Molten Chocolate Babycakes Centre Not Runny Enough

Our answer

Nigella's Molten Chocolate Babycakes (from Domestic Goddess and on the Nigella website) have a runny chocolate "lava" centre and this is due to the centre of the cakes being slightly undercooked, causing the batter to form a sauce rather than a firmer cake. If your centre was a little thick then you may need to reduce your baking time slightly. Unfortunately all ovens vary and for these cakes the timing is quite important. Try reducing the baking time by 1 minute and if the centres are still a little thick then reduce by another minute. Also the cakes should be turned out of their moulds and served straightaway. If they are left to stand then the centres will continue to cook in their own heat.

The unbaked cakes can be made a day in advance and refrigerated until needed. Unfortunately we can't currently recommend freezing the unbaked cakes as you would need to bake them from frozen and we have not tested the oven temperatures or baking times required. Any baked and uneaten cakes can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. They are best eaten cold as reheating them will over cook the centres, but they should have a lovely fudgy centre instead of the chocolate sauce.