Mini Chocolate Raspberry Cakes

These little cakes came about because I made a chocolate cake and one of the layers didn't rise as much as I would have liked due to a heavy hand when adding the cocoa powder! I use Green and Black's cocoa powder and it's a must for these little choccie cakes.

It's a wasteful method but I cut out tiny rounds to make these little cakes and the leftover sponge cake is the cooks treat!

The filling is simply seedless raspberry jam and a few fresh raspberries crushed . I served my little cakes with vanilla ice cream.

Orange Drizzle Cake with Caramelised Zest

Iced Orange Drizzle Cake

I love mini cakes, it saves ploughing through a large cake and I like that one cake can be drizzled with icing and eaten on the day it's made, the others I place into the freezer. These days the cakeometer dictates that I can no longer eat as many slices of cake all on one day as I did in my teenage years.

Interestingly the majority of cakes improve whilst they're in the freezer because it gives them a chance to take in moisture, so if you ever make a cake and it seems on the dry side either leave it in a container (not airtight) for a few days, or pop it in the freezer.

The cakes can be successfully frozen at this stage

Makes: 4 Mini Loaf Cakes 15cm x 8cm approx - I bought my loaf tins from Lakeland.

For the cake:
100g caster sugar
115g softened butter
115g self raising flour
2 large eggs beaten
2 tbsp sour cream

For the caramelised orange zest:
100g caster sugar
rind of 1 orange removed with a citrus zester
Juice of 1 orange

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Line the mini loaf tins with baking parchment.
3. Tip 100g caster sugar into a small saucepan, add the orange juice and rind of the orange which has been removed using a citrus zester.  Heat gently to dissolve the sugar, then simmer rapidly for a minute, being careful that the liquid doesn't evaporate.  Leave on one side whilst you make the cakes.
4. For the cake. Add the butter and caster sugar to a large bowl and whisk until light and fluffy. Add the eggs gradually to the batter whilst continuously beating. Fold the flour and sour cream into the batter.
5. Dollop the mixture equally between the tins and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and cooked through. A wooden cocktail stick inserted into the cake should come out clean when they are baked.
6. Remove the tins from the oven, poke the cakes all over with a skewer, pour over the syrup and zest.
7. Leave the cakes to cool in the tins, remove and leave as they are (they can be frozen at this stage) or drizzle icing over.

Blueberry and Lemon Drizzle Mini Loaf Cakes

I turned to one of my Mary Berry cookbooks for this delicious recipe - I've adapted her lime and blueberry ring drizzle cake and used lemon to replace her suggested lime but only because I had lemons in the fridge, this was an instantaneous bake and there wasn't time to go out shopping for a few limes. The crystallised lemon rind is quick, easy to make and delicious, not a step to miss out.

Ingredients
110g soft butter
110g caster sugar
175g self-raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
1 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
50g blueberries (use some of the measured flour to coat the blueberries)

Crunchy glaze:
3 tablespoons lemon juice
75g granulated sugar

Crystallised lemon rind:
1 lemon rind (I used a zester)
70g caster sugar
100ml cold water

You will need: 8 greased and lined mini loaf moulds.

Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.  Cut 8 strips of baking parchment and line the loaf tin moulds.

Place the butter, caster sugar, flour, and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the eggs, milk, and lemon zest. Beat with an electric hand whisk for about 2 minutes until smooth.

Divide half the batter between the eight moulds. Scatter the floured blueberries over the batter. Spoon the rest of the mixture over the blueberries and spread it evenly to cover the fruit.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until well risen. Whilst the cakes bake, make the glaze by mixing the lemon juice with the granulated sugar.  Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for a few minutes, then loosen the sides with a palette knife. Lift them out of the tin with the baking paper strips and place on a wire rack to cool.

While the cakes are still warm, prick them all over with a skewer. Stir the glaze, then spoon it over the warm cakes. Leave to cool.

To make the candied lemon rind, use a zester to remove the rind from lemons in long strands. Or, if you are handy with a knife, thinly slice the lemon rind away from the lemon and cut into fine strips. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Combine the rind, sugar and water in a saucepan over a medium heat and cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium/low and simmer for 10 minutes or until the rind is translucent. Remove from the heat. Use a fork to spread the rind in a single layer, over the tray. Put to one side for 5 minutes to set.
Now the candied zest is ready to decorate the cakes as you wish.

Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes

These cakes can be rustled up in next to no time at all. I had a couple of lemons which needed using up and my stash of frozen redcurrants never seem to go down and I'm on a mission to use them before the redcurrant bushes produce fruit again later on in the year.

These little cakes are my usual lemon drizzle cake recipe but made up in two mini bundt tins. A lemon drizzle can be poured over the cakes when they come out of the oven, the cooled cakes can be iced or top them as you wish.  They freeze and thaw beautifully - simply refresh in the microwave.

Grease liberally and flour the tins well or use a non stick spray because these tins have a tendency to stick.

You will need:
175g baking spread
175g caster sugar
200g self-raising flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
grated rind of 2 small lemons

Method:
1. Grease and flour the mini bundt tins.
2. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
3. Add all of the ingredients into a large bowl and using an electric hand whisk beat well for 2 minutes. Using an ice cream scoop, place scoops of cake batter into each bundt.
4. Divide the batter between the tins.
5. Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes until golden and cooked.
6. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then carefully remove from the tins.

