This lemon cheesecake mousse is a light and creamy, no-bake dessert that's got the perfect balance of tart and sweet.
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.
RELATED: The Best Cookie Recipes For One
Ingredients
See recipe box below for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions.
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.
RELATED: Easy Single Serving Comfort Food Recipes
This lemon cheesecake is the perfect size for one or two people to enjoy.
Frequently Asked Questions
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.
Yes! If you'd like to make two cheesecakes, double the ingredients.
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.
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
* Blueberry 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.
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 Single Serving Cheesecake Desserts
You might also like to try these single serving cheesecake recipes:
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.
Also, if you take a picture please tag us on Instagram (@onedishkitchen) we’d love to see!
Lemon Cheesecake Mousse
See the post above for expert tips,
FAQs and ways to use leftover ingredients.
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup graham cracker crumbs (2 large sheets of graham crackers or use 5 lemon cream filled cookies such as Lemon Oreos)
- 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
Instructions
- Place the 2 sheets of graham crackers (or 5 cream filled cookies) in a zip-topped bag and roll with a rolling pin or heavy can to crush.
- 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. *(See notes)
- In a separate bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest. Set aside.
- Pour the heavy cream into another small bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 4 minutes.
- Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
- Spoon over the cookie crust and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
Notes
- 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.
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Lynne Marie says
This was very good. I used lemon extract instead of the lemon zest. I will be making this again.
Chari says
Such a good dessert and so easy to make. Only thing I did different was add a teaspoon of vanilla extract..... Cause I like vanilla
Sherri Sullivan says
Very good and the best part was it was so fast and easy to make.
Ann Foehner says
Cheese Cake, I am wondering if you can use this same recipe and do it in a small spring form pan? I can't seem to find a recipe using a spring form pan and wanted to make it like for Christmas Eve or Da y desert. What are your suggestions?
thanks so much!
Joanie Zisk says
Ann, this lemon cheesecake has a mousse-like texture and is not as firm as a traditional cheesecake so I don't think it will work well in a spring form pan. If you want to use the spring form pan, you could do an upside down cake ( https://onedishkitchen.com/caramelized-banana-upside-down-cake/ ) and feel free to use a different fruit, if necessary. The pan used is a 7-inch pan. If the pan you are using is smaller, you might like to try the flourless chocolate cake - https://onedishkitchen.com/flourless-chocolate-cake-for-one/
Dawn says
Delicious
Kasey says
Kathy says
I made this today without the crust, mostly to save a few calories. Loved it. I could hardly wait for it to chill.
Next time I’ll crush one little section of graham cracker to sprinkle on top just for texture, or a vanilla wafer would be good.
Joanie Zisk says
I'm so happy you enjoyed the recipe. Thank you for your feedback.
Mary says
So quick and easy. I made it without a crust in a parfait dish with fresh blueberries. I like the idea of adding lemon cookies with the mousse. I recently bought some Pepperidge Farm lemon cookies that would be great with this. I am learning to cook for one and have made several recipes from your site. In fact I had curried cream of vegetable soup using your curried carrot soup recipe.
Joanie Zisk says
I'm so happy you are enjoying the recipes, Mary. Thank you so much for letting me know.
Susan Jones says
The lemon Oreos or snaps sound delish! If you want to use with the mousse, I suggest crushing up some and just layering with the mousse to make a parfait. This will be on the menu as soon as I can go get the cookies!
Judy says
Oh my gosh, that was sooo good. I made it without the crust because I don't have the small pans yet but I'm going to order them asap.
Joanie Zisk says
I love it without the crust too, Judy. Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed the recipe. It makes me so happy to hear!