Mini Chocolate Almond Cakes

I have a love for all things chocolate so any recipe with chocolate in it sparks my interest. I just finished reading a book called The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz which has lots of recipes for Parisian pastries and other French food. He also has a blog about his life in Paris (www.davidlebovitz.com) with many more exciting recipes! These mini cakes are apparently called financiers because they were originally shaped like bars of gold and were popular in the financial district in Paris...who really knows what to believe. These turned out to be dense little chocolate cakes that were a good snack!

INGREDIENTS

90g butter

90g almond meal

25g cocoa powder

10g (1 tablespoon) flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

90g (¾ cup) icing sugar

1/3 cup egg whites (from about 3 eggs)

1 tablespoon milk/dark chocolate chips

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 220° Celsius. Grease a mini-muffin tin.

2. Melt the butter and cool to room temperature.

3. Sift together the almond meal, cocoa powder, flour, salt and sugar.

4. Stir the egg whites into the sifted mixture, then gradually stir in the melted butter until smooth and fully incorporated.

   

5. Spoon batter into the prepared tin to about three-quarters full. Scatter a few chocolate chips over the mini muffins.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, until slightly puffed and springy to touch.

7. Remove from the oven and cool completely before removing from the tin. 

These were really quick and easy to make and super cute once cooked! 

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Got some brown over ripe bananas lying about you don’t know what to do with? Why not make some banana cake! It also works with perfectly good bananas, it’s just easier to mush up super ripe ones. This recipe is from Stephanie Alexander’s Cook’s Companion, the brightly coloured giant cook book that has a recipe for nearly everything! My one complaint is there are no pictures in the book, so to make up for it I have taken many! The cream cheese frosting recipe I got from my mum with a few edits after looking at taste.com. I don’t think you can truly enjoy a banana/carrot/hummingbird cake without it!  

INGREDIENTS

Cake

125g butter, softened

1 ½ cups sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed ripe banana

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

250g plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

½ cup buttermilk (milk mixed with 1 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice)

Icing

60g cream cheese, softened

30g butter, softened

120g (¾ cup) icing sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ tablespoon lemon juice

METHOD

Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius. Butter and line with baking paper a rectangular cake (loaf) tin.

2. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

3. Beat in eggs, banana and vanilla until combined.

4. Sift dry ingredients (flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice) and add to banana mixture, alternating with the buttermilk.

5. Once the cake mixture is smooth pour into prepared tin and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

6. Cool cake in tin for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire cooling rack.

7. Allow cake to completely cool before icing. Spread cream cheese frosting evenly over the top of the cake.

Icing

1. Beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until pale, smooth and creamy.

2. Add icing sugar and beat until well combined.

3. Add vanilla and lemon juice and continue to beat until smooth and spreadable.

Nom nom nom....

Dark Chocolate, Pear & Pistachio Cake

I stumbled upon this recipe today in a messy collection of magazine rip outs from a few years ago and was inspired to make it again. It’s from the April 2010 issue of Gourmet Traveller magazine in the section that gives recipes from Australia’s leading chefs. This one is from a restaurant called Tartine. The cake is rich and chocolatey but the pistachio and pear seem to make it a bit lighter in texture. And the chocolate ganache icing finishes it off perfectly!

INGREDIENTS

Cake

200g dark chocolate (70%), coarsely chopped

70g pistachio kernels, plus extra to serve

150g butter

150g caster sugar

3 eggs

150 plain flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 pear, cored and coarsely chopped

Chocolate Ganache (icing)

150g dark chocolate (70%), coarsely chopped

150ml cream

METHOD

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 160°Celsius.

2. Process chocolate and pistachios in a food processor (or blender) until coarse crumbs form, then set aside.

3. Beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined. The mixture might become lumpy and separated but this should go away when you add the flour in the next step.

5. Stir in the flour and baking powder.

6. Stir through the pistachio and chocolate mixture, then the chopped pear.

7. Pour mixture into a prepared tin greased and lined with baking paper and smooth top. The recipe says to use a circle tin but I used a rectangle just for fun.

8. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

9. Cool in tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto serving plate and cool to room temperature before icing.

Chocolate Ganache (icing)

1. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set aside.

2. Heat cream in a saucepan over medium heat to just below boiling.

3. Add cream to chocolate and let stand until the chocolate melts slightly.

 

4. Stir mixture until smooth and the chocolate and cream are well combined.

5. Set aside until thickened a bit more.

6. Pour icing over top and sides of cake and smooth. Decorate with extra pistachios, let set for 20-30 minutes then serve.

I think this recipe is pretty easy to make and it’s something a bit different to a normal chocolate cake, but just as tasty!