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Mini Chocolate and Cherry Cakes

If the day had gone to plan this is what Claire would have baked: delicious mini cakes with an injection of cherry brandy syrup. If the decoration is too much work, just make the cake and syrup and serve it with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 22 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and cocoa powder match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,587 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓

The recipe

Makes 12 mini cakes
Prep2 hr
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F). Line a 12-hole mini cake tin with paper cases. Melt the 150g dark chocolate with the 150g unsalted butter over a pan of barely simmering water, then leave to cool slightly.

  2. Beat the 150g caster sugar and 35g soft dark brown sugar into the melted chocolate mixture. Beat in the eggs one at a time until smooth.

  3. Sift the self-raising flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together. Fold into the batter alternately with the buttermilk until just combined. Chop 12 of the amarena cherries, fold them in, and divide the batter among the cases.

  4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the cakes are set. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then move to a rack.

  5. Put the 50ml amarena cherry syrup, 40g caster sugar and 135ml cherry brandy in a small pan. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves, then cool. Spoon over the cooled cakes.

  6. Heat the first 150g double cream until just simmering and pour over the 200g dark chocolate. Stir until smooth, then stir in the 100g double cream. Cool until thick and spreadable, about 45 minutes.

  7. Spread the ganache over the cakes and top with the remaining 6 cherries, halved. Sprinkle with nonpareils if using, then chill for 30 minutes to set.

  8. Knead tylose into the yellow and fuchsia fondant if using, to firm it. Roll out thinly, cut small shapes and attach to the cakes with a little food grade alcohol if using.

  9. Mix the gold lustre edible dust with a few drops of food grade alcohol if using, then brush over the yellow fondant shapes to finish.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Chocolate + cocoa powdertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,587 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  2. Flour + buttermilktop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,667 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Chocolate + cherry brandytop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together22 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Chocolate + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together15,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together122,858 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs