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This Baked Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake is rich, creamy, and sunshiny sweet! Bonus: it can be made ahead of time and frozen for up to two months. So if you love lemon and cheesecake, you have to try this ricotta cheesecake recipe!
Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake Recipe
Hello my friends! I don’t know about you, but lately all I want to do is snuggle up and hide under 400 billion blankets until Spring calls and lets me know it’s safe and sunny outside. It has been a hideously cold (and windy!) week here, so I’m using my one free pass to complain about Winter today.
The silver lining? This wicked weather inspired me to bust out the citrus (so fresh, so bright, so vibrant) and bake it up – cheesecake style!
Bold statement right here, but um… this might be my new favorite cheesecake. First, I love lemons. They’re my favorite form of citrus as of late. Bright, easily available, and totally affordable – what’s not to love?
In Case You Want To Know: I used meyer lemons in the last test-run of this recipe and found them to be a delightful choice! They’re a little trickier to hunt down, but I highly recommend using them if you can easily get your hands of em. If not – regular lemons will work perfectly! I tested this recipe twice using the standard lemons found in any produce section and the results were dreamy. I’m really only tossing the meyer lemon thing out there because they’re in season right now (you should see how many I swiped at the store yesterday!) and a nice detour from the classic lemons we get to enjoy year-round.
Second, this cheesecake combines vibrant citrus with creamy Italian Ricotta cheese… I mean —-> YES PLEASE!!! This cheesecake has a serious amount of flavor going on – without being overly sweet or tart. All about balance, you know?
I have a deep love for cheesecake, and I just know you’re going to LOVE this fresh and exciting Lemon Ricotta version! It was an instant hit at a brunch we hosted last weekend, and there wasn’t a slice left to wrap up. That’s how I measure recipe success 😉
HEY YOU: If you’ve never made a cheesecake before and are feeling a little nervous… my ear is yours. Please feel free to shoot any questions my way (preferably before you actually start making the recipe so I have time to respond) and we’ll walk through this baking adventure hand in hand. I’ve also added some (hopefully) helpful notes below the recipe, so be sure to read over everything before you get started. Once you know your way, making a creamy, crack-free cheesecake is as easy as 1-2-3. xoxo.
More Lemon Recipes:
- Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake Cupcakes
- Lemon Cheesecake Bars
- Lemon Ricotta Scones
- Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
- Lemon Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake
- One-Bowl Lemon Ricotta Cupcakes
Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 2 cups Graham Crackers crumbs
- 1/3 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 7 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted
For the Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake Filling:
- 3 (8 ounce) packages Full-Fat Cream Cheese, very soft
- 1 cup Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups Granulated Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
- 3 large Eggs + 2 Egg Yolks, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons All-purpose Flour
- 3/4 cup Fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 teaspoons Fresh Lemon Zest
- Whipped cream for serving, optional
- Lemon zest finely grated, for serving, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
For the Crust:
- Lightly spray a 9" springform pan with non-stick spray.
- Wrap the bottom and sides of the pan with heavy duty tinfoil. I recommend doing several diligent layers here to ensure no water creeps through when you place the pan in the water bath. Set pan aside.
- In a large bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt, and melted butter; stir well to combine. Firmly pat the mixture into the prepared pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Place partially baked crust on a cooling rack and set aside while you prepare the filling. Reduce oven to 300 degrees (F).
For the Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake Filling:
- In the body of a high power blender, food processor, stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or in a very large bowl using a hand held mixer, beat the softened cream cheese and ricotta cheese until completely smooth, scraping the bowl as needed.
- On medium speed, add in the sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed. Reduce the mixer to the lowest speed possible and add in the eggs and egg yolks; beat until just combined. Don't over mix here!
- Using a rubber spatula, stir in the flour, mixing just until combined. Fold in the lemon juice and zest, mixing just until it's incorporated in the batter.
- Pour filling into prepared crust, and spread the top smooth.
- Place the cheesecake pan into a large, deep pan. Fill the pan with 3 inches of hot water. This is your water bath and will help ensure your cheesecake comes out crack free.
- Carefully place the pan in the oven and bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes. Then turn oven off and let the cheesecake sit, undisturbed, for 40 minutes, inside the oven with the door shut. The cheesecake should be still slightly wiggly.
