Why Didn't The Chocolate Malteser Cake Sponges Rise?

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Malteser Cake (from FEAST) is a whisked sponge cake but it has hot liquid added to the whisked eggs, making it similar to a hot milk cake. The sponges should rise quite well as there is bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) added to the mixture.

If the sponges did not rise much there are several possible reasons, including the cake pans being too large (they should be 20cm/8 inches in diameter) and the bicarbonate of soda being out of date. For this type of cake the eggs and sugar do need to be whisked enough and you should whisk them until they are light and frothy, doubled in volume and have reached the "ribbon" stage. For ribbon stage if you lift the whisk then the egg mixture should fall off the beaters in a wide ribbon and the ribbon of egg should leave a trail on the surface of the mixture in the bowl for a couple of seconds. In addition, make sure that the milk and butter are hot and have not cooled too much. The mixture should be hot but not actually boiling. As the hot mixture is added to the eggs, it helps to stabilise the mixture (by starting to "denature" the egg proteins) and will help to trap some air in the mixture. If the milk is too cool then this reaction won't happen and the cake batter will be runnier and not rise as much. Also fold in the dry ingredients gently so that you don't knock too much air out of the cake batter.