Cheesecake:

1. Bring all the cheesecake ingredients to room temp 
2. Preheat oven to 350F (conventional, no fan)
3. Grind the graham crackers and butter in a food processor until they form a fine crumb
4. 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
5. 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)
6. 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
7. 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 while mixing at a low speed until JUST combined. Scrape the bowl again
8. Add the cream, sour cream, cornstarch and lemon juice, and mix at low speed until just combined. Keep scraping sides of the bowl
9. 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 
10. 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
11. 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:

1. Add the lemon juice, eggs, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and salt to a nonstick saucepan and stir to combine
2. 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)
3. Turn off the heat and stir in the butter
4. Strain the curd into a large bowl, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight 

Assembly and Swiss meringue:

1. 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
2. Add the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar to a clean heatproof glass bowl. Place the bowl 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
3. 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 
4. 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
5. Remove the cheesecake from the pan and transfer to your serving stand
6. Carefully slather the meringue on top of the curd. Finish by quickly torching the meringue with a blowtorch until it looks golden 
7. Slice, serve and enjoy! Keep the cheesecake refrigerated