Chocolate Mini Cake Recipe

This Chocolate Mini Cake Recipe is perfect for afternoon tea. They are so chocolatey and delicious, and the perfect size for a little bite of something sweet.

They are very moist, making them just the right thing for soaking up all the delicious flavors of your tea. For a Christmassy version, add a bit of ginger!

Ingredients

For the Cake
125ml sunflower or canola oil
125g butter
125ml regular cocoa powder
250ml water
400g light brown sugar
300g cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
1 tsp ground ginger (optional)
125ml plain yogurt
2 large eggs, approximately 56g per egg
5ml vanilla essence

For the Icing and Garnishing
250g powdered icing sugar
2 TBS cocoa powder
70g butter, softened
2 TBS plain yogurt
1/2 tsp ground ginger (optional)
Silver edible balls
Edible flowers such as pansies, rose petals, marigolds, or calendula
Blueberries or any fresh berries of your choice
Edible glitter

How to Make Chocolate Mini Cakes

If you are wondering how to make these mini cakes, I recommend a silicone mini muffin pan. The mini cake above was made in a mini muffin pan – you can see how small it is by the size of the fork next to it. It is the perfect bite size for your afternoon tea.

Method for cake

1. Place the oil, butter, cocoa, and water in a pan and bring them all to a boil. Turn the heat down as soon as it starts to boil and stir until everything has dissolved.
2. In a large bowl, sieve together the flour, sugar, baking soda, ginger, and salt.
3. In a second bowl, mix the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla with a whisk.
4. Once the chocolate mixture has cooled down, add it with the egg mixture to the bowl of flour and dry ingredients. Stir or whisk until everything has mixed together, but do not overmix the batter.
5. Pour the mixture via a jug into your greased mini muffin pans or cook in mini cupcake holders if you want to avoid sticking.
6. Bake at 180 ºC/356 ºF for 10-15 minutes, depending on the strength of your oven. As a test – the cake mixture should spring back when you press it with a finger, or a knife should come out clean when piercing the center.
7. Allow the cakes to cool before decorating them.

A Delicious Buttercream Icing

The light chocolate buttercream icing takes this chocolate mini cupcake from ordinary to extraordinary. The rich, creamy flavor of chocolate pairs perfectly with the buttercream, made extra light with the addition of a touch of yogurt. Save it to use as a delicious and decadent topping for any cake.

Method for icing and decorating

1. Sieve the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl.
2. Mix all the other ingredients into the icing sugar and chill in the fridge until the mix has thickened slightly. You can mix the icing sugar by hand or with an electric beater.
3. Ice the mini cakes. You can do this with a piping dish if you prefer a neat shape or with a knife for a more rustic look.
4. Decorate the baby cakes with flowers, berries, silver balls, and glitter. The options are endless.

Perfect for your Afternoon Tea or Christmas Tea Party

For Christmas, you can add some ginger to your chocolate mini cakes to give them a lovely spice and everything nice flavor. Adding just a tiny bit of ginger gives them a lovely warming aroma that is perfect for this time of year. And they make an ideal addition to your Christmas Tea Party!

To make your chocolate mini cakes more festive, decorate your mini cakes with a variety of edible decorations. Blueberries, sliced strawberries, raspberries, edible flowers, edible silver balls and edible glitter all look lovely. Or you can make your own chocolate curls. Just use a vegetable peeler to shave pieces off of a block of chocolate.

The good news is that this is a very versatile recipe – you can also make it as regular cupcakes, in two round tins, or a rectangular baking dish. A definite keeper!