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A back to basics recipe of a buttery biscuit base, creamy no-bake vanilla cheesecake filling, and whipped cream on top

This cheesecake really is simple, but in a good way. It’s a simple no-bake vanilla cheesecake that is the best of the best, and I adore it.

Back to basic recipes

So after the success of my first back to basics recipe, my triple chocolate brownies, I thought it was best to go in with another highly requested treat… a basic vanilla cheesecake. I didn’t really expect the idea of this blog series to be so popular, but it really did get a good reaction so I am more than happy to oblige with posting more recipes, especially when it involves cheesecakes!

I have over SIXTY cheesecake recipes on my blog, probably 95% of which are no-bake recipes. They all have different themes and flavours, with chocolate bars becoming an obvious theme. I adore these recipes, my favourites being my Terry’s chocolate orange cheesecake, my Mini Egg cheesecake, and Twix cheesecake for example, but obviously, there is other flavours in there.

Biscuit base

The same goes for the biscuit base. I adore a thick and full on biscuit base, which is why I stick to mostly going with 300g of biscuits worth. If using a digestive, such as in this vanilla cheesecake recipe, I would always use 150g of butter.

You can use less butter if you wanted, to make it softer or whatever, but I like a biscuit base that has some structure and is thick as anything. If you wanted to use less, you can easily take it down. 250g of biscuits, 125g of butter, 200g of biscuits, 100g of butter etc. It’s really an easy thing to adapt.

If you wanted to make it chocolate, add in 1tbsp of cocoa powder, or switch to a something else.If switching to a chocolate digestive, or an Oreo for example, the rule changes where you want 25g less butter, compared to a dry biscuit. So 300g of chocolate digestives would have 125g of melted butter, not 150g. This is due to the melted butter that you add in basically melted the chocolate on the biscuit. You can add all the butter if you want, but it’ll be gooey and probably not very nice.

Filling

The basic premise of ALL of these recipes is the same. A base of sorts, a filling of sorts, and something to decorate. The filling can differ slightly depending on flavour, but a majority of my recipes support the idea that if you use 500g of cream cheese, some icing sugar, and 300ml of cream, you can get a cheesecake. This does change sooomeeetimes, but thats mainly correct.

Because I want to fill the tin up and make this a decent size cheesecake, and because I’m not actually adding aaaanything else to it, I increase the cream cheese to 750g!I usually add in between 150-300g of melted chocolate if its become a chocolate theme, or add in 200-400g of something chopped up for example, but the base of the recipe is the same.

For the actual cheesecake filling, I basically only use either mascarpone, or Philadelphia. I would always use the FULL FAT cream cheese, and this is really important if you want a cheesecake that will set. The lemon juice that is in the ingredients is optional, but it can help the cheesecake set somewhat. This isn’t a guarantee, and you don’t need much so you don’t overpower the flavour, but it can help.

However, as long as you don’t over whisk the mixture, you’ll have a delicious pudding even if it is slightly softer set then it maybe should be. Using the full fat ingredients REALLY does help things. Honestly, even if you are worried about the fat content…don’t be! It’s just a slice of cheesecake. Its better to use the full fat ingredients in comparison to lower fat. Just cut a smaller slice if you’re worried.

Mixing

When you are actually mixing the mixture up, you have two options. Either do what I do, and add in the double cream in liquid form and whisk it up, or whisk it separately and then fold it in together. I personally have never ever struggled with liquid double cream, because I stop and start the mixture often to see how the mixture is getting on to make sure I don’t overthink it.

It’s hard thing to say EXACTLY how fast to whisk and how long for, as even the temperature of the day can make a difference, or how long the ingredients have been out the fridge etc. It’s best to have the soft cream cheese at room temperature when it comes to making the cheesecake mix itself, but the double cream can be cold. It’s a good idea to just take it slower rather than rush it, and to make sure you don’t whisk it too quick. Have a whisk, then fold, have a whisk etc. Just keep an eye on it all!

Tips & Tricks

The wonderful thing about using a ‘plain’ cheesecake base such as this, is that you can easily decorate it with whatever flavours you want. For example, when I took the photos I had some spare raspberry coulis on my hands, and some fresh fruit. However, I know that some people aren’t really into the fruity side of things so you could use melted chocolate, or an ice cream sauce, or even some homemade caramel sauce!

You can use either mascarpone, or Philadelphia cream cheese (or the supermarket version), but it MUST BE full fat cream cheese.
I’m based in the UK, so we have double cream. It has a rough fat content of around 45% and this is what helps it set. If you don’t have access to it, use the nearest you can find.
You can freeze the cheesecake for up to 3 months.
In the fridge, this will last 3 days once set.
I use Nielsen Massey vanilla in the recipe.
I use this 8″ springform cake tin
I like using this piping tip for decoration

If you have any questions, leave them below – Enjoy!