Chocolate Fudge Traybake

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Fudge Cake (from NIGELLA BITES) is a moist chocolate layer cake that is filled and coated with a rich chocolate fudge frosting. It is possible to convert most sponge cakes to traybakes (sheet cakes), but the size of the pan depends on the size of the original cake.

The cake recipe makes two 20cm/8-inch layers, so should be enough to make a rectangular cake approximately 23x33 cm/9x13 inches. The cake pan should be lined with baking parchment, with the parchment coming up the sides of the pan. The oven temperature should be the same - 180°C/160°C Fan/350°F - and the baking time is likely to be 1 hour to 1¼ hours, but we suggest taking a careful peek at around 50 minutes. The cake should be risen and firm to the touch and a cake tester inserted into the centre should come out clean. Cool in the pan and ice the cake when it is completely cold. The fudge frosting is enough to fill and cover a round cake, so should be enough for a fairly thick layer of frosting on top of the traybake. However, we would mention that as we have not tried the cake in traybake form, we are unable to guarantee the results. You may also like to try Nigella's Chocolate Sheet Cake as an alternative, as it is a chocolate sponge topped with a sticky, fudgy chocolate icing.