Baking And Frosting Devil's Food Cake

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Nigella's Devil's Food Cake (from KITCHEN) is a moist chocolate cake with a fudgy ganache-type frosting. The usual baking time for the cake, in two layers in 20cm/8-inch round cake pans, is about 30 minutes. However, if smaller pans were used it is likely that the baking time would be longer, particularly as it is quite a liquid cake batter. From the description it does sound as if the cake was not fully baked.

The cake should be risen, firm on top and a cake tester inserted into the centre should come out clean. The sides of the cake should also be starting to shrink away from the sides of the cake pan. As the cake is smaller and deeper, it may also help to let the layers cool for slightly longer before turning them out on to a wire rack and make sure that the cake pans have been thoroughly greased and the bases lined with baking parchment (parchment paper) so that the cake doesn't stick and tear as it comes out of the pan. If the frosting has become too thick, it could "drag" a little on the sponge. If you need to warm it slightly to make it looser, you can either put it in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of hot water (making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water) and warm it slightly whilst stirring constantly, or warm it for just a few seconds in the microwave and stir well. But do this carefully, as the frosting can go from thick to liquid very quickly.