Heating Ingredients for Chocolate Guinness Cake

Asked by madame rere. Answered on 22nd June 2014

Full question

Quick question on the Chocolate Guinness Cake. In the recipe it states to heat the Guinness and the butter until the butter has melted, then it says to whisk the cocoa powder and the sugar however is this done on the hob also? And if it is does this mean that all of the ingredients must be whisked over the heat? Any clarification is much appreciated. Thanks.

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake (from Feast and on the Nigella website) is made using the melting method, where the butter and some other ingredients are melted together beforethe remaining ingredents are added to the batter. For this cake, and generally for most cakes made using this method, once the butter has melted it is best to take the saucepan off the heat before adding the other ingredients. After the butter has melted then you should not need to heat the mixture any further.

You should also make sure that the mixture is not too hot when the sour cream and eggs are added. Both of these ingredients are sensitive to heat and if the mixture is too hot then the eggs will scramble and the sour cream could split. So don't let the Guinness and butter mixture boil at all.