Cheesecake:

• Bring all the cheesecake ingredients to room temp 
• Preheat oven to 350F (conventional, no fan)
• Grind the graham crackers and butter in a food processor until they form a fine crumb
• Line the bottom of a 9” springform pan with parchment, and add the crust ingredients. Pack very tightly using a measuring cup, pushing some crust up the edges
• Bake the crust for 8 min, then remove from the oven and set oven temp to 325F. Wrap 2 large sheets of aluminum foil on the outside of the pan (covering the bottom and edges)
• For the cheesecake batter, use the paddle attachment on a stand mixer to whip the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and salt on medium speed for 3-5 min until creamy. Keep scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything combines evenly
• Break the eggs in a separate bowl and whisk lightly. Don’t overbeat because if the eggs get airy they will give a spongy texture to the cheesecake. Add them to the batter slowly whiling mixing at a low speed until JUST combined. Scrape the bowl again
• Add the cream, sour cream, cornstarch and lemon juice, and mix at low speed until just combined. Keep scraping sides of the bowl
• Pour the batter into the pan with the baked crust. Gently tap the pan 20-30 times on the counter to remove any large air bubbles 
• Place a large tray in your oven and fill it with 1-2 inches of boiling water. Place the pan in the water and bake for about ~80 min at 325F. Don’t open the oven until at least 75 min. When done, the cheesecake should have firm edges, a cooked layer on top, but be very jiggly in the middle
• Remove the cheesecake pan from the oven and let it cool at room temp for 2 hours. After this, place the pan in the fridge and chill overnight for at least 12 hours

Lemon curd:

• Add the lemon juice, eggs, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and salt to a nonstick saucepan and stir to combine
• Place on the stove on the lowest heat setting and cook while stirring constantly until the mixture becomes thicker and coats the back of a spoon (if you want the curd to be fully set after cooling, you can cook a bit longer until it looks like a thick custard)
• Turn off the heat and stir in the butter
• Strain the curd into a large bowl, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight 

Assembly and Swiss meringue:

• The next day, when the cheesecake and curd have fully cooled down, spread the curd on top of the cheesecake and place back in the fridge
• Add the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar to a clean heatproof glass bowl. Place the bowl it over a small saucepan with 1-2" of boiling water on low heat to make a double boiler; the glass bowl should not touch the water
• Whisk on medium speed over the double boiler until the mixture reaches ~150F and the sugar feels dissolved. This can take up to 10 minutes 
• Remove from heat and continue whisking on medium high speed until a stiff, glossy meringue forms. This can take another 5-8 minutes. Towards the end, add the salt and vanilla
• Remove the cheesecake from the pan and transfer to your serving stand
• Carefully slather the meringue on top of the curd. Finish by quickly torching the meringue with a blowtorch until it looks golden 
• Slice, serve and enjoy! Keep the cheesecake refrigerated

Video tutorial:

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