Sinking Chocolate Fudge Cake
Asked by swatim. Answered on 19th July 2016
Full question
I made the Chocolate Fudge cake but the texture of the cake was like a chocolately egg custard rather than cake. There was no crumb to it, and the cake sank after I removed it from the oven. I think this might be because there was too much liquid in the cake, and too little flour. What do you think is the reason?
Our answer
Nigella's Chocolate Fudge cake (from NIGELLA BITES) is a very popular cake that has been made successfully by many people. The cake contains sour cream and water and the batter is runny, but this gives a very moist cake once baked and it is not unusual for chocolate cakes made with cocoa to have water added as cocoa absorbs a lot of liquid. However it always helps to make sure that the cake ingredients are measured accurately.
From the description of the cake we would suspect that the oven temperature was too low. The cake contains eggs and liquid so would set in a similar way to a custard if baked at a very low temperature. This would also cause the cake to sink as it cools. Check that the oven is set correctly - either 180 centigrade (for those who use metric) or 350 farenheit (for those who use imperial) and bake the cake on the centre shelf of the oven. It may also help to check the temperature of the oven with an oven thermometer. The oven thermostat may be old or need adjusting and if it is a gas oven then the ignition may have worn out, which means that the oven could be running at a much cooler temperature than it is set at.
Recipes you might like
Tell us what you think
Thank you {% member.data['first-name'] %}.
Explore more questionsYour comment has been submitted.