Full question
The Chocolate Malteser Cake is a delicious cake, but as a nervous novice I left the cakes in the oven much longer than 25 mins because the skewer test didn't come out clean. Just wondering if this was an error!
Our answer
Nigella's Chocolate Malteser Cake (from FEAST has malted chocolate-flavoured sponges that are sandwiched with a chocolate-malt buttercream. The sponges are similar to a whisked sponge recipe, contain very little fat, and the batter is slightly liquid. This makes them much lighter than some of the more familiar sponge cakes. Baking for too long can lead to dry sponges and an excessively long time can lead to cakes that are burnt around the edges.
The 25 minute baking time is about right, though as ovens vary it may take a couple of minutes longer. If the sponges have baked properly then they should be risen, firm to the touch on top (so if you gently press the top it should not leave a finger mark) and the edges of the sponges will be starting to shrink away from the sides of the cake tins. You can also carefully insert a toothpick, cocktail stick or cake tester into the centre of each sponge and it should come out clean or with a couple of damp cake crumbs attachd (but not raw cake batter), so if your skewer had some cake crumbs attached then it was probably baked. However, only do this skewer test once the top of the cake feels firm and springy. If the top of the cake still looks slightly wobbly then bake for another 3-4 minutes and check again.
Tell us what you think
Thank you {% member.data['first-name'] %}.
Explore more questionsYour comment has been submitted.