Full question
I made the Dark And Sumptuous Chocolate Cake twice, both times it's sunk dreadfully in the middle. Was sure I was exact with the measurements having had the disastrous first try. Can't think what I'm doing. Nigella says it's very wet batter and it's high when it comes out of the oven, but 20 minutes later it just sinks. Can see everyone else is succeeding! Any ideas?
Our answer
Nigella's Dark And Sumptuous Chocolate Cake (from SIMPLY NIGELLA) is a rich and easy to make chocolate cake that is also vegan. It has quite a liquid batter and this helps the cake to be moist and fudgy. If a cake sinks on cooling it is most likely that it was not quite fully baked, even if it appears risen in the oven. To check if the cake is fully baked, insert a cake tester (a skewer or cocktail stick/toothpick) into the centre of the sponge layers. The cake tester should come out clean or with one or two crumbs of cake on it. The top of the cake should also feel firm to the touch and be shrinking away from the sides of the cake tins.
If the cake has a big peak in the centre when it is baking then the oven may also be slightly too hot. This means that the outside of the cake will be cooked while the inside is still slightly undercooked. You may need to reduce the oven temperature slightly if your oven is running hot (and note the fan/convection oven adjustment). The other reason for a cake rising a lot and then shrinking when cool is that too much leavening is used. The ingredients include 1½ teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and although we note that the measurements were exact, make sure that you use a 5ml teaspoon and a 2.5ml half teaspoon to measure the bicarb.
Tell us what you think
Thank you {% member.data['first-name'] %}.
Explore more questionsYour comment has been submitted.