Raspberry Lemon Curd Cheesecake

This raspberry lemon curd cheesecake is pretty heavenly. It’s a creamy vanilla cheesecake with a lemon cookie crust (which honestly sounds perfect on it’s own some days) topped with lemon curd and raspberry curd swirled together. It ends up with a beautiful marbled top to go with the luscious flavor.

Fresh lemon is one of the best smells. When I zest or squeeze fresh lemon juice I swear I could get high off how my hands smell. It reminds me of being a kid/teenager and living in Arizona when we had a lemon tree in the backyard. My mom would make lemonade and squeeze lemon juice into ice cube trays so you could have cold fresh lemonade on demand in the summer.

I didn’t actually know what lemon curd was until a few years ago. My family came to visit and we went over to the Olympic peninsula. One of the mornings we went to this family owned Amish diner and I had blueberry French toast with lemon curd on it and it seriously was the best breakfast I’ve ever had in my life. My brother in law had an equally good breakfast and we feel bad because everyone else at the table had just normally adequate food and we can’t shut up about a meal we had years ago at this point.

Since that moment I’m always looking for ways to incorporate lemon or lemon curd into bakes. My husband and I had cheesecake for our wedding cake. It was a raspberry and lemon cheesecake and it was SO good. So while this cheesecake is nothing really similar to that cake, it inspired me to make something with similar flavors and let me tell you it’s heavenly.

Baking Notes & Tips

Baking cheesecake intimidates some people, I know it used to with me but it’s really just making sure to not overbake. Your cheesecake is done with the outer few inches is set but the center jiggles when you shake the pan gently. That is telling you the center isn’t quite baked through but that’s okay! The residual heat is going to keep baking the cheesecake far after the oven is turned off, and will finish the cheesecake for you. If you wait until the center is firm, your cheesecake may split and will probably be a bit dry and overbaked.

When the cheesecake gets to that point, turn the oven off but leave the cheesecake in. I use a wooden spoon to prop the oven door open just a crack, this allows heat to escape but not so quickly it messes with the cheesecake. You’ll let it sit for at least an hour, and then transfer it to the refrigerator uncovered. Covering the cheesecake is fine but it can lead to condensation on the top because like I mentioned, your cheesecake is still baking and setting.

When swirling the curd on top, you are free to use whatever ratios you choose. Personally I like to use more lemon than raspberry but if you love raspberry more than lemon, you can do that. The design is also totally up to you, if you don’t want to marble it and just want to make it polka dots of one of the flavors, you can!

While this is called raspberry lemon curd cheesecake, it’s really just a good vanilla cheesecake. You can totally use this for baking a plain vanilla cheesecake and just make it with a graham cracker crust. But.. you really should try it with the curd topping because it just takes this to another level.

Raspberry Lemon Curd Cheesecake Key Ingredients

• Curd – The lemon and raspberry curds really make this raspberry lemon curd cheesecake. Without them, it’s just a vanilla cheesecake with lemon crust. If you’ve never had curd, it’s such a delight. It’s creamy and smooth and sweet. If you’ve never MADE curd, it’s much easier than you might think. You can buy it instead, however you’ll probably have a hard time finding raspberry curd in a store. Lemon curd will be easier to find.
• Lemon Cookies – I used lemon Oreo thins, however any lemon cookie will work. A lemon shortbread would work equally well if that is easier to find.
• Cream Cheese – Whenever you make cheesecake, you want to make sure that you buy full fat bricks of cream cheese. Cream cheese in the tubs, especially whipped can have a different texture that won’t bake exactly the same. Lower fat cream cheese can alter the texture and it will not feel as smooth and creamy when you eat it.