This Earl Grey and Lemon Cheesecake is tart, citrusy, floral, and decadently creamy. With an Earl Grey tea infused cheesecake filling, this cheesecake (which is technically a tart!) is topped with a bright lemon curd and baked into a graham cracker and Biscoff cookie crust. Each bite is smooth, with a bit of crunch from the crust, and delicious.
These past couple of weeks have been odd and tiring. I’ve been unable to focus on any writing, have barely been able to open a book, and groaned whenever I realized I had yet to give my sourdough starts its once-a-week feeding. My body has been tired and sore and my brain just cannot focus. So it’s surprising that I was actually excited about making this Earl Grey and Lemon Cheesecake.
These past couple of weeks have been odd and tiring. I’ve been unable to focus on any writing, have barely been able to open a book, and groaned whenever I realized I had yet to give my sourdough starts its once-a-week feeding. My body has been tired and sore and my brain just cannot focus. So it’s surprising that I was actually excited about making this Earl Grey and Lemon Cheesecake.
Cheesecake, especially baked cheesecake, is one of those desserts that I was always scared to try making. It seems intimidating and everywhere you look there’s so much information on how to cook it–in a water bath or not–in order to ensure that the top doesn’t crack or brown too fast. This recipe doesn’t require all that trouble though and it bakes nicely with minimal cracking (just be careful not to overbeat, overbake, and allow it to cool to room-temp before putting it in the fridge). Any minimal cracking won’t be noticed anyway as this Earl Grey infused cheesecake is topped with a layer of thick lemon curd.
Tea is one of those flavors that’s hard to convey in baked goods, but this cheesecake base gets its flavor from both simmering and steeping tea bags in heavy cream and stirring tea leaves directly into the mix. Between the bergamot and the lemon, this cheesecake is definitely citrus forward, but there’s a floral note at the base of every bite.
The crust–a combination of graham cracker and Biscoff–was completely accidental the first time around, but has added a wonderful layer of toasty, nutty spice that complements the tea and lemon flavors. And the curd–it is bright and tart, absolutely delicious, and shockingly easy to whip up! This is another one of the desserts that I just cannot allow myself to have around for much longer than a day (especially not after just getting back to dieting and trying to eat healthier!) because I will keep going back to it.
| Prep Time | 45 minutes |
| Cook Time | 100 minutes |
| Passive Time | 4-12 hours |
| Servings |
slices
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- 350 grams graham crackers
- 100 grams Biscoff cookies
- 150 grams granulated sugar
- 255 grams salted butter melted
- 236 mL heavy cream
- 8 sachets Earl Grey tea
- 188 grams granulated sugar
- 38 grams corn starch
- 680 grams cream cheese softened
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 150 grams nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 3 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs large, room temp
- 68 grams granulated sugar
- 125 mL lemon juice
- 3 Tbsp lemon zest
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 egg large
- 1 pinch salt
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter softened
Ingredients
Graham Cracker & Biscoff Crust
Earl Grey Cheesecake
Lemon Curd
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- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- In a food processor, grind the graham crackers and Biscoff cookies into fine crumbs. Transfer to a large bowl and whisk together with the granulated sugar. Pour in the melted butter and stir until all of the crumbs have been dampened and you can squeeze them together in your palm and they'll stick together.
- Evenly press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of a 9" springform pan. Bake on the middle rack of your oven for 10-12 minutes to set and ensure a crisp crust. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool while you prepare the cheesecake filling.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to simmer over medium heat. Add in 7 of the Earl Grey tea bags. Simmer for 2 minutes then remove the pan from the heat. Allow to steep for an additional 5-7 minutes. Squeeze any liquid from the teabags and allow to cool to room temperature. Cut the remaining bag of tea open and stir the loose leaves into the cream. You should have about 150 mL of heavy cream remaining once simmered and steeped.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Add in the softened cream cheese and beat until combined. Add in the Earl Grey infused heavy cream and the Greek yogurt. Beat on medium until smooth and combined. Mix in the lemon and vanilla. Turn the mixture down to low and beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just combined and the mixture is silky and smooth.
- Pour the cheesecake filling into the prepared crust. Place the cheesecake on a large baking sheet and bake on the middle rack for 63-70 minutes, until the sides of the cheesecake have firmed up and the center still has a slight wobble. Turn off the oven and prop the slightly open with a wooden spoon. Leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature for another 3 hours before transferring to the refrigerator to chill.
- Bring a large pot of water to a simmer. Place a large bowl on top, it shouldn't touch the water. Whisk together the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, egg yolks, egg, and salt in the double boiler over medium heat. Whisk constantly for 12-15 minutes until the curd begins to foam and then thicken. Once thickened, remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the butter a little at a time until shiny.
- Pass the curd through a sieve to make sure none of the egg scrambled. Chill while the cheesecake cools. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap so that the wrap touches the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming and place in the refrigerator. Once the cheesecake has had time to chill in the fridge, spread the curd over the top of the filling. Remove from the springform pan, slice, and serve.
This sounds absolutely amazing!
Thanks Elinor! 🙂 I hope you have a chance to give it a try!
I was really excited about this. I followed everything in this recipe to a Tea (;p) but unfortunately it was a bust. The crust became a rock hard brick, the filling seemed to have lost it’s earl grey flavor after baking and I had to cut the lemon curd topping amount in half because it was over powering. I was looking forward to an earl gray cheesecake but ended up with a slightly spicy cheesecake with a tangy twist and a tooth breaking crust. Any ideas on what I could have done to make this work out better?