No-Bake Lemon Meringue Cheesecake | Bigger Bolder Baking

Hi Bold Bakers! It's no secret to you guys that I love a good cheesecake. To date I have made a strawberry cheesecake, a cookie dough cheesecake, and even a decadent brownie cheesecake. Now that spring has sprung, this is the perfect time to share with you a recipe for a Lemon Meringue Cheesecake. It's absolutely delicious and it's no bake. The recipe can be found on BiggerBolderBaking.com and always check out my website because I've got new recipes up there all the time. Okay! Let's get started. Okay so the first thing I did for this recipe is I lined my dish with cling wrap. I buttered it and I put three layers of cling wrap so then afterwards once it's set I can easily remove it. So that's a really good tip. I'm going to set this over to the side and we're going to mix up our cookie crust. So I want to tell you a little bit about the cookies that I'm using for the cookie base. I'm actually using my homemade graham crackers and the reason that I'm doing this is because it works really well with lemon. They've got a little bit of cinnamon there, they've got lots of flavor. If you don't want to use these you can always use like cinnamon graham crackers, digestive biscuits, any kind of a plain cookie. Into our cookies we're going to add in our melted butter. And then just mix these two ingredients together. So what you're looking for is something that kind of looks like wet sand. So this is absolutely perfect. All of our cookies are soaked in butter and this will make a perfect shell. So I'm going to bring back in my pie dish and then add in your crust. And then just press it into the tin. What I actually prefer to do is go in with my hand and really get a good shape on it and then I can get it right into the edges and up the sides. It takes a little bit of practice but you'll get there. With regards to the cookies, one thing that I have done before is actually do a few graham crackers and ginger snaps and a little bit of beet works really well and it just kind of changes the flavor of the cheesecake. Okay so that's it, easy peasy, no bake. Into the fridge while we make our filling. So into this bowl I'm going to add in my cream cheese. Now using a hand mixer or a stand mixer you want to whip this up until it's nice and smooth and there's no more lumps. So the reason I do this first is because sometimes cream cheese can be a little bit lumpy so you want to make sure you get them out before you add in any other ingredients. So it only takes around 2-3 minutes. Okay lovely. Next up we're going to add in some heavy cream, some fresh lemon zest, and of course lemon curd. So now you can buy good quality lemon curd in stores, you can also make your own, I have a recipe on the website, you'll be very happy to know I also have one that you can make in the microwave and it is so easy. And I've got another one for egg-free lemon curd, absolutely delicious, we made it the other day, it's on the website so if you don't eat eggs definitely check that out. Okay great. Now all we do is just with our mixer again we're going to beat this up until it's nice and smooth. So what we're going for here is to get this mix nice and thick, I actually don't use gelatin in my cheesecakes so you want this base to get nice and thick so it sets by itself in the fridge. Okay so that's it, looking good. Now this can go straight into our pie dish. I like my cheesecake with a nice thick filling. That's exactly what this is. Perfect. This is a really no-fuss dessert, like absolutely no bake, no fuss. So I'm just going to lay a piece of cling wrap over this and then pop it into the fridge. Now the thing about this, because there's no gelatin in it, it does need quite a long time in the fridge so maybe a minimum of 4-5 hours, what I like to do is make it the day before I need it and leave it in the fridge overnight, then it's much easier to assemble the next day. So you've seen me make meringue a million times, it's really simple and I don't want you to be afraid of it. How we're going to make the topping for this is really easy. Over a pot of simmering water, I'm going to add a bowl. Then into the bowl I'm going to add in my egg whites, sugar, and a little pinch of cream of tartar. And then what you want to do is get a whisk and keep the egg whites moving on the stove. Now what the cream of tartar does, it stabilizes the eggs a little bit more, if you don't have it, don't worry, you can leave it out. Your meringue might just be a little bit softer. What we're doing here is heat treating the eggs because we're not going to be cooking them in a traditional sense in the oven, so we're going to cook them here on top of the stove and it just gets heat through them and gets them nice and warm. So you do this for around 2-3 minutes, you put your finger in the middle when they're nice and warm, then they're ready. Now I'm going to move it over to my table, so then with my hand mixer, I'm going to whip this up on a high speed until I have stiff peaks. This will take roughly 4-5 minutes, it does take a little bit of time. If you're doing any shopping and buying yourself something nice, definitely get yourself an electric hand mixer, they are so useful and very inexpensive. You can really see it thicken up now, so it's definitely at a good stage. So I'm going to turn off my mixer, now all we have to do is pop this on top of our cheesecake. Pile your meringue high on top of your cheesecake. So I took my cheesecake out of my tin and I put it onto my serving dish, because now I'm going to do the very last step, which is torch the outside. So I've got a little torch, you can also do this under the grill, and just give it a nice toast all the way around, getting it nice and brown. You can see it starts to toast up straight away. Just hold the torch back, and go around the cake. And just so you know, in case a little bit burns, pull it right off and then toast it again, that's totally fine. That's the great thing about meringue. So just check this out, it was a really easy dessert to make, but look how impressive it is, all no-bake, in no time at all. Now all that's left to do is cut a nice big slice. This is the kind of dessert that I wouldn't eat dinner and I'd have this instead. This has everything I want. It is soft, it has meringue on top, it's zesty, oh my gosh. All made from scratch, made in no time, no-bake, absolutely delicious. I adore lemon meringue. I adore meringue. The homemade graham cracker crust was a great idea, then you've got cream cheesy lemon goodness in the middle, and then meringue on top, toasted, I mean seriously. For this recipe and lots more spring inspiration, head over to my website. I'll see you back here really soon, for more Bigger Bolder Baking. Olivia, I think this is my new favorite dessert. This is it. Oh.