Lemon meringue cheesecake - or the best cake you ever had!

In the beginning of March some dear friends and colleagues from Denmark visited us at the new studio and Nora made the most delicious cake.

When our dear friends Signe and Sif visited us last month it wasn’t the best timing - we were in the middle of our break-up and in the last renovation chaos before the big move (which kind of feels like the messiest renovation phase to me - I mean who enjoys packing and unpacking 30 moving boxes?!). But we hadn’t seen each other for so long and still cherished every second of it. And as always when you are in good company the days went by way too fast. It’s kind of a miracle to me that Nora was in the mood for baking during this stressful time but she did make this wonderful gluten-free lemon cheese cake for us and we were all so impressed. In fact we all agreed that this was the most delicious cake of our life and while that may sound a bit dramatic it’s just the truth :) And all of us have a sweet tooth, so that is definitely a huge compliment.
We are curious if you agree with us - we hope you enjoy the recipe - happy baking!

The recipe - lemon curd meringue cheesecake - gluten-free

Ingredients for a 26cm springform pan

Pastry

250g gluten-free flour mix
1 tsp baking powder
80g cane sugar
1 pinch of salt
100g soft butter
1 egg (size medium or large)

Filling

600g quark
250g mascarpone
200g sour cream
300g whipping cream
2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
225g cane sugar
1 pinch ground vanilla
52g cornstarch

Lemon curd & meringue

250g lemon curd
3 egg whites
150g sugar (a fine sort preferably, which dissolves quickly)
1 pinch of salt
a kitchen torch

2 lemons for decoration (1 with edible skin)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/360°F top and bottom heat. Line the bottom of the springform pan with baking paper, butter the sides. Mix gluten-free flour with baking powder, sugar and salt, then add the soft butter and knead everything, add the egg and continue kneading. If the pastry is too crumbly or dry, add 1-2 tablespoons of cold water. Spread the pastry very thin on the bottom and 3cm high on the edge of the springform pan - using your fingers (leave the pastry in the fridge until you’ve prepared the filling). For the filling, mix all the ingredients except the cornstarch in a mixing bowl with the electric whisk, then beat in the cornstarch. Pour the filling into the springform pan and bake the gluten-free cheesecake for 55-60 minutes. Switch off the oven, place a wooden spoon in the oven door and let the cheesecake slowly cool down for a couple of hours, the best overnight.

Last but not least, spread the lemon curd evenly on the top and prepare the meringue. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt semi-stiff, then gradually add the sugar and beat for 5 minutes. Spread the meringue with a tablespoon or baking spatula on the lemon curd cheesecake. Burn the meringue with the kitchen torch and decorate with halved lemon slices and lemon zests.