- Remove the cheesecake from oven and gently run a knife very around the edge of the cake. Place the cheesecake on a cooling rack and cool completely, then loosely cover the pan with saran wrap and chill for at least 6 hours.
- Cheesecake will keep, covered in the fridge, for 5 days. Cheesecake may be frozen for 2 months. Thaw overnight before slicing.
- For a lovely presentation, fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip, with freshly whipped cream. Pipe the whipped cream around the edges of the cheesecake, and top with finely grated lemon zest! Slice and serve at once!
Can you freeze this cheesecake?
Your recipe sounds and looks delicious and I look forward to making it for my family this Christmas. I have one question, if using Meyer lemons do we decrease the amount of sugar?
Nope! I keep the sugar the same no matter the variety of lemon.
If I make 1/3 of this recipe and use a 6″ pan what adjustment should I make for the baking time?
I honestly don’t know, but would recommend keeping a close eye on it as it bakes, and pulling it when the edges have set and the center is just a little jiggly. Good luck 🙂
Hi, absolutely LOVE this cheesecake, I made one last year (and we have a meyer lemon tree!), it was such a hit, I want to make 2 this year for Christmas!
My question is: can I bake 2 at one time? Or is it better/safer to make one at a time and bake separate? ( theses are times I dream of having a double oven!)
Thank you so much for the delicious recipe!!!
Dee
Hi Dee! So happy you’re enjoying this cheesecake! I would recommend baking one at a time, since the water bath takes up a lot of space in the oven, and doing both at once could result in both being under baked in parts.
Thank you so much!! Am making it as I type.
Just a note, I do bake the crust a little first (about 10 minutes at 350, we like our crust a bit crunchy as opposed to not….SO DELICIOUS!!!!
Thank you and Merry Christmas 2016!!!
Hi again 2018!!
Well, sadly our Meyer Lemon tree got some disease and didn’t make it however we just had a good crop of key limes!! Was wondering if you thought I could use fresh key lime juice in place of the lemon, have you ever tried that? If so, recommendation of how much juice to use?
We do love key limes and I am excited to try it this Christmas! Happy Holidays!!
Came across this recipes and I thought I would love to give it go ..
The only problem is , what is graham biscuits, coming from the UK I don’t think we have them here ..
What can I use instead.
Thank you .
Hi San. Graham crackers are long sheets of cookie. You could substitute gingersnaps or digestive biscuits in their place I think.
Made this for Easter. Topped it with lemon curd because it cracked… The cheesecake is AMAZING!!!!! Incredibly creamy. Totally delicious. Everyone loved it!
Hi Gina. I’m so happy this was a hit! But very surprised it cracked… did you use a water bath? A lemon curd topping sounds incredible, by the way 🙂
Hi! Was was just wondering what you used to top the cheesecake which looked so beautiful in the picture? Was it a pretty glaze on top and whipped cream spots? I tried it out and it tasted amazing! But I want to serve it looking the same as yours!:)
Hi Mariah! I did not use a glaze, but a I did add fresh whipped cream and then sprinkled on a little fresh lemon zest 🙂 I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe.
Just wanted to let you know that I made this cheesecake, and it was spectacular. Thank you for sharing the recipe. This is definitely a keeper.
I have a potted lemon tree in my dining room (I live in Colorado) and got my first ripe lemon from it this weekend. I had to do something special with this home made lemon. I found your recipe, and it sounded great! I made the cheese cake yesterday and tried it for thr first time today, everyone loved it. Your lemon cheese cake recipe was the perfect dish for my special lemon. This reminds me of those thick rich cheese cakes you can find in a NY bakery. I have 4 more lemons ripening on my tree, and know at least one of them will be used for another cheese cake using your recipe.Thank you Excellent!!!
Hi Brad. Having a lemon tree in my dining room sounds like a dream! I am so happy my recipe was the special choice for your very first ripe lemon – and that everyone enjoyed the cheesecake. Thank you for letting me know 🙂
I’ve tried different recipes and stratagems, but this was the first time I’ve ever had a cheesecake come out free of any cracks–awesome!! I swapped crystallized ginger for the lemon, and that came out fine: I think the ingredients here are so well balanced that it’s in that small pantheon of recipes…truly adaptable. The water-bath is a little work intensive, but worth it. Thanks so much for this, BBN.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Keith! I’m so happy to hear your cheesecake came out crack-free and delicious 🙂