum foil. Rip two sheets larger than your spring form pan, and fold and crease the aluminum foil to fit the outsides of the pan. The aluminum foil should rise up on the sides. You shouldn’t have any aluminum foil that covers only halfway or 3/4 of the way along the sides of the pan. This method allows no water to slowly creep into the cheesecake crust while it’s baking.

Another method that is a bit harder is using 2 additional pans instead of one. You will need one that fit your spring form pan perfectly and then a larger roasting pan that will fit the pan that your cheesecake is in. The roasting pan is filled with hot water and the hot water stays on the outside of the pan. This is the best way to achieve a failproof no leak crust, but it’s very hard to find the perfect-sized pans needed for this method.

If baking in a regular-sized cake pan and not a spring form pan, then just let the pan sit in the water bath.

How to store Leftover Cheesecake:

This Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake must be refrigerated and will stay good for up to 5 days.

They can also be cut into individual slices, with parchment paper in between each slice and frozen in an airtight container. I love this method because you can easily take out how many slices you want at any given time.

Why did my cheesecake crack?

A cheesecake cracking is a really common problem, it’s due to over-mixing and over-baking the cheesecake. Don’t worry all your hard work didn’t go down the drain. Some cracks can be fixed depending on how big of a crack it is. Take some hot boiling water and pour it into a mug. Take a spoon and dip the spoon into the hot water long enough to transfer the heat to the spoon. With the back of the spoon gently rub the cracks of the cheesecake to cover the crack. If you choose to skip this step the top of the cheesecake will be covered with lemon curd, whipped cream and fresh raspberries anyways.