Because this is our favorite cheesecake recipe EVER, I made it to celebrate my brother's birthday. I am so lucky to have such a great brother. He has a lovely home, wonderful wife and two handsome sons! The only problem is I only see him a few days out of the year due to the miles between us.
Steve is the official Apple Dumpling maker and I rarely make them myself because he does such a good job, it's hard to do better than him! I really wish I could be closer. I would happily share some of my cheesecake with him in exchange for some of his apple dumplings!
For this recipe, I made my own lemon curd. I love this stuff! The sweet tang is so delicious that I can just eat it by the spoonful! Lemon Curd is very simple with only 4 ingredients - Lemon Juice (and zest), butter, sugar, and eggs!
I love the bright citrus scent of the lemon. It literally makes you feel sunshine! I believe this is the biggest reason citrus (lemons especially) is big in the spring. It invokes the feeling of sunshine, brightness, and life!
When the lemon curd is done I always top it with some plastic wrap to prevent a "skin" forming over top of the curd. Once it has cooled enough, I put it in the refrigerator to get cold. The curd thickens up more as it chills. It is perfect for swirling into this cheesecake!
The crust for this cake is a shortbread type crust and is very thin. I love this because I'm looking for cheesecake when I eat cheesecake, not the crust!
I feel bad my brother isn't here to share this with us....seriously. It makes a lot of cheesecake!
Lemon Swirled Cheesecake
Ingredients
To Make The Crust
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp chilled butter cut into small pieces
- 1 tbsp ice water
- Cooking spray
- Filling:
- 48 oz fat-free cream cheese (3- 8 oz blocks), softened
- 16 oz ⅓-less-fat cream cheese, softened (2-16 oz blocks), softened
- 1¾ cups sugar
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2½ tsp grated lemon rind
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup Lemon Curd
- Recipe for Lemon Curd:
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tbsp grated lemon rind
- 2 large eggs
- ⅔ cup fresh lemon juice about 3 large lemons
- 2 tbsp butter
Instructions
- For the Lemon Curd: Combine the first 3 ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a whisk. Cook until sugar dissolves and mixture is light in color (about 3 minutes). Stir in lemon juice and butter; cook for 5 minutes or until mixture thinly coats the back of a spoon, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cool. Cover and chill (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
- To prepare the crust: Preheat oven to 400°. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Place ⅔ cup flour and 2 tablespoons sugar in a food processor; pulse 2 times or until combined. Add chilled butter; pulse 6 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. With processor on, slowly pour ice water through food chute, processing just until blended (do not allow dough to form a ball). Firmly press mixture into bottom of a 9-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes; cool on a wire rack.Reduce oven temperature to 325.
- To prepare the filling: Beat cheeses at high speed of a mixer until smooth. Add 1 ¾ cups sugar and the next 4 ingredients (1 ¾ cups sugar through salt); beat well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.Pour the cheese mixture into prepared pan. Spoon mounds of Lemon Curd over filling, and swirl together using the tip of a knife. Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cheesecake is almost set. Remove cheesecake from oven, and cool to room temperature. Cover and chill for at least 8 hours.
Lisa
Happy Birthday , Steve! Great cheesecake and I love the ,lemon dots on the plate.
Cristine
What a sweet sister! Happy birthday to your brother. The cheesecake looks AMAZING!
honeyb
Happy B-day old man! 😉
P.S. - You should be guilting mom into sending you this cheesecake.
~Justin
Gabi
Work of art!!! Happy B-day Steve!!
Gabi @ Mamaliga
Emily Justeatfood
I wish there to share too! Happy Birthday Steve!
Jessie
I love the artsy design on the cheesecake and Happy Birthday to Steve!
Dan
Happy birthday Steve. Bring some of that desert back for me next time you visit your sister.
teresa
This looks like heaven! What a nice thing to do for your brother!
Liesl
Oh my does this cheesecake look good! This would be good on a nice warm summer afternoon, sitting on the porch in my rocking chairs with a glass of sun made iced tea! :o)
bakersbakery
That looks fabulous!
Gera @ SweetsFoods
Happy Birthday, Steve! Heaven Heaven great cheesecake and lovely pics!
