Lemon Cheesecake Mousse For One

Name: Lemon Cheesecake Mousse
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: ¼ cup graham cracker crumbs; 1 tablespoon salted butter (, melted); 2 ounces cream cheese (, softened); 3 tablespoons sugar; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; ½ teaspoon lemon zest; 4 ounces heavy cream

Jump to Recipe

This lemon cheesecake mousse is a light and creamy, no-bake dessert that's got the perfect balance of tart and sweet.

Lemon cheesecake mousse garnished with thin lemon slices on a glass plate with three whole lemons in the background on a metal tray

Why This Recipe Works

A lemon cheesecake mousse is soft, light, and absolutely delicious!
No baking is necessary. The ingredients are whipped together and refrigerated. No bake cheesecakes are different than traditional cheesecakes, they have more of a light and airy, mousse-like consistency rather than a dense, custard-like filling. No-bake cheesecakes are very easy to make.
It's the perfect spring-summer dessert and so hard to resist!
The flavor is fresh and lemony and can be ready in less than 1 hour.

Ingredients

See recipe box below for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions.

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For the crust

Graham crackers: Graham crackers are sweet whole wheat cookies made from graham flour. They are commonly found in the US in the cookie aisle of the grocery store. You can also use lemon cream-filled cookies or vanilla wafers. In the UK, you might like to use digestive biscuits instead.
Butter: Melted butter helps hold the crust together.

For the lemon cheesecake mousse

Cream cheese: Make sure you use cream cheese from a block of real cream cheese, not cream cheese spread. Also, make sure it's room temperature.
Sugar: 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar provides the perfect amount of sweetness and helps balance the tart taste of lemon.
Lemon juice and lemon zest: I prefer using freshly squeezed lemon juice and you can easily zest the skin of the lemon you are using. If you only have bottled lemon juice, that is perfectly okay to use. Just leave out the zest but keep in mind that even a small amount of lemon zest adds a large amount of flavor. Without the zest, the lemon flavor won't be as pronounced.
Heavy cream: Beating heavy cream into stiff peaks is a very important step in this recipe. It is the secret to a thick no-bake cheesecake filling. Heavy cream is also called double cream.

How To Make This Recipe

Pour crumbs into a small bowl and stir in melted butter.
Spoon crumbs into dessert dish and press down with the back of a spoon. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest.
Pour the heavy cream into another small bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 2-3 minutes.
Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
Spoon over the cookie crust and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

a small pie topped with lemon slices with a triangle taken out.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Thicken No-Bake Cheesecake?

As mentioned in the ingredient notes, the most important step is to beat cold heavy cream into stiff peaks. Be sure to fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese filling gently so that the cream doesn't deflate. The filling thickens in the refrigerator.

Can This Recipe Be Doubled?

Yes! If you'd like to make two cheesecakes, double the ingredients.

What Is The Best Dish To Use?

The dishes I most often use in this recipe are mini pie/tart pans, an 8.5-ounce or a 10-ounce ramekin. These dishes can be found on our Cookware Page and our Bakeware Page.
You could even make a crustless cheesecake by leaving out the crust and spooning the cheesecake mousse into a pretty dessert dish.

Do You Have Other Single Serving Pie Recipes?

We do! Here are a few of our most popular pie recipes:
* Peanut Butter Pie
* Banana Cream Pie
* Key Lime Pie
* Pumpkin Pie
* Coconut Cream Pie
* Sweet Potato Pie
* Pecan Pie

Expert Tips

This cheesecake can be made 1-2 days in advance. It can be refrigerated for up to 2 days before eating.
You can make the crust 1-2 days ahead of time. To freeze the crust only, cover and place the crust in the freezer for 1 hour, then cover tightly and refrigerate for 1-2 days before adding the filling.
Bring the cream cheese to room temperature before using. This helps to guarantee a smooth cheesecake filling. The heavy cream MUST be cold in order to whip into stiff peaks.
You can certainly enjoy this lemon cheesecake mousse right after you make it. However, if you refrigerate the cheesecake for a few hours you'll end up with a firmer, yet still mousse-like consistency.

Overhead view of a spoonful of lemon cheesecake mousse in a dessert glass on a white cloth napkin and a bowl of lemons all on a metal tray

Ways To Use Leftover Ingredients

If you have any ingredients leftover from this lemon cheesecake recipe you might like to consider using them in any of these single serving recipes:

Graham crackers: Icebox Cake, Key Lime Pie Ice Cream, Lemon Mango Pie
Cream cheese: Mini Carrot Cake, Red Velvet Donuts, Mini Pineapple Oat Cake, Pumpkin Bars
Lemon juice/lemon zest: Lemon Bars, Lemon Blueberry Muffin, Lemon Curd

More Cheesecake Desserts

You might also like to try these single serving cheesecake recipes:

Forkful of lemon cheesecake mousse on a glass plate with whole lemons and a mug of coffee on a metal tray

If you’ve tried this lemon cheesecake mousse or any recipe on One Dish Kitchen please let me know how you liked it by rating the recipe and telling me about it in the comment section below.

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