Japanese style lemon rare cheesecake is a light and refreshing dessert, perfect for summer! The base is flavoured with lemon zest and the cheesecake mixture is made with yogurt, creating a well balanced no-bake cheesecake with the perfect amount of zing!
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What is Rare Cheesecake?
Rare cheesecake is basically the Japanese term for a no-bake cheesecake. The best thing about no bake cheesecakes is of course, you don't have to bake! This is great seeing as owning an oven in Japan is a bit of a luxury.
Not only that, but in the summer many people don't feel like baking... but we still need dessert in summer right?!
No-bake cheesecakes are usually lighter than their baked counterparts, which makes them refreshing and equally delicious!
How is Japanese Rare Cheesecake Different?
Whilst many no-bake cheesecake recipes use whipped cream to help make the mixture thicker, Japanese rare cheesecake uses yogurt and gelatin instead.
The yogurt adds a little bit of sourness and makes the cheesecake lighter. It also becomes a little more calorie friendly compared to double cream.
While baked cheesecakes often hold their shape by using eggs, rare cheesecake achieves stability through the use of gelatin, the same ingredient used to make jelly.
Using Gelatin
Gelatin Powder
If you're new to using gelatin, I have a few tips to help ensure you get it right first time round!
- First sprinkle the gelatin into cold water. If you do the reverse and pour water onto the gelatin, it tends to clump together. If you do this by accident, don't fear! You just have to mix it more to break it up.
- Use cold or warm water, not hot. If you use hot water, the powder expands too quickly and could cause inconsistency in the texture of the cheesecake.
- Leave the gelatin in the water for 5-10 minutes so it can 'bloom'. This is when the powder granules absorb the water and expand.
- After 10 minutes, the gelatin gets thicker but will still be lumpy.
- Before adding it to your cheesecake mixture, melt it a bit. You can do this in a saucepan but microwave is quicker and easier, about 30 seconds or so should do it!
Gelatin Sheets
To make things more confusing, you can also buy gelatin in "sheets" or "leaves". Some people claim that gelatin sheets are better than powder so if you want to use them you can!
Around 6 sheets are equal to 7g of gelatin powder. Soak the sheets in cold water for about 5 minutes, then take out the sheets, squeeze out the excess liquid and mix them with 60ml of hot water to dissolve them. You can then just add them to the cheesecake mixture, the same as the powder. Make sure the sheets are fully dissolved before adding them to your cheesecake mixture.
Because of the lemon juice and yogurt, this Japanese style Rare Cheesecake is a little sour whilst being deliciously light and refreshing! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Check out our video for Japanese Style Lemon Rare Cheesecake (No-Bake)
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Japanese Style Lemon Rare Cheesecake (レモンレアチーズケーキ)
- Total Time: 3 hours 20 mins
- Yield: 8 Slices 1x
Description
How to make light and refreshing Japanese Style Lemon Rare Cheesecake made with yogurt and a zesty base flavoured with lemon zest.
Ingredients
For this recipe, you will need:
- 18cm / 7" Cake tin (springform or one with removable base is best)
- Parchment or baking paper to line the base
- Sieve
For the base
- 100g plain rich tea biscuits/graham crackers
- 70g Unsalted butter
- Zest of 1 Lemon
For the Cheesecake
- 300g Cream cheese
- 300g Plain no-fat yogurt
- 90g Granulated sugar
- 7g (2 and ½ tsp) Gelatin powder
- 60ml Cold water
- Juice of ½ Lemon
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
Instructions
Making the Base
- Place 70g of cubed butter into a microwavable container and microwave in 20 second intervals (mixing each time) until fully melted.
- Grate the zest of one lemon into the butter and mix.
- Place 100g of rich tea biscuits (or graham crackers) into a zip lock back and bash them up using a rolling pin until they become fine crumbs.
- Pour the melted butter into the bag and rub the butter into the crumbs, making sure there are no crumbs left dry.
- Butter an 18cm cake tin around the edge and cut a circular piece of parchment paper. Line the bottom of the tin. (If you don't have a baking tin with a removable base or spring form cake tin, cut two long pieces of parchment paper and put them underneath the circular piece. They should be going across the middle vertically and horizontally, hanging over the edge so that you can use them to pull the cheesecake out later.)
- Pour the buttery crumbs into the cake tin and press them down firmly with a flat based glass. Store it in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the cheesecake.
Making the Filling
- Pour 60ml of cold water into a small glass bowl and add 7g of gelatin powder. Mix and leave for 5-10 minutes to allow the powder to expand.
- Add 300g of cream cheese to a microwavable bowl and heat in 30 second intervals, mixing each time until softened.
- Whisk the cream cheese until it becomes smooth and lump free, then add 90g of sugar. Whisk until smooth.
- Add the 300g of yogurt and continue to whisk.
- Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and 1 tsp of vanilla extract, whisking between each ingredient.
- Your gelatin powder should of thickened by now. Fully melt the gelatin by microwaving in 20 second intervals OR melt in a double boiler.
- Once your gelatin is lump-free, immediately add into your cheesecake mixture and mix well.
- Take your base from the fridge and pour the cheesecake mixture onto the base. (If you want it to be extra smooth, pour it through a sieve first.)
- Smooth over the top and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
- Cut, serve and enjoy! This recipe makes one 18cm diameter cheesecake which can be cut into about 8 slices!
Notes
If you use gelatin sheets instead of powder, you will need about 6 sheets.
If you use agar agar, you need to following different instructions as it needs boiling time. When I made this recipe with agar agar powder, I used 2 tbsp (20g) and boiled it in a pan with 100ml of water. You can see full instructions on how to make this recipe with agar agar powder in the blog post above.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Mixing
- Cuisine: Japanese
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