Can I Make The Chocolate Raspberry Pudding Cake With Wholemeal Flour?

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Raspberry Pudding Cake (from HOW TO EAT) has a light, almost mousse-like texture while warm and is wonderful served with cream or crème fraîche. It is made with self-raising flour, to help to give the light texture.

Unfortunately we don't think that wholemeal (whole wheat) flour is a good replacement for the self-raising flour. Wholemeal flour will change the texture in a couple of ways. First, it absorbs more liquid so could make the cake a little drier and second it will not rise as well as it does not contain any raising agents, so the cake will lose its light texture. Adding ground almonds will also affect the texture as they add some moisture but could also make the end result too oily. So we would prefer to make the cake with regular self-raising flour.