Milk Chocolate Cloud Cake

Asked by Cate4good. Answered on 21st February 2015

Full question

I have successfully baked the Chocolate Cloud Cake for adults on special occasions over the past few years and now wish to make a milk chocolate version for a childrens party. Will the substitution of dark (70% cocoa solids) for milk (30-40% cocoa solids) render the texture sticky and excessively moist, depriving the cake of the essential body it needs to hold the cream on top?

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Cloud Cake (from Nigella Bites and on the Nigella website) is a flourless chocolate cake. It is made with dark (bittersweet) chocolate with 70% cocoa solids to give depth of flavour and the cocoa solids will help slightly with the structure. Unfortunately we would not recommend using milk chocolate instead as the makeup of milk and dark chocolates are very different. Milk chocolate contains a lot more fat and sugar and this will affect the texture of the cake and could make it too sweet.

You may find that children like the darker cake, particularly if they like chocolate brownies. Otherwise it may be worth considering Nigella's Nutella Cake as an alternative (using water instead of alcohol). The cake is flourless and is made with Nutella and melted chocolate. As well as the nuts in the Nutella we would mention that the cake is made with ground hazelnuts, as allergies can be an issue with groups of children. You could top the cake with whipped cream and milk chocolate curls instead of the ganache and toasted hazelnuts.