Fourteen items and five and a quarter hours, of which four are the fridge.
Mango turns up twice — once cooked into a glossy glaze and once as fresh cubes heaped on top of it. They are not the same thing and neither replaces the other.
Why This Recipe Works
- Key lime juice and zest through the filling flavour it without colouring it.
- Adding the eggs one at a time keeps a heavy cream cheese batter smooth.
- A low 325°F oven sets a nine-inch cheesecake without browning the surface.
- Cornstarch in the mango purée gives a glaze that holds rather than running.
- Adding fresh mango only after chilling keeps the cubes firm and bright.
Ingredient Notes
- Key lime juice and zest
- A third of a cup and a tablespoon, both into the filling. This is where the lime in the name lives, even though the filling stays pale.
- Mango purée with cornstarch
- A cup with a teaspoon of cornstarch. The starch is what turns a thin purée into a glaze that stays on top of the cake.
- Diced fresh mango
- One cup, on top after chilling. Separate from the purée and doing a completely different job.
- Lime zest for topping
- Beyond the tablespoon in the filling. The heavy green scatter on the finished wedge is the most visible lime in the whole recipe.
How to Make It
Oven to 325°F, crumb and butter pressed into a 9-inch springform
Heat oven to 325°F; press the crumb-and-butter mixture into a 9-inch springform pan.
Cream cheese and sugar smooth, eggs one at a time, then lime and vanilla
Beat cream cheese and sugar smooth; add eggs one at a time, then Key lime juice, 1 tbsp zest, and vanilla.
Baked forty-five to fifty minutes to a wobble, chilled four hours
Bake 45 to 50 minutes until edges are set and the center still has a slight wobble; cool, then refrigerate at least 4 hours.
Mango purée simmered with sugar and cornstarch until glossy, cooled
Simmer mango puree, 1 tbsp sugar, and cornstarch for 2 to 3 minutes until glossy; cool completely.
Glaze spread over the chilled cake, fresh mango and lime zest on top
Spread mango glaze over the chilled cheesecake, then top with fresh mango cubes and a heavy scatter of lime zest.
Mint to garnish, lime halves alongside
Garnish with mint and serve with lime halves alongside.
Both Named Fruits Are Here - One of Them Is Invisible
Looking at a wedge of this, the mango is obvious and the Key lime appears to be nothing more than a green scatter on top. That reading is wrong, and the stack below shows why: the lime is doing its work in a layer you cannot see it in, which is what lime does to a pale cheesecake.
A HEAVY scatter of LIME ZEST, then mint
More zest than the tablespoon already in the filling, and this is the only lime you can actually see. Heavy is the word that matters - the finished wedge carries a real green scatter, not a pinch. A MINT sprig on top and LIME HALVES alongside, both visible elements the title does not name.
The SECOND mango - fresh cubes, after the chill
1 cup of DICED FRESH MANGO heaped over the glaze. For safety, fresh mango goes on ONLY AFTER THE CAKE IS FULLY CHILLED - cut fruit sitting on a room-temperature cake is a holding problem, and it also softens and weeps. Cubes over glaze give two distinct mango textures.
The FIRST mango - a glaze, cooked and COOLED COMPLETELY
1 cup of MANGO PUREE simmered with 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp CORNSTARCH for 2 TO 3 MINUTES UNTIL GLOSSY. The cornstarch is what makes it a glaze rather than a sauce - without it the purée runs off a chilled surface and pools on the plate. COOLED COMPLETELY before it goes on: warm glaze on a cold cheesecake melts the top surface and the two blur together.
45 to 50 minutes at 325°F, then 4 HOURS cold
Baked UNTIL EDGES ARE SET AND THE CENTER STILL HAS A SLIGHT WOBBLE. The wobble is correct and worth trusting - a cheesecake is a custard and keeps setting off the heat. Then COOLED and REFRIGERATED AT LEAST 4 HOURS, which is both the rest of the setting and the safe cold hold.
The filling - and this is where the KEY LIME is
24 oz CREAM CHEESE beaten with 3/4 cup SUGAR SMOOTH, then 3 EGGS ONE AT A TIME, then 1/3 cup of KEY LIME JUICE, 1 tbsp of ZEST and 1 tsp VANILLA. A third of a cup of juice is a real quantity of lime and it flavours the whole cake, but citrus does not tint a cream-cheese filling - it stays pale. The eggs go in singly because three at once is more liquid than 24 oz of cheese will take without splitting.
The base - 2 cups of crumb, pressed into a 9-inch springform
With 6 tbsp of MELTED BUTTER. A springform rather than a fixed tin, because a nine-inch cheesecake cannot be turned out any other way without wrecking the top - and the top is where everything happens in this recipe.
Success Tips
- Zest all the limes before juicing any of them; it cannot be done the other way round.
- Cool the mango glaze completely or it will melt into a chilled cheesecake surface.
- Add the fresh mango cubes last, after the cake is fully cold.
Serving Ideas
Twelve wedges on a golden crumb base with a pale set filling, each flooded with glossy orange-yellow mango glaze, heaped with fresh mango cubes and scattered heavily with lime zest, with mint and lime halves alongside.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Key lime? The filling looks plain.
In the filling. A third of a cup of Key lime juice and a tablespoon of zest go in with the eggs — lime flavours a cheesecake without colouring it, which is why only the zest scattered on top is obvious.
Why both a mango glaze and fresh mango?
They do different things. The purée is simmered with cornstarch into a glossy glaze that floods the top; the fresh cubes go on afterwards for texture and shape.
How do I know when it is baked?
The edges should be set and the centre should still wobble slightly. It finishes setting over four hours in the fridge.
