At least four hours before: Pour the sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and zest the lemons over the sugar. Rub it in with your fingers. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to seal and leave it at room temperature to ‘marinate’ for at least for hours but up to eight. We’re doing this to flavor the sugar without having to keep the zest in the batter which would make the baked cheesecake bitty and less creamy.

At least an hour before: Bring your cream cheese to room temperature by taking it out of the fridge at least an hour before you’re ready to bake the cheesecake. Set the eggs out too, or shortly before baking place them in a bowl of hot water to warm them up.

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Grease then line an 8 inch round metal cake pan (it should be about 2.5-3 inches tall - do NOT use a springform pan) with parchment paper, pressing it into the bottom and sides. You can use metal clips to hold it in place.

Into the bowl with the lemon sugar, add the vanilla, salt, and room temperature cream cheese. Use a spatula to press the cream cheese into the sugar, smoothing it over to remove any lumps. Affix the paddle attachment and turn the mixer on low. Mix until light and creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides and bottom as needed.

Add the sour cream and mix again, scraping as needed.

Separately, in a bowl beat the eggs together until all white bits have been broken up (if you have an immersion blender, it will do well here).

Turn the mixer on low and slowly add the eggs in. Then raise it to medium and beat until well combined.

With the mixer on, add the lemon juice, then slowly pour in the heavy cream, and add the flour. Mix until the cheesecake batter is very smooth.

Set a fine mesh sieve over the prepared pan and pour the batter through it, pressing to remove all bits.

Set the pan in a 13x9 inch cake pan then fill the larger cake pan with water until it’s about a quarter of an inch below the rim of the cheesecake pan (don’t overfill it or you’ll have trouble carrying it to the oven without splashing).

Bake the cheesecake for one hour, keeping an eye on any hot spots (these will show up as darker spots on the top of the cheesecake that are baking and browning faster - rotate the pan to avoid them burning) the top will have turned almost black, the center will still be quite wobbly when the pan is gently shaken.

Take the cheesecake out of the oven, still in its water bath and let it cool on the counter. Once cool enough to handle, lift the pan out and let sit at room temperature for an hour or two. Then, transfer it to the fridge to chill for at least six hours before serving.

Store leftovers in the fridge, in an airtight container, it’ll keep for about five days.