Quadruple Chocolate Loaf Cake

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Quadruple Loaf Cake (from Feast and on the Nigella website) contains 80ml (1/3 cup) sour cream. Sometimes substitutes are difficult but as the quanity of sour cream is low relative to the other ingredients, it is possible to use an alternative.

You need an acidic ingredient as the raising agent is bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and this needs some acid to react with to help the cake to rise. Plain yogurt would be the best alternative. Most yogurt has a lower fat content (1-2%) vs. sour cream (18-20%) so you may like to boost the yogurt slightly with some additional fat. We would suggest using 65ml (4 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon) of plain yogurt plus 15ml (1 tablespoon) of vegetable oil instead of the sour cream.