THERE ARE two kinds of cheesecakes, the baked kind and the non-baked kind, and both are gorgeous.

Cheesecakes are very much about texture with my preference being the simpler option, no-bake being smooth and creamy with not a huge amount of work involved.

There is time to wait while some sort of magic happens, and I know of no way of speeding a cheesecake recipe up. But the wait is well worth it, I promise you.

First, the base. Almost all cheesecakes have melted butter mixed with some sort of crushed biscuit – over the years I've varied the biscuits quite a bit because I started to become a little weary of boring digestives.

I find ginger biscuits work really well adding a nice spicy heat to the recipe along with the sharp tang from the limes.

To crush biscuits for the base, break them up roughly, put them in a plastic bag (you'll see why in a minute).

Get out the rolling pin or wine bottle –then belt and bash until the biscuits turn to dust.

But beware – in all of the excitement you might need a second plastic bag or your crumbs could accidentally go all over the kitchen floor.

All cheesecakes need to be refrigerated and ideally overnight if you have the time, or if you're really desperate like me, stick it in the freezer for 20 minutes.

The reason for this is to 'set' the base to allow it to retain its own identity, if you know what I mean. This is so that the cheesecake itself doesn't just overrun and swamp it.

A no-bake cheesecake usually will set within three hours, which might sound long, but it's nothing in comparison with the baked version which can be a right marathon to make.

This is a fantastic recipe to cut out and make over the summertime when the baking is easy, and the oven is turned off!

Summer is often a time where we tend to watch our waistlines – I suggested in my recipe using Philadelphia cheese, but the full fat version please.

You see, any so-called 'low fat' cheese has been diluted with air and water and you might be able to fool yourself that it's delicious on your crisp bread, but it'll ruin your cheesecake.

Getting your cheesecake out of the tin can prove tricky: I've uncovered a conspiracy of silence around this and no recipe every seems to address it.

Here's what I've learned the hard way. By the lengthy period of refrigeration will have caused the cheesecake to contract slightly and 'pull' away from the sides of its container.

Gently slide your palette knife between the tin and cake and methodically work it all the way round and hopefully it should lift out easily.

So that's the outside done. Now for the two-plate-trick... only joking!