I Tried Nigella Lawson's 'Easy' Nutella Cheesecake Recipe

Nigella Lawson and I seem to share a dessert rule: there’s just not much point unless it’s chocolate, is there?

I’ve previously tried (and loved) her “old-fashioned” chocolate cake recipe and her tiramisu, too, so I knew I was in trusted hands when I spotted her Nutella cheesecake entry.

“I don’t know if I should apologise for this or boast about it,” the chef wrote in the intro to her recipe, because “it’s embarrassingly easy to make and unembarrassingly easy to eat.”

Sold, I thought. I reckoned I’d try the instructions myself (in my tiny kitchen, with limited tools) and see how truly “easy” the recipe really is.

Butter, biscuits and Nutella in a blender on the left: the biscuit base on the right

You don’t even need to melt the butter

We started off very strong. Not only does Nigella use only Digestives for the base of the cheesecake (as with my rocky road recipe, I won’t stand for any Rich Tea nonsense), but she skips the usual butter-melting step I expect for cheesecake.

Instead, she whacks most of a pack of Digestives in a food processor alongside some butter and hazelnuts and calls it a day (perfect).

I don’t have a food processor, but my blender did a great job (as it had with her chocolate cake recipe).

Once you’ve pressed that sandy base into a tin – which I lined, though Nigella gave no indication you should – you just have to pop it in the fridge and get going on the topping.

Mixing Nutella topping on the left; placed opn top of the cheesecake base on the right

If you’ve ever made buttercream icing before, you’ll be well able for this step.

You just have to cream some icing sugar with room-temp cream cheese and add a whole jar of Nutella into the mix ’til it’s combined.

Then, pour the mixture over the base, cover the top with chopped toasted hazelnuts (I put regular hazelnuts in a blender, which again, was fine), and – the hardest part – wait at least eight hours for it to set.

So – what’s the verdict?

I was worried this cheesecake (which contained, if I can remind you, a whole jar of Nutella) would be too sweet.

Nope; the tangy sour cream, salty Digestives, and nutty topping all help to balance out the topping, which is silky and ganache-like.

A word of warning: you really do have to wait the full eight hours. We didn’t quite, and the cheesecake (while delicious) was a little better the next day.

That’s a good thing, as though this dessert should last for up to four days in the fridge, my partner and I got through it in two.

I couldn’t get over how tasty the pudding was, given it was so, so easy – l have spent more time and effort making icing alone.

In other words, yep; Nigella’s claim that the dessert is “embarrassingly easy to make and unembarrassingly easy to eat” definitely rings true.

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