How do I achieve a rich, moist, fluffy chocolate cake that Bruce Bogtrotter in Matilda would be proud of?
Katie, London, England, UK
“The key to most fluffy cakes is adding oil,” says Phil Khoury, author of A New Way to Bake. That could come, he says, via replacing “up to 50%” of the butter in a recipe with neutral oil or substituting it entirely, the reason being “oils are liquid at both fridge and room temperatures, whereas butter has to go above 25C for it to take on the attributes you associate with a moist cake”.
There is, of course, no butter involved in Khoury’s vegan take on the theme. “I use olive oil, but not a lot, especially when you’re in the business of not using eggs.” Typically,…