Mini Mintilicious Chocolate Cakes

So this is a bit of a different one. When I decided I was going to make this cake, I hadn’t realised I’d exhausted every last sugar cache in my house. Caster sugar, brown sugar, demerara sugar… all I had left was icing sugar.

Not the end of the world, I’m sure icing sugar will do the job just fine… I hope…

As it turns out, icing sugar does do the job just fine, so if you ever find yourself in a similar position you now have a tried and tested recipe to follow!

My initial concern was that the cake would turn out too dry, so I attempted to counteract this with the fat and liquid quantities, taking care not to over compensate and end up with a cake too dense. The end result was your simple, age-old versatile chocolate cake. Success.

Minitlicious Chocolate Cakes

Yield: two 4″ chocolate layer cakes

Ingredients

 Chocolate Cake

120ml whole milk
5ml white vinegar
130g plain flour
45g cocoa powder
5g baking soda
8g baking powder
200g powdered sugar
150g butter
2 eggs

Peppermint Frosting

180ml double cream
135g icing sugar
125g white chocolate
110g butter
3/4 tsp Peppermint Extract
Americolor Mint Green food colouring

Chocolate Drizzle

60g dark chocolate
30ml double cream
15g butter
10g golden syrup

Method

Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 180°C/350° F/Gas Mark 4. Then line two 4 inch cake tins with baking paper.

Combine the milk and vinegar and set aside.

Beat together the butter and icing sugar until creamy, then gradually add in the eggs.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa, then add to the butter mixture a third at a time, alternating with the milk.

Divide between two 4 inch cake tins and bake for 25 minutes, or until cake skewer comes out clean.

Peppermint Frosting

Beat the butter for five minutes, or until pale and creamy, then gradually add in the icing sugar.

In a separate bowl, melt the white chocolate with 40 ml double cream in the microwave with the power on low, starting with about 50 seconds and then 30 second bursts until melted, then set aside to cool.

In a new bowl, whip the remaining 140ml double cream to soft peaks and set aside.

Beat the cooled chocolate into the icing mixture, then add the extract to desired taste, followed by the food colouring to desired colour – bear in mind that you still have the cream to add which will dilute the colour and flavour slightly.

Fold the whipped cream into the icing until fully combined.

 

Assembling the cake

Using a cake cutting wire, divide each cake into three layers.

Place the first cake layers onto your cake plates or stands, then use a palette knife to spread a layer of icing over the top of each. Place the next layers on top and repeat.

Crumb coat the cakes with a thin layer of icing, then refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Coat the cakes in a second, thicker layer of butter cream, using your palette knife to smooth the edges. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Chocolate drizzle

Place the chocolate, cream, butter and golden syrup into a microwave safe bowl, and gently melt in the microwave on low power – start with 50 seconds, then continue with 30 second bursts until melted.

Set aside to cool slightly, then slowly pour over the centre of the cakes, gently smoothing the chocolate out towards the edges with a palette knife and allowing the drips to fall down the sides of the cakes.

Decorate the cakes as desired – I used sliced and crumbled Aero chocolate bars and some homemade white chocolates.

Enjoy… x