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Blood Orange Cheesecake

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Everyone has their favourite go-to dessert recipe. It tends to surface around special occasions and has been around for as long as they can remember.

It’s probably won them a few friends, helped to keep a few more, and is the most requested recipe by these friends. It is both fail-proof and flexible!


I recently realized that this perfectly describes my citrus cheesecake recipe. It’s absolutely my ‘go-to’ recipe.

I’ve been making it for over ten years now and it has served probably hundreds of people at countless celebrations: graduations, baby showers, and birthdays galore.

Why on earth I haven’t shared it with you yet is beyond me! Please forgive the delay–I haven’t been holding out on you on purpose, really–and be sure to give this cheesecake a go.


Feel free to use whatever citrus you have on hand. In this recipe I made this cheesecake with blood oranges, which are in season right now, but it’s also lovely with limes, Mayer lemons or clementines.

And if you love cheesecake, try my Wild Blueberry Slab Cheesecake! It’s the best kind of summertime dessert. And if you have extra blood oranges, try this simple yet elegant Panna Cotta.

Citrus Cheesecake

A classic, no fail recipe for a tangy citrus cheesecake. May be prepared with any citrus: oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, etc. My go-to, make-ahead dessert that feeds a crowd.
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Baking
Essential Ingredient: Citrus
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
cool in oven: 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours
Servings: 10 people

Ingredients

For the Crust

  • 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted

For the Filling

  • 3 8oz packages cream cheese room temperature
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup sour cream full fat
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 blood orange or orange
  • 5 large eggs room temperature

For the Topping

  • 1 1/2 cups sour cream full fat
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 blood orange or lemon

Instructions

Make the crust

  • Preheat oven to 330℉. Place oven rack in the center of the oven.
  • In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Mix with a spatula until well combined. Dump into a 9 inch springform pan and press down to form the crust. You can go partially up the sides.
  • Place on the center rack of the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Make the filling

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add sour cream. Zest both the lemon and blood orange into the bowl. Juice both citrus, strain the juice and add everything to the cheesecake batter. Mix well.
  • Add eggs, one at a time, beating the batter on low until just combined. Pour the filling over the prepared crust.
  • Bake cheesecake for 60 minutes. Then turn off the oven, crack open the door and let the cake cool down with the oven for 30 minutes. This helps achieve the perfect texture! After, remove and cool completley on the counter. Loosen around the sides with a knife.

Make the Topping

  • Combine sour cream and sugar in a medium bowl. Zest in the blood orange or lemon. Add 2 Tablespoons citrus juice. Stir well to combine.
  • Pour over the top of the cheesecake and let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature. Sometimes I remove the outer ring of the pan and let the sour cream topping drip down the sides of the cheesecake.
  • Cool the cheesecake completely in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours and up to 36 hours. To serve, cut into wedges with a hot knife. Serve as is, or with fresh fruit, or berry compote.

Notes

For best results use Philadelphia original brick cream cheese.
Have all ingredients at room temperature before baking.
Don't over beat the batter once the eggs are added; you don't want to incorporate too much air. this can cause the cheesecake to rise around the edges and crater in the center.
May be baked in advance and stored up to 2 days in the fridge.

Cooking has always been Aimée's preferred recreational activity, creative outlet, and source of relaxation. After nearly ten years in the professional cooking industry, she went from restaurant to RSS by trading her tongs and clogs for cookie cutters and a laptop, serving as editor here at Simple Bites. Her first book, Brown Eggs and Jam Jars - Family Recipes from the Kitchen of Simple Bites, was published in February 2015.

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48 Comments

  2. Gorgeous! And so seasonal. I’m totally salivating, and I DID have breakfast this morning! Really.

    What do you do when blood oranges get scarce?

    Reply

  8. Hi Maria- You can borrow it if you need a ‘go to’!

    Hi Lo- I generally use lemons and naval oranges.

    Hi Abigail- Hmm, don’t think it would ship OK, but you can make this!!

    Hi Cookiepie- Thanks.

    Hi Lynn- It’s proven itself over and over.

    Hi Kristen- That it is. Thanks!

    Reply

  9. Mmm this look sooo good! Are blood oranges in season now? I bought a 3 lb bag the other day and was wondering what to do with them. Now I know!

    Reply

  15. Hi Peter- Agh Twitter spilling onto the blog! This could get confusing.

    Hi Lisa- Yep. They make a pretty salad, too, slices and dressed with some shaved fennel.

