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.

• Toad in the hole is a cake!

  I've followed Nigella's Toad in the hole recipe twice and both times it's risen beautifully but the batter has ended up being more like a savoury cake - being perfectly flat across the top and maintaining that flatness even after it had a chance to cool. What should it be like and what might I be doing wrong?! The proportions were 4 eggs to 350ml milk and 250g flour.... in a stoneware dish approx 20x30cm.

  Posted by Jacobsmum. Answered on 2nd Jan 2011 at 12.00

  Read The Answer

• devils chocolate food cake 2

  can i ask how i can increase the ingredients to make a 9" chocolate sandwich cake instead of the 8" specified?? i made it over the christmas and it was fab, but my friend wants me to make one for a birthday celebration in the new year to cater for a larger group thanks alot jenny

  My frosting was still runny after well more than an hour of sitting, with occasional whisking. I used 72% cocoa chocolate and only let the butter/sugar/water mixture get to bubbling (not boiling) before removing it from the heat and adding the chocolate. Any ideas why it didn't set properly? Genorp

  Where can I get a recipe for this? I saw this on one of Nigella's programmes over the the christmas period, but I can't seem to find the recipe...please help...thank you cookiemomster

  Posted by durlas. Answered on 1st Jan 2011 at 12.00

  Read The Answer

• Substituting molasses for Tate & Lyle syrups

  I bought your book and just made the chocolate/organge cake. I was forced to use Karo dark syrup as Tate & Lyle products are extremely rate in Alaska. I was wondering about the efficacy of substituting pure molasses for when your recipes call for a dark syrup, for the sake of flavor enhancement.

  Posted by 2olbones. Answered on 31st Dec 2010 at 12.00

  Read The Answer