Cherry Cheesecake Base

Our answer

Nigella's Cherry Cheesecake (from Nigella Express) is a no-bake type of cheesecake so the biscuit base is made from a mixture of butter and digestive biscuit (graham cracker) crumbs. As the base is only chilled it relies on the butter to help the base set firmly. Stork margarine (available in the UK) is a hard block type margarine which is fairly firm when it is chilled. This means that if you use block margarine the cheesecake base will set fairly firmly in the fridge. However margarine tends to lack flavour and so you may find that the base isn't quite as nice if you use margarine.

We would prefer not to use the type of margarine that comes in a tub or container and can be spread straight from the fridge. This margarine is soft even when chilled and means that it will not bind the crumb base as effectively as butter. The base could then be very crumbly and you may find that the cheesecake is difficult to cut into neat slices.