    Hi Shari- Actually the oranges are pretty sweet themselves, but the dessert it not overly sweet.

    Hi Linda- Thanks! it’s simply done, but effective.

    Hi Suesse- Welcome to UtHC! Thank you for stopping by.

    Hi pigpigscorner- Nice of you to stop by and leave a comment. Welcome!

    Hi Helene- We’re huge cheesecake fans around here, but not everyone feels the same way! Glad you do!

    Reply

  17. So, you’ve been holding out have you? What else (yummy) haven’t you shared with us? LOL!

    Looks really good. Love how you added those little slices of blood orange. That red is something else!

    Thank you for sharing!
    ~ingrid

    Reply

  20. This recipe looks absolutely delicious! I want it to be my go-to recipe, too!! How fabulous the layers of crust, cheesecake and sour cream topping look. So elegant and delicious and creamy!

    Reply

  23. Your cheesecake looks delicious – what a fabulous go-to recipe! My go-to recipe is lemon meringue pie – its something about citrus!

    Reply

  24. One of your go to recipes was for cheesecake and you have been holding out on us?! I am a total cheesecake fanatic and will being making this asap.
    Thank you 🙂

    Reply

  25. Wow, beautiful! And I was on the hunt for a great dessert recipe to use my bag of blood oranges on. Thanks! Lovely photos, too!

    Reply

  27. Hi Lydia- I wasn’t a huge fan before this one…just to say.

    Hi Ingrid- I’ve still got plenty to offer, don’t worry!

    Hi Haidi- The kids will thank you. I hear Marley is a fan.

    Hi Treehouse Chef- Thanks!

    Hi Elyse- I’m happy to share it!

    Hi culinarywannabe- Lime would be amazing.

    Hi Patricia- I thought you’d like this one!

    Hi Lucy- Mmm, I’m due for a LM pie.

    Hi Michelle- Forgive me, OK? 🙂

    Hi Siri- Thanks for stopping by UtHC!

    Hi jenn- Really? I find that surprising. Isn’t Florida like the orange state or something? You could probably grow your own!!

    Reply

  32. Can I hug you?! This looks so amazing! I’ve never made a cheesecake so beautiful. I’m trying to figure out how much cream cheese you used. 4 (8-ounce) packages? It’s very tall.

    I’m disappointed I haven’t seen any blood oranges this year.. I love them so.

    Reply

  35. Hi Peabody- So many fans of the blood orange. Who knew?

    Hi M. Housman- Really, it’s fabulous with any citrus.

    Hi Cheryl- Thanks for dropping by!

    Hi Kickpleat- Seriously? Yep, you gotta try this one.

    Hi Emily- Thanks!! A little over 2 pkg. They are 250g each, so two is 500g, and I used 675g.

    Hi Missweb- So?? Hope it came out nice…but I know it did.

    Hi Dawn- Thanks for stopping by UtHC!

    Reply

  42. This cake looks absolutely stunning! Wow. I can see why you’ve been making it for the last 10 years. =) I love you put little slices of orange on the top of the cake around the edge.

    Reply

  43. Looks delish! I'm getting ready to make it! I have to improvise, though. I wasn't able to find blood oranges (in Florida, go figure). But I found Blood Orange Juice.
    I decided to reduce the juice down to a simple syrup and I am going to flavor it that way. I figure that will make up for the lack of blood orange zest and fresh blood orange juice.
    I'm also throwing a little spice in there, and using a cinnamon orange spice tea (ground to a powder with my magic bullet) and putting it in the graham cracker crust. 🙂
    I'll let you know how it comes out!

    Reply

  44. Hey i made this yesterday and im pretty confident your directions are incorrect.

    First there is sour cream listed in the filling ingredients but it is never added in the directions. additionally there is just no way that the cake pictured was made with that ingredient list in a 10in spring form. Thats just under 3 bricks of cream cheese. I made mine in a 9.5 so mine should have been taller than yours but mine came out about 1.5 inches tall. are you sure on that pan? 8 inch seems more likely to turn out as pictured.

    Reply

  45. Hello,

    I stumbled upon your blog while doing research on blood oranges for class my project. Im in culinary school and for my first phase ending project im adding your cheesecake as part of my project! Thank you!

    Ronnie
    (cookingschoolreject.blogspot.com)

    Reply

  46. Could someone write his recipe without all the pictures. Would like to print it out but don't like using all the paper and ink that it would take to print everything. Thanks.

    Reply