Nigella

Welcome to Nigella

Follow Nigella on: Facebook Twitter Vimeo

Kitchen Queries

Welcome to Kitchen Queries, where the nigella.com team will answer your cooking or food related questions. We’d love you to submit some of your recipe problems, dilemmas or queries for us to get our teeth into!

Please note, we are only able to answer questions selected for publication and aren't able to enter into personal correspondence.

Latest Queries

Cheese for Cheesecakes

Is there any other cheese which can be used in cheesecake other than cream cheese? Unfortunaltely cream cheese is not available where I live. Thank you!

Posted by pankhuri. Answered on 16th May 2012 at 12.00

From the nigella team:

Cream cheese is a soft cheese with a fat content of around 33%. It is particularly popular for cheescakes as it gives a smooth texture and although it may be seen as a "sweet" cheese it has a very slightly acidic tang which helps to stop cheesecakes from tasting too cloying. Probably the closest substitute is mascarpone though this has a fat content of 40% and doesn't have the same acidic tang as cream cheese, so will give a very rich cheesecake.

Otherwise a curd cheese would be a possible alternative. The type of curd cheese needed for a cheesecake is the firm type, such as quark, farmer cheese or paneer, and not the type with small curds, such as cottage cheese. However these cheeses have a much lower fat content, typically 20% or below, so they may not give the best flavour or texture if used as a straight substitute for cream cheese. Instead we would suggest making a cheesecake from a recipe specifically uses curd cheese. Nigella's Old Fashioned Cheesecake from Kitchen (p173) would be a good one to try.

Nigella's Book Feast

Hello! I just wanted to know what is the difference between the two editions of Nigella`s book Feast - the one published in 2004 and the one published in 2006. Thank you.

Posted by tavolla. Answered on 15th May 2012 at 12.00

From the nigella team:

The main difference between the two editions of Feast is that the one published in 2004 was the first edition and was published in hardback and the 2006 edition is paperback. The cover photos are different but the content is otherwise the same.

For those outside the UK it is worth noting that all of Nigella's books come in both UK and US versions. The UK versions have metric measurements and the US versions have imperial and cup measures. So you may need to make sure that you are buying the book that suits your preferences. The easiest way to distinguish between the two is to check the publisher. Nigella's UK publisher is Chatto and Windus and the US publisher is Hyperion.

Sinking Cupcakes

Help! I have been making cupcakes from Nigella's Domestic Goddess book for some time. However, since buying my food processor and using this to make my mixture my cakes sink and are concave. They are also not as light and fluffy. Why is this happening and what can I do to stop this?

Posted by weeyin1973. Answered on 14th May 2012 at 12.00

From the nigella team:

If you have been maing cupcakes using a classic method then the butter and sugar are beaten together until pale and fluffy, the eggs are beaten in a little at a time and finally the flour is folded in. The first two stages of this process beat air into the mixture and the flour is folded in to minimize the amount of air "knocked out" during the final stage. This will make the cakes light and will also provide additional lift to the cupcakes, along with the riasing agents in the recipe.

If you make the cakes in a food processor (or using the "all in one" method of just beating the ingredients together) then not as much air will be incorporated and the cakes may not rise as much. Quite often to help counteract this, extra baking powder is added to the recipe. We would suggest adding an extra teaspoon of baking powder for every 225g/1 1/2 cups flour - this should be added even if you are using self-raising flour. Also make sure that all of your ingredients are at room temperature before you start as this will help them to combine more easily and will reduce the risk of the cake batter being over-worked during mixing.

Some people may detect a slightly bitter taste from the extra baking powder. If you find this a problem then marginally increase the flavourings, such as vanilla.