I love cheesecake. There’s something about the combination of a buttery biscuit base and a sweet creamy filling that works every single time. This recipe is a recipe which I’ve used ever since I first made it and I’d like to feel that I’ve perfected it.

Now the challenge on Bake Off is making a 3-tier Cheesecake Stack and frankly the thought of stacking anything, even a cake, frightens me! This is a pretty standard Vanilla Cheesecake but you can add any other flavours you want, which I’m sure we are going to see tonight! And whilst I’ve stuck with a digestive base, you can always jazz this up as well. Here are some ideas:

• Mocha Cheesecake – use Bourbon biscuits for the base, swap the sugar for soft light brown sugar add some instant coffee powder to the filling
• Ginger and Apricot Cheesecake – use Ginger Nuts for the base and place halved fresh apricots (or tinned if you cannot find fresh) on the base
• Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake – add walnuts to the biscuit base, halfway through the baking time, drizzle a swirl of salted caramel on top of the cheesecake
• White Chocolate Cheesecake – reduce the sugar by 50g, add 75g cream cheese and 100g white chocolate, melted

Ensure that you’ve not only lined your springform tin properly, an essential piece of cheesecake making kit in my opinion, but that the biscuit base is completely pressed into the base to prevent any leakage in the oven. For safety, I always place the tin onto a baking tray to catch any leakage

200g digestive biscuits – or whichever biscuit you choose

80g Stork, melted

450g full-fat cream cheese, room temperature (if it isn’t, it won’t mix together with the eggs well)

150g granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs, room temperature

Grease and line the base of a 23cm springform tin.

Place the biscuits in a sandwich bag and bash them up into very fine crumbs using a rolling pin. Add to a bowl with the melted Stork and mix until it begins to come together. Pour into the springform tin and using the back of a spoon, press down the base evenly and making sure that there are no gaps. Chill for about 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Beat all of the filling ingredients together until they are smooth and creamy, making sure that you do not overwhip them which could create air bubbles that might balloon in the oven, encouraging a crack on the surface. Pour the mixture onto the cooled biscuit base.

Placing the springform tin onto a baking tray, bake the cheesecake for about 45 minutes until it is just a light golden brown on the surface and when you shake the tray, the cheesecake gives way in the centre just slightly; a faint wobble.

Cool the cheesecake in the tin completely. Some recipes require you to cool the cheesecake in the oven

When you want to serve, take a palette knife and loosen around the edge. Release the tin and then use the same palette knife to lift underneath the parchment to move, and then remove, the cheesecake.

Dust with icing sugar and finish with a sprig of mint.