Baking Coffee Walnut Sponges

Our answer

NIgella's Coffee And Walnut Layer Cake (from KITCHEN) is Nigella's version of the classic British teatime treat. The sponge layers are made with a combination of ground walnuts and flour. The ground nuts make the sponge more tender and moist, but the cakes should not break up once baked. You should ony add enough milk to give a soft dropping consistency to the sponge batter, but as long as no more than 2 tablespoons was added then we doubt that there was too much milk used.

We suspect that the problem mainly lies in the fact that the base of the cake tins were not lined. Lining the base with baking parchment means that the base of the cakes will not stick to the tin when you turn them out. Even if you grease the tins well (or use a non-stick spray) cakes can stick slightly, especially if they are moist sponges. If one part of the sponge comes out of the tin and another part sticks, this will cause the sponge to tear or break. When you turn the cake out it can also help to run a palette knife carefully around the edges of the tin, to make sure it is loosened before removing the sponge. There is also a chance that the cake was slightly underbaked, which would make it more fragile. The cake should look firm on top and feel slightly springy to the touch. Another indicator is that the sides of the sponge should be shrinking away from the sides of the tin and also a cake tester inserted into the centre of the sponge should come out clean.