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.

• Baking meringue

  I'm currently making a basic meringue for Eton Mess right now and I've made meringues before. However, this time there's an overflow of sugar syrup flooding out from the meringue while it's in the oven! What causes this and is there a way to prevent my poor oven from being laminated in bubbling sugar? Thank you!

  Posted by cheunga. Answered on 10th May 2011 at 12.00

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• Scaling Up Chocolate Cakes

  Hi, I want to make a bigger version of Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake (Feast, p269) as part of a stacked wedding cake. Could you please tell me what the ingredients would be for making a 10'' cake or how to scale it up? Thanks, amycakes

  Can I successfully double the recipe for Devils Food Cake in Kitchen (p253)?I want to make a 26cm version of this oh so yummy cake for a birthday and need it to be spectacular! I could experiment but don't want to waste ingredients if it doesn't work. Many thanks, cupcake53 

  Hi, your recipe for Chocolate Fruit Cake (Christmas, p180) is for an 8-inch cake with approximately 2hrs cooking time. I am making this for my wedding cake and need a 10-inch round cake. I believe this would need 1 1/2 times the original quantity but I am stuck for cooking time. I have experimented once and it baked in just over 2 hrs but it burned a little. I have a fan oven that is quite fast, any suggestions? Thanks, Therese

  Posted by amycakes. Answered on 9th May 2011 at 12.00

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• Ceramic Knives

  I recently read in a magazine about ceramic knives and how they practically never need to be sharpened, are very sharp themselves and are excellent in the home kitchen. Are they worth getting, and is a cheaper version still good in terms of durability and quality?

  Posted by cheunga. Answered on 8th May 2011 at 12.00

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