Do Nigella's cake recipes ever actually work?

[Puppywithattitude]

Did her store cupboard chocolate-orange cake yesterday, absolute disaster. Undercooked and just awful.
Anyone else's cake recipes are fine but this must be the 3rd or 4th one of hers which is useless.
Is it me?

Mixed experiences. Some work just fine, others need much longer cooking.

It's quite a dense texture, puppy, definitely a pudding-cake, rather than a light sponge. It is very moist and almost heavy (in a good way!). I find it keeps well, and is actually better the second day.

Never had a Nigella cake failure - ever!

Love nigella recipies , often give them a few extra mins as my old oven was slow but they always were good , haven't tried since getting my new cooker

Ah, I think technically it might have worked then 😁

A tip from a friend who makes amazing cakes - soak then wring out a bit a tea towel. Fold it into foil. Wrap the foil covered tea towel around the outside of the cake tin and clip it together. Stops the darkening on the outside.

I love its intensity and lovely moist texture, but I can see if you were expecting a lighter, more traditional, chocolate cake it might be a surprise!

Btw, I love it for pudding with a ganache made simply from chocolate and cream, and some whipped cream or creme-fraiche. I also sometimes make it with raspberry jam and serve it with fresh raspberries on the side, which makes for a lovely colonisation.

Combination, even!

They work for me . But then I know my oven is a bit over enthusiastic , so I tend to give them less time than the recipe needs and lower the temperature a bit so it works out . Obviously any recipe is a guideline , because all ovens are different .

I made her devils food cake last night for DH’s birthday . I’m not sure there’s any left .

I've made this one lots of times and it's always lovely. Remember ovens vary so it's sometimes trial and error to get the timings and temperature right

I like loads of hers actually.

My brownies, which are celebrated, are Nigella's recipe, and I like the chocolate Malteser cake too. Also like the one where you cook the whole oranges and pulp them. Also chocohotopots a big fave.

Yy agree with others, check the oven temp. To be fair, she says this too!

I made her vegan chocolate cake and it was a bit of a disaster. The icing split when I stirred it per her instructions.

I has to give away the one cookbook I had by her (it was a present). Not a single recipe worked or was in any way edible. And anything I’ve tried from magazines by her had it worked either. I just don’t bother any more.
The cook is responsible for a lot, yes, but if you have to deviate from the recipe too much to get it to work then imo it’s the recipe that’s at fault.
I don’t think Nigella Lawson is a very good cook.

Not RTFT but I’ve found her cake recipes to be 100% reliable over the last 20 years. Store cupboard choc orange cake makes a regular appearance here (although it’s even better with plum jam and teaspoon of kirsch!) and every single birthday cake for the last 13 years (3 DCs) has been based on the old fashioned chocolate cake recipe, usually made up with triple quantities.
I baked my way through Domestic Goddess and only had one or two duds, and I think that was more down to not liking things, than them not working.
But, you do have to check oven temperature and timings. The store cupboard chocolate cake, for example, can come out really dense and soggy if it’s under-baked. But it’s not the fault of the recipe!

l've only ever made her Guinness cake, for a member of my shift at work. lt went down a storm. He even asked me to make one for his dad's birthday.
Having said that, l swear by Sam Stern's cake recipes. l've made literally hundreds of his banana and chocolate cakes, and they've never let me down.

Only ever made a couple of things, but never had any issues. The flourless chocolate brownies are great.

The only time i've had issues with a cake recipe is when using a silicone cake mould. After repeated issues with different recipes i've abandoned them.

Never had an issue with any of Nigella's recipes. I'd get an oven thermometer - sounds like the problem might be that your oven temp is off (common problem) and need to adjust either timings or temp.

They work fine for me in my new oven. Everything always needed extra time in my old oven (not just Nigella's recipes)

Her Sticky gingerbread recipe is perfection and has never failed me yet.

Have you checked your oven temperature?

I've always got on okay with Nigella, but pretty much everything I've made from Jamie Oliver has been absolutely tasteless.