Baking In A Smaller Oven

Our answer

Nigella's Devil's Food Cake (from KITCHEN) is a rich chocolate layer cake. The cake batter is divided between two 20cm/8-inch cake tins for baking. Ideally both tins should be put on the centre shelf of the oven. If you have a smaller size oven and cannot fit two pans on to one shelf then you may need to put one pan on a higher shelf. If you have a fan oven then the cakes should bake fairly evenly, however for other types of oven you will need to swap the pans around between the two shelves during cooking.

You do not want to swap the pans around too early as it could cause the cakes to sink. The baking time is about 30 minutes so we suggest waiting until at least 20 minutes before swapping the pans around. The cakes should be set on top, though it will not be firm to the touch. Open the door carefully and protect your hands and arms with oven gloves or mitts. When shutting the oven door do this gently, to prevent a gust of cold air being blown into the oven. Also the cake layers may need an extra minute or two of baking but check at 30 minutes. They are done when the cakes are risen, firm to the touch and a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean.