Mini Chocolate Ganache Cakes

I’m sure that many of you have been in a real rush while making your food shopping. I’m normally rushing even when I do the shopping for the store.

Sometimes I pick up the wrong box or bottle and once this included a double 2 litre pack of Hershey chocolate syrup.

I actually had ketchup not chocolate syrup on my list, but what can you do when you’re in a rush and you try to do too many things at the same time? Answer - you go home with a different product.

For a while I was wondering what to do with the chocolate syrup… then I remembered a Barefoot Contessa recipe that used chocolate syrup.

Apparently this was one of the cakes she used to make for her shop when she first opened and it was one that stuck in the memory of her customers because of its amazing rich flavour.

So here’s my version… and just a word of advice - this is so simple that anybody can bake it!

Be careful, these little cakes are terribly addictive!

Ingredients for the cake batter:

• 125g or 1 stick unsalted butter cubed and at room temperature
• 125g or 1 cup caster sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 450g or 16oz can chocolate syrup
• 175g or 1 cup plain flour sieved
• 1 tsp vanilla extracts
• pinch of fine sea salt

Ingredients for the chocolate ganache glaze:

• 125ml or ½ cup double cream
• 100g or ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (55% dark chocolate)
• ½ tsp vanilla extracts
• ½ shot of espresso coffee or a tbsp of your favorite liqueur (optional)
• pinch fine sea salt
• candied violets for decoration

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F or gas mark 4.
• Lightly butter 10 mini dariole molds 175ml or 6fluid oz capacity or muffins baking tray.
• With an electric mixer, beat the sugar, vanilla extracts and butter until nice and creamy then add 1 egg at the time at the mixture. Keep beating until each egg is incorporated fully.
• Fold in the the sifted flour and the chocolate syrup.
• Using a small ladle pour the cake batter into the dariole molds.
• Put the dariole molds on a baking tray and bake for 20/25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
• Leave to cool then turn the cakes out from the molds.
• Put on a cooling rack. Prepare the glaze.
• In a double boiler put the chocolate chips and wait until they start to melt. Add the cream and vanilla and with the help of a spatula stir the mixture until nice and smooth.
• Remove from the heath, leave to cool for 5 minutes then spoon on top of the cakes. Leave to set for ½ hour, top with candied violets then serve.
• For a gluten free version of this recipe substitute the flour with:
  • 75g or ½ cup fine polenta or maize flour
  • 75g or ½ cup rice flour
  • 50g or ½ cup cornflour
  • 1 tsp xantham gum
• Mix the flours and the xantham gum together, sieve than proceed as above.