When it comes to sweet treats, I tend to be a cookie kind of girl. Growing up there were always a tin of homemade cookies in the pantry cupboard. It didn't matter the season or the temperature outside, there were alway cookies. While we used to try different kinds of cookies, most often that tin held chocolate chip. To this day, I still think that there is nothing better than biting into a chewy, soft chocolatey cookie.
But sometimes, you just feel like cake. With all of the snow lately, I've been feeling like a warm, chocolatey treat. I came across a version of this chocolate/brownie mash-up here. What appealed to me was the dense texture of a brownie, but without the intense sweetness of chocolate cake. Don't get me wrong, these are sweet, but they're not sting your mouth sweet. I also love the addition of the raspberries to balance out the sweet, tart flavours.
These definitely hit the spot and filled my chocolate craving. I used the extra ganache over ice cream and with some fruit, but you could just eat it with a spoon if you like, it's that good. So the next time you feel like chocolate and cake - give these a try.
Enjoy!
Krista
Dark Chocolate Raspberry Mini Cakes
Ingredients
For the cakes:
1 tablespoon butter (to grease ramekins)
2 tsp dutch-processed cocoa powder (for ramekins)
1 c dark chocolate (aim for a 70% dark chocolate) chopped
4 tablespoons butter, unsalted
1/2 c demerara sugar
1/4 c heavy cream (whipping cream)
3 eggs
1/4 c all-purpose flour, sifted
3/4 cup fresh raspberries
For the ganache:
1/2 c dark chocolate chopped
1/2 c heavy cream (whipping cream)
Method
To make the cake:
Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly butter 6 X 8cm ramekins, then dust a thin coating of dutch-processed cocoa powder around the insides of each ramekin.
Place the butter, sugar, chocolate and heavy cream into a saucepan at low heat until combined and melted.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs together, then gradually add in flour until well combined. Take two tablespoons of the warm chocolate mixture and add to the egg mixture, while whisking. When combined, add two more tablespoons of the egg mixture. Then add all of the egg mixture back into the warm chocolate mixture and whisk. *
Pour mixture equally into ramekins and top with fresh raspberries.
Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer poked into the middle of the ramekin comes out clean.
To make the ganache:
Place chocolate and heavy cream into a heat-safe bowl over a pot of simmering water. It is important that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. You do not want your chocolate to burn or seize up. Stir until mixture begins to melt and becomes smooth.
When ready to serve, plate each ramekin on a dessert plate, add a few extra raspberries to the side and drizzle with the ganache. Pour remaining ganache into a small bowl and bring to table with dessert.
*Recipe Notes:
You do not want the room temperature egg mixture to cook and curdle when added to the warm chocolate mixture, so adding a few tablespoons of the chocolate to the egg mixture at a time tempers the eggs. If the eggs do curdle, you can use a sieve when adding the egg mixture to the chocolate. The thickness of your cake may be affected.
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