Solid Chocolate Guinness Cake

Asked by Carminha. Answered on 10th July 2015

Full question

Last night I baked Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake. It smelled delicious and the cake was spongy to the touch. I stored it overnight in the fridge. This morning I was going to do the icing, but when I took the cake from the fridge it was rock hard. I guess this is because of the butter in the cake, but if I leave the cake at room temperature will it become soft? Is the cake ruined? Thanks. CB

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake (from Feast and on the Nigella website) is a fairly dense sponge cake and it does tend to turn solid if it is very well chilled and also not covered, so we usually suggest storing the baked cake in an airtight container in a cool place and icing it just befor serving.

The cake should soften again as it comes back to room temperature though if it was not covered in the fridge it may be a little dryer in texture. If covered the surface of the cake may be a little sticky due to condensation, but this should not be a problem if you spread the icing over the top gently and carefully. As the icing contains fresh cream then we prefer to refrigerate leftovers in an airtight continer for 1-2 days and you should then let slices stand at room temperature for about an hour before serving, so that the cake softens again slightly.