Mini Chocolate Cakes

Browsing through the Sur la Table cookbook, I saw these cute little chocolate cakes! I improvised, as usual. The cake is actually more of a pound cake, so it’s denser in texture. I also used a ganache recipe from the same cookbook (equal parts of heavy cream and semi-sweet dark chocolate), but used it as a glaze over the cakes instead of a topping, and substituted the fancy sugar nests for chocolate dipped strawberries. I’d say this recipe was a definite success!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks softened butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 tsp water
• 2 tsp instant espresso powder
• 3 large eggs, at room temp
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-processed)
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• roughly 2 cups of dark chocolate ganache
• almond and chocolate-covered strawberries to decorate

Method

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease the pans. I used a mini bundt cake pan with 12 molds.

Step 2

Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until it is light in color and completely incorporated.

Step 3

In a small container, stir the water and espresso powder until smooth, and add to the mixing bowl.

Step 4

Add the eggs one at a time into the mixing bowl, mixing after each addition.

Step 5

Sift the dry ingredients into a separate bowl. Alternatively add the buttermilk and dry ingredients on the low setting of the mixer.

Step 6

Pour into cake mold(s) and let cool. 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan : 45-55 minutes Six individual molds: 16-19 minutes 12 mini molds: 13-15 minutes

Step 7

Make the ganache while the cakes are cooling, and wait until the ganache has cooled to about 85 degrees F to decorate. With the ganache in a bowl, put a wire rack over the bowl and place the cooled cakes on the rack. Completely cover the cakes in chocolate ganache. Finish off with the chocolate strawberries for a fancy finish 🙂 Enjoy!!