Sour Cream For Guinness Cake

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake (from FEAST) is a moist cake made with Guinness and sour cream. The sour cream is acid and this is needed to react with the bicarbonate of soda to help the cake to rise. The acidity of the sour cream also contributes to the tender texture of the cake.

Sour cream that looks a little set when you open the container is fine to use, you just need to give it a good stir before using it, so that it loosens up slightly and has a smooth texture. Also you should use a full-fat version of sour cream (with a fat content of 18-20%) rather than a "light" or reduced fat sour cream.