MINI CHOCOLATE CAKES

Mini Chocolate Cakes With Chocolate Buttercream and Chocolate Ganache is a triple treat for all chocolate lovers 🙂 The cake is soft and moist with melt in mouth buttercream frosting and gooey ganache in every single bite making it a perfect treat for this holiday season.

Last Friday, I had craving for some chocolate dessert. I decided to prepare a basic moist chocolate cake. But, when I opened my refrigerator, I realized that I had reserved some buttercream that I prepared for Napoleon - and I decided to put it to use. Rather than using vanilla butter cream, I decided to add in some melted chocolate to it and have chocolate buttercream instead. My cake batter was ready, and so was the chocolate buttercream frosting. I was so excited of having this double chocolate treat later that day as the cake was baking away.

When the cake was out of the oven and cooling on a wire rack, I realized that I did not have chocolate buttercream recipe on my blog. So my next task was to click few photos of chocolate butter cream layered between moist chocolate cake even before having a bite. However, I was not quite sure on how the final presentation should look like. I wanted to keep it simple, yet elegant so that I could also serve these to our guests who were coming over for dinner that night. That's when my husband suggested to present these as mini-cakes. Voila!

Now it was all about some final touches. I decided to keep the final look rustic. I cut out the mini cakes, and layered them with chocolate buttercream. I went an extra step by drizzling over some chocolate ganache and topping it with shavings of premium dark chocolate. As you may have guessed, these mini-cakes are extra chocolaty, addictive and super satisfying, but at the same time they are not too sweet. This recipe requires very basic ingredients and some good quality chocolate chips. So from a double chocolate treat wish - I ended up with a triple, no a quadruple chocolate treat. It was so easy and totally worth it.

Mini-cakes are perfect as individual servings for your guests. The smile that shows up on their face when you serve these beauties is simply precious! After the dinner party that night, when we were seeing off our guests one of them gave me a tight hug and whispered that she felt as if she was royalty when I served the cake. Her words were so touching and that feeling was a perfect gift this holiday season for both me and my friend. I really hope you give this recipe a try and let me know how it turned out.

Preparation time : 1 hour
Serves : 6 mini chocolate cakes

Steps to prepare Mini Chocolate Cakes

Step I (For the Cake)

• Preheat the oven for 350 degree F. Grease a 9-inch baking pan with butter and keep this aside (See tip).
• In large bowl with stand mixer add all the dry ingredients (cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, coffee powder, flour, salt) and mix till combined. 
• Add milk, egg, vanilla extract, oil and mix on medium speed until all dry ingredients are incorporated. Now add boiling water and beat for not more than a minute.
• Pour the cake batter into the greased pan and bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until knife / toothpick inserted at center comes out clean.
• Let it cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let it cool down completely before you start layering it with buttercream.

Step II (For Butter Cream)

• In a microwave safe bowl, add chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon of heavy cream and microwave for about 30 seconds or until chocolate chips begin to melt.
• Whisk until cream and chocolate are well mixed. Let it cool completely.
• In a large mixing bowl add unsalted butter, shortening and salt. Using a hand held mixer (or a stand mixer) cream them together, for about 2 minutes.
• Then add vanilla extract, confectioners sugar and whisk for about 2 minutes.
• Drizzle in heavy cream and continue whisking (for 3 minutes) until it is stiff and creamy.
• Now add cooled melted chocolate and whisk until thoroughly combined.
• Chocolate butter cream is now ready. Keep it refrigerated until further use. Stays well for up to a week when refrigerated in an air tight container.

Step III (For Chocolate Ganache)

• On a double boiler, melt chocolate chips and cream together stirring occasionally until it becomes smooth and silky. Keep this aside.

Assemble the cake :

• Level the top of the cake using a knife to create a flat surface if required.
• Using a 3 inch cookie cutter, form 6 mini cakes. Slice each mini cake into thirds using a sharp knife.
• To assemble, add a large scoop of chocolate butter cream on the bottom third of the cake. Spread lightly with a spatula. Place the middle third of the cake and gently press until it levels.
• Add another large scoop of chocolate butter cream over the middle third. Spread lightly using a spatula as before, and place the top third of the cake and give it a gentle press.
• Using a straight edge of a spatula remove excess cream that has squeezed out between the layers, and simultaneously fill any gaps (crumb-coat). Transfer this to a wire rack.
• Repeat the process for remaining five mini cakes. Now optionally you can transfer the cakes to the freezer for about 10 mins. This helps solidify the butter cream slightly, and provide the cakes with some strength.
• Next, pour chocolate ganache over the mini cakes, and give the finish you desire. I have gone for a rustic semi-naked finish.
• Garnish it with some shavings of dark chocolate. You can make these mini-cakes ahead of time and refrigerate it until you are ready to serve.
• Chocolate mini cakes are now ready. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Tips:

• I have used a deep 9-inch spring form pan to bake a single cake. However if you do not have a spring form pan, you can bake the cake in two regular sized 9-inch round pans.
• For eggless version - substitute eggs with additional ¼ cup of oil and ⅓ cup of sour cream or yogurt.

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