Making Molten Chocolate Babycakes Ahead

Our answer

Nigella's Molten Chocolate Babycakes (from Domestic Goddess and on the Nigella website) are warm chocolate cakes with a liquid chocolate centre. The cooking time is extremely important, if they are cooked for too long then the centre will overcook and you will not get the soft sauce oozing out when you cut into the babycakes. So we would not recommend baking the babycakes in advance and reheating them as the centres will set too much.

However you can make up the cake batter a day in advance, put it into the moulds and store in the fridge until ready to bake and serve. As the cakes only take 10-12 minutes to bake it is best to preheat the oven and baking sheet while you are having your main course and then put the babycakes in the oven while you clear the table. If they are fridge cold they will probably need baking for closer to the 12 minutes, but all ovens vary so you may prefer to have a trial run first to make sure that the timings are right. Leftover baked puddings should be stored in the fridge. They will be similar to a very rich chocolate fudge cake when cold.