White Chocolate For Molten Chocolate Babycakes

Our answer

Nigella's Molten Chocolate Babycakes from HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS are warm chocolate sponge cakes with a liquid centre. They are made with dark (bittersweet) chocolate and unfortunately we would not suggest substituting this with white chocolate.

Dark chocolate contains cocoa solids (Nigella usually recommends using a chocolate with 70% cocoa solids), plus some sugar, vanilla and cocoa butter. White chocolate is cocoa butter (or a mixture of cocoa butter and other fats), plus milk, sugar and vanilla. It has a higer fat content than dark chocolate and is less stable when subjected to heat. The higher fat content can affect the texture of the sponge exterior and the increased sugar will make the dessert too sweet, plus it will affect how the outside of the cakes bake and set. A white chocolate version would need adjustments to the other ingredients in the recipe and we regret that we are unable to advise on this.