Can I Make the Chocolate Guinness Cake As A Traybake?

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake (from FEAST) is usually baked as a round cake, using a 23cm (9-inch) springform pan. These pans usually have a volume of between 2.4 and 2.8 litres, depending on depth. We suspect that the cake can be baked as a rectangular traybake, though it may end up being slightly thicker or thinner than the original cake, depending on the size of pan used.

The closest sizes of rectangular pan would be either 28x18x5cm (11x7x2 inches) or 30x20x5cm (12x8x2 inches). We would suggest lining the base of the pan with baking parchment (parchment paper), with paper also coming up the sides of the pan. This should help you to lift or slide the cake out of the pan. The oven temperature will be the same as the original recipe - 180c/160c fan/350F. The baking time for this size of pan should be 30 to 45 minutes and when the cake is done it should be risen, firm on top and a cake tester inserted into the centre should come out clean or with a couple of damp cake crumbs on it (but not uncooked cake batter). A rectangular cake has a bigger surface area than a round cake and so you will need to make extra frosting. For the 28x18cm pan you would need to make 1.25x the topping quantity and for the 30x20cm cake you would need to make 1.5x the topping quantity. However, please note that as we have not made the cake in traybake form ourselves, we are unable to guarantee the results.