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.

• Churros

  Hello I followed Nigella's recipe for Churros (Kitchen, p438) today, they sort of worked and the chocolate sauce was delicious, but the inside of the churros remained rather thick and gooey. I deep fried them until they were golden brown, kept them warm in oven until all were cooked and left them to stand for 5-10 mins, but the inside had not puffed up, they seemed rather dense. Am I doing something wrong with the actual mixture, or do they need longer cooking. What do you suggest? thanks Greta

  Posted by gretaparker. Answered on 28th May 2011 at 12.00

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• Spruced Up Vanilla Cake

  i mixed up the ingredients for the Spruced-Up Vanilla Cake (Christmas, p198) in the holiday tree bundt tin, cooked it for the required time, inserted knife after 60 mins which came out clean, so took it out of the oven. The cake very quickly deflated. Please help, I am desperate to make this beautiful looking cake for my mums birthday on Friday. I am not a confident cook, what should I have done as well. If it helps I have a neff u16e74 double oven.  

  Yesterday I made the recipe for the spruced-up vanilla cake. I made it with food processor, oven temperature was 180c and I baked it for for 65 minutes but the outside was cooked and the inside uncooked. How many minutes in the food processor? What size of eggs are used? Can you also use margarine? What did i wrong? Help! Nurma

   

  Posted by Betomax. Answered on 27th May 2011 at 12.00

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• Oven temperatures and fan ovens

  Hello Nigella Team, Would you please tell me if the recipes in Nigella's books use a Fan Forced oven or not. Thank you. Jendee. 

  Hi, I've tried cooking both the Lemon Meringue Cake and also the Spruced Up Vanilla cake and they both browned off far too quickly at the temperatures recommended. I do have a fan assisted oven though, so should I lower the temperatures? And if so to what? Thanks, Lon

  Posted by Jendee. Answered on 26th May 2011 at 12.00

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