Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake With Mixer

Our answer

Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake (from Feast and on the Nigella website) is made with sour cream. The addition of a liquid, such as sour cream or buttermilk, will affect the texture of the cake and you will find that cakes with additional liquids in the batter will have a slightly denser texture than a Victoria Sponge.

The extra liquid will tend to increase formation of gluten, making a less tender cake, so mixing should be kept to a minimum. The mixer method for this cake involves mixing the dry ingredients with the butter before adding the liquid ingredients. This method can help to reduce the formation of gluten by coating the flour molecules with fat and preventing them for absorbing too much liquid. However 8 minutes of mixing sounds a little too much and you should only really do as much mixing as it takes just to combine the ingredients. It is fine to use the paddle attachment on the mixer but it is best to avoid the scraper tool. We would suggest mixing the dry ingredients and butterr on medium speed until smooth, then adding the liquid ingredients and mixing only until combined. It may also help to partially mix in the liquid ingredients with the mixer and then finish the mixing by hand with a spatula, as this will be gentler and give more control.