Reeni♥
Happy Birthday Steve!! Look at that gorgeous cake your missing out on!
Anonymous
My Dear Steve, When I think about you as a baby, what I remember most is your "cheeks". You had cheeks, really kissable cheeks and we kissed on you LOL gotcha! Now you are in the over 40 club for sure:) Grandpa Whitton would have been 92 today and I remember how proud he was that you were born on his birthday. He had some fun with that! The Lord has been generous to us. I love you, Aunt Ann P.S. Eat your heart out on the cake!
Anonymous
Hi uncle Steve! Chris here, hope you have a great birthday! 😉 Look forward to seeing you this summer. Love ya lots.
Creative One
What a wonderful sister you are. Birthday wishes to Steve. The cheesecake looks awesome!!
Gaby
this looks sooooo yummy! I love cheesecake!
Stephen
Thanks for all the birthday wishes. It's been a good day. If my FAVORITE sister would freeze the cheesecake and send it to me, I would be ecstatic. I'm sure the pics have less calories though. Thanks Shelby!
HoneyB
Just so you all know...his FAVORITE sister is his ONLY sister. ;o) But that is ok, I'll take it.
gail
That cheesecake is GORGEOUS!!! It must be sooo good. Awesome combo! Lucky brother he is.
Laura
That is simply gorgeous. I love lemon and cheesecake.
Pamela
What a sweet sister you are! That cake looks fabulous! I just made this one over Easter and it was so good!! Nice job.
Tangled Noodle
What a lovely, sweet treat to celebrate your brother's birthday! I can empathize - all of my sisters live near each other on the West Coast while I'm the only one in the Midwest. We visit them once a year (if possible) but we always miss our birthdays with each other. It's the reason we cherish the times we do have together even more!
Anj
That is one seriously beautiful cheesecake. I love the lemon swirls. What a lucky brother.
Angie
That cheesecake looks great. It makes me wish I wasn't allergic to cheesecake.
Delectable Dining
This looks wonderful!
I left an award for you on my blog... I love reading your wonderful recipes!
http://www.delectabledining09.blogspot.com
Anonymous
That is a beautiful cheesecake Shelby!
Jam
Katie
What a beautiful cheesecake! I am a firm advocate of celebrating birthdays, even if the person whose birthday it is isn't present.
Coleen's Recipes
Happy Birthday to Honeybunches little brother!!
Chowhound
That cheese cake looks phenomenal! Happy birthday to your brother.
Katy ~
Steve, happy birthday! Many happy returns!
HoneyB, I LUV cheesecake! YUMMERS!
Megan
I love lemon, I love cheesecake!
Nuf said? 😉
Design Tutorials
Hey Steve Happy Birthday Nice cake peace
Elyse
Awww, happy bday, Steve!! Steve is lucky to have such a wonderful sister! This cheesecake looks amazing. I'm just loving the swirl of lemon curd. How totally fantastic.
Debbie
Little brothers are great! But I feel EXACTLY as you do.... too bad we're so far apart.
Happy day!!
Tatieva
Oh, ce que ça a l'air délicieux !
J'aime beaucoup la couleur du citron, c'est frais, léger et acidulé, délicieux !
Kisses from France,
Tatieva
RecipeGirl
Wow, does that look like a wonderful cheesecake! I love the lemony swirl 🙂 Happy bday to your little bro!
cindy
I love lemon, I love cheesecake. It looks delish!
JMom
That is one gorgeous looking cake! Happy birthday to your brother Steve 🙂
TheGourmetGirl
Two of my all time favorites, lemon and cheese (cake)!
Great recipe thanks for sharing, will have to give it a try in the near future.
TeaLady
I lOVE cheese cake and that ones looks fantastic. I have wanted to use lemon curd in one, but couldn't think of a really good way to do it. Now I know how...
Debi
Wish I could have a piece right now!
Your brother is lucky to have a sister who takes time out to bake such a delicious treat.
Lynnylu
Nice work on the lemon curd swirl. I'm sure your brother enjoyed this beautiful cheesecake.
The Hungry Mouse
Whoa! That looks SO good!
+Jessie