Easy lemon cheesecakes
I don’t often make dessert, but when I do, oooh I do it right.
I haven’t made very many cheesecakes, so in the past I’m not sure I’ve ever realised quite how easy they are. Of course, you can do the whole baked cheesecake thing, which requires a little more thought, but if you’re doing a no-bake version like these little easy lemon cheesecakes, you can pretty much make them in your sleep.
(though I wouldn’t recommend it, obviously, otherwise you’d be waking up every morning to a big batch of cheesecakes, which would be lovely, but a little impractical)
The cheesecake base is only three ingredients – some crushed digestive biscuits, some melted butter, and a touch of honey for sweetness. The cheesecake mixture is also only three ingredients (told you they were easy) – cream cheese, lemon juice, and sugar.
Since these lemon cheesecakes are oh-so easy, I glammed mine up a bit with some fresh raspberries (which always look stunning, despite the annoyance of getting pips stuck in your teeth), and a really simple lemon glaze.
It’s only made with one ingredient: lemonade!
I actually used a really lovely Sicilian lemon drink from Galvanina, which is soooo good. It’s nice and tart, not sickly sweet like some lemonades are – and when you’re drizzling the glaze over a super sweet cheesecake, the touch of tartness is absolutely perfect.
Galvanina also have a few other fizzy soft drink flavours available – Sicilian ruby orange, red grapefruit, and Sicilian clementine. They’re all absolutely lovely, though the clementine one is probably my favourite. I’ve never had a clementine drink before (in fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything other than the standard ‘orange’, which often seems to refer to the colour as much as the flavour!), so it makes a lovely change from the norm. The red grapefruit flavour has the tangy tartness you’d expect from anything grapefruit flavoured, and the orange and clementine drinks are the perfect balance of tart and sweet. Really refreshing for this warm weather we’ve been having here this week!
And as a somewhat irrelevant side note, these drinks come in the most gorgeous bottles! You can only just see it in these pictures, but rather than being plastered with a big paper label, the glass is moulded with a beautiful design. Definitely going to keep the bottles afterwards, maybe for flowers, or for something like this!
To make the lemon glaze, I just reduced the lemon drink down until it was quite thick and syrupy, then drizzled it over the cheesecakes, and left it to set. It ended up nice and sticky!
Do you think you might try Galvanina’s drinks this summer?
Easy lemon cheescakes
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter
- 75 g Digestive biscuits ~5 biscuits
- 1 tbsp honey
- 400 g cream cheese ~1 1/2 cups
- 75 g caster sugar ~1/4 cup
- Juice of 1-2 lemons
- 200 ml Sicilian lemon Galvanina ~3/4 cup
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a small pan or in the microwave. Crush the digestive biscuits, and add them to the melted butter along with the honey. Mix well. Press the mixture into four small round moulds or small ramekins. Place in the fridge while you prepare the cheesecake mixture.
- Add the cream cheese, caster sugar and the juice of one lemon to a large bowl, and mix until smooth. Add more lemon juice to taste (some lemons are juicier than others, so you may not need any additional lemon juice).
- Divide the cheesecake mixture over the four biscuit bases, and return to the fridge for at least two hours to set.
- Add the Galvanina to a small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Boil for around 15 minutes, until reduced to about a quarter of the volume. Spoon the syrup over the tops of the cheesecakes, and return to the fridge once more until the glaze has set and you are ready to serve.
Love quick and easy desserts? You might like my blueberry shortbread bars – there’s only 4 ingredients!
any substitutes for galvanina? i need this recipe but dont havae it :((((
Any good quality lemonade would work :) though not a sugar free one! Otherwise, you could always just skip the glaze entirely.
I love baking my nana taught me an like 2 try different things specially 4 my children 2 take 2 sch as they love mummys baking if u have any ideas could u plz email me some thank u im guna try the cheesecake
Gimme cheesecake in my sleep I would eat it.. This looks fabulous.. Thanks for sharing, gotta try it pretty soon.
This is gorgeous and sounds delicious!
These cheesecakes are the bomb! Totally awesome!
I love how you served it.
These look so delicious! My mouth is watering. Must try it!
Oh heavens me I love the sound of this! That drink sounds AMAZING! I love lemon :) Gorgeous recipe, as always!
You should definitely try it, it’s really lovely and tart :)
Lovely cheesecakes. I had Galvanina at the Waitrose summer party last year, it certainly is one of the best fuzzy drinks out there. So refreshing.
Ooooh I’m going to try these! Well, later. When we’re not drowning in cake. Husband’s birthday was last week and he asked if could have a real afternoon tea with cakes and scones and little sandwiches. I got… ambitious.
I even think I’ve seen that lemonade in a tea and delicacies shop in town, actually. I can’t recognise the bottle, but they also had a clementine flavoured one and I remember thinking, like you, that I had never seen that before. I’m relatively certain it’s the same stuff. I’ll have to go and have a look. That could be dangerous… The owner knows me by name, nuff said. :p
Ooh afternoon tea, you are impressive! You should definitely try it if it’s the same one, really lovely clementine flavour :)
I love your little sidenote! Fancy decorative glass bottles are awesome, and perfect for making little flower arrangements in :) I also love cheesecake, and I’m all for simple ingredients! One of my first posts ever was on a no-bake cheesecake, and I haven’t made one since, strangely enough! Ha. Gorgeous photos, Becca!
Haha yes to be honest I have been known to buy things just because they come in nice bottles haha! We should definitely make cheesecake more often, it’s so easy!
The cheesecake looks fabulous. I love the raspberry on top — the little crown on a regal dessert. Wouldn’t it be wonderful as a dessert for an afternoon tea rather than a scone? Thank you for sharing. Great Photos!!
These would be GREAT for afternoon tea! Though they’re quite rich, not sure I could manage much else!! Would have to make extra mini ones :)
Particularly like the idea of the glaze!
These look so pretty – the raspberrys do add a gorgeous splash of colour so it is worth battling the pips! The glaze sounds as though it will give a lovely zing of flavour. :)
I’m glad I’m not the only one who has issues with berry pips ;)
Oh dear, lemon cheesecake, my favourite thing! Ginger biscuits make a terrific base, too.
I’ve not tried that one, good idea!