You know when people say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach? Well then slap some facial hair on me and call me a man. For my birthday, my mom made a special dinner and an assortment of desserts for me – all chocolate, of course. Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing topped with shredded coconut, chocolate covered strawberries, and my favorite, these mini chocolate cakes with peanut butter filling and chocolate ganache drizzled on top. Mom = winning.
Recipe (Courtesy of Family Circle)
Mini Cakes
2 squares (1 oz. each) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tbsps milk
PB Filling
3 tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp creamy pb
1 tsp sugar
Chocolate Ganache
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 squares (1 0z. each) semi sweet chocolate, chopped
Preheat oven to 350. Coat a mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a microwaveable bowl, heat the chocolate squares for about 30 secs, stir, and if not melted completely, heat again for another 20 seconds or so depending on your microwave. Watch it though, this chocolate can burn quickly. Set aside in a small bowl to cool.
In a small bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt together.
In a medium bowl, beat butter until smooth. Beat in the sugar until blended then beat in the egg. Slowly beat in the cooled melted chocolate. On a low speed, beat in the flour mixture and milk.
Pour batter into a pastry bag (or plastic resealable bag and cut off 1/4 inch of the tip) and pipe into the muffin pan. Bake for 13-15 mins. Remove from pan and set on a wire rack to cool.
For the PB Filling, just beat all ingredients together until smooth. Again, fill a pastry bag or small resealable bag, poke a hole through the tops of the cakes with a straw and pipe the filling through the straw so it goes down inside the cake. Remove straw. Skinny Pig Note: This part can get a little messy.
For the ganache topping, heat cream in the microwave for 30 seconds or until hot and bubbly. Poure the hot cream over the chocolate and let stand for a few minutes. Stir together. Skinny Pig Note: feel free to add a tiny pat of butter to add extra smoothness and shine to the ganache. Drizzle over the tops of the cakes.
