Full question
I have made the Chocolate Guinness Cake using a 9-inch tin many times, but need to make the cake in an 8-inch tin this time. Please could you advise on any changes I would need to make in the oven temperature, timing or cake testing. Thank you.
Our answer
Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake (from FEAST) is a moist chocolate cake that is topped with a frothy cream cheese frosting. The cake is baked in a 23cm (9-inch) springform pan. If you put the same amount of cake batter into a smaller pan then it usually means that the cake will take slightly longer to bake. However, we are somewhat worried that the amount of cake batter will be too much for a smaller pan and there is the risk of it overflowing from the pan as it bakes.
If you use an 8-inch pan then you would usually only need 75% or 3/4 of the amount of batter that you need for a 9-inch pan. So you can either bake 1/4 of the cake batter in cupcake cases (for around 20 minutes) or just use 3/4 of the amount of ingredients. For the eggs you would use 1 whole egg plus 1 yolk and for the bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) use 1 3/4 teaspoons. The other ingredients should be fairly easy to reduce. The baking time is likely to be 40-50 minutes, but start checking after 40 minutes and the cake is done when it is risen, firm to the touch and a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean or with damp crumbs attached but not uncooked cake batter. However, please note that as we have not tried the cake ourselves in this size, we are unable to guarantee the results.
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