More recipes using a bundt tin
Individual Carrot Cakes

Mini Gingerbread Cupcakes - Recipe

For some unknown reason I've got a mountain of gold mini cupcake cases, this recipe uses 18 cases and I've still got a whole heap left. These cute sticky gingerbread mini bakes are easy to make and a favourite of ours.  They keep for a few days and get stickier by the day but I doubt they'll last that long.

4 tbsp apple and ginger juice (I used Cawston Press) or ginger ale
90g dark muscovado sugar
⅛ tsp bicarbonate of soda
70g self-raising flour
1 level tsp ground ginger
1 medium egg
3 tbsp vegetable oil
White icing to decorate

You will need: 18 mini muffin cases - two mini muffin cake tins

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan.
2. Place the apple and ginger juice and the muscovado sugar in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Take a wooden spoon and break down any lumps of sugar. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the bicarbonate of soda.
3. Sift the flour and ginger into a bowl. Whisk the egg and oil together in another bowl, then slowly add this to the flour, whilst stirring continuously. Add the apple and ginger juice or ginger ale to the mixture in two goes whilst gently mixing it in.
4. Three-quarters fill each muffin case and bake for about 15 minutes until risen and firm. Remove from the tins and leave to cool.
5. Decorate with white icing.

One year ago:
                          Individual Raspberry Trifles
                          Last Minute Christmas Puddings
                          Meringue Topped Mince Pies
                          Mini Stollen

Mini Raspberry Cream Brownies - Recipe

These petits fours are 'high faff' and take a bit of patience to make but they are well worth it. They're quite rich and I could only manage to eat one, which is no bad thing, because I really wouldn't want to know how calorific they are.

I've got a few raspberry canes at the bottom of the garden, there's nothing quite like home grown raspberries, they are in a league of their own.

My hob is induction and melting chocolate is a dream, it's possible to place the chocolate in a pan and melt it gently on the hob, it's so much easier than melting chocolate over a pan of water and I find the chocolate never overheats.

The cream is made from raspberry puree, cream and melted white chocolate, I added a little red food colouring to brighten up the raspberry cream to give it a pretty pink colour.

When I piped these I didn't let the raspberry cream chill down for long enough

I'm off for a week to eat at a few posh restaurants and some not so posh, drink coffee at some trendy coffee shops and some not so trendy.......but meanwhile I'll leave you with the recipe for these fabulous brownies.....

You will need:  22cm square baking tin, greased  and lined with baking parchment so the paper extends over all four sides.  4cm cutter.

80g salted butter
150g dark chocolate
115g caster sugar
2 small eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
60g plain flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder

Raspberry Cream
250g raspberries
1 tbsp icing sugar
60ml cream
125g white chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC.
2. Place the chocolate and butter into a bowl and place over a saucepan with gently simmering water. Stir until the butter and chocolate have melted. Remove the bowl and allow to cool.
3.Place the sugar, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and mix until pale and creamy.
4. Fold in the cooled chocolate.  Sift over the flour and cocoa powder.
5. Pour into the baking tin and cook for 15-20 minutes. Cool in the tin. Place in the fridge for an hour.
6. Raspberry Cream.  Place 125g raspberries with the icing sugar into a food processor and blend until smooth.  Strain through a fine sieve. Add the raspberry puree to a small saucepan along with the cream and bring to the boil.  Add the pieces of white chocolate to the pan, remove from the heat and spoon the raspberry cream over the chocolate pieces.  Leave it for approximately 5 minutes and then whisk to a smooth glossy sauce.  Pour into a bowl and place in the fridge until chilled and set.
7. Take the cake out of the fridge, remove the cake from the tin.  Place on a board and cut out rounds using the cutter.
8. Place the chilled raspberry cream into a piping bag fitted with a 1M Wilton nozzle and pipe onto the brownie rounds, top with a fresh raspberry.

I'm submitting this post to the recipe linky #cookblogshare over at Supergolden Bakes.......

Chocolate and Beetroot Mini Cakes - Recipe

Chocolate and Beetroot Mini Cakes

Mini cakes that look cute make eating mini portions a pleasure and I also like an excuse to use my mini loaf baking tins.  January is the month to measure our food intake and these mini cakes are delicious.

I'm not suggesting for one minute these are healthy mini bites but mentally they definitely lift the spirits on a dull, grey, rainy, January day.

The Craisins are used in the batter mix and I decorated the loaves with them too. Craisins are dried cranberries and a registered trademark belonging to Ocean Spray.

Makes 12 mini loaves
Spray the tins with cake release and it shouldn't be necessary to line the bases

I wasn't sure how many cakes I'd get but guessed if I filled the tins three quarters full I'd stand a chance of them rising enough to produce 12 cakes.

Good guess - it made 12 mini loaves

Decorated they will keep for a couple of days, without icing they can be frozen.

You will need:

75g dark chocolate
75g chopped Craisins
150g grated Beetroot
175g self-raising flour
40g cocoa powder
175g soft brown sugar
250ml vegetable oil
3 large eggs

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170ºC.
2. Place the chocolate into a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water until it has melted, stir and cool.
3. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl, add the sugar, oil, eggs and melted chocolate.  Whisk together and stir in the grated beetroot and Craisins.
4. Pour the batter into the mini loaf compartments until they are three quarters full.  Bake for 25 minutes and allow them to cool in the pans.
5. Remove the loaves from the pan and decorate with icing and extra Craisins.