Monday, November 20, 2006

Mini Chocolate Almond Cakes

Sometimes you just want to fly caution to the wind and be bad. REAL BAD. And this weekend I did just that.
Albie, my vegan friend, brought these into work and we finished them off within minutes. As they were mini you didn't have to feel guilty about it (but not when you have 6!). Anyway, as a group we established that vegan food isn't too healthy it doesn't taste good and after getting the recipe off him we established that vegan food sometimes just isn't all that healthy (but just tastes yummy!).
As after nagging him for a week I got the recipe off him. It was a standard recipe that he had used veganised by using egg replacer instead of eggs, margarine instead of butter.
Well the original recipe called for hazelnuts (actually the meal) and of course I didn't have these in stock so I used almond meal (by grinding up some slivered almonds), and the almonds really take this cake to the next level. And I tried making it vegan but realised that I had two spoons of Margarine left so I stuck to the original non vegan recipe.
Well enough blabbering, here it is!

Mini Chocolate Almond Cakes

Ingredients
100g dark eating chocolate- coarsely chopped.
3/4 cup water
100g butter-sofened.
1 cup brown sugar- firmly packed.
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup almond meal
3 eggs

Icing Ingredients
50g dark eating chocolate- melted over a double boiler.
50g butter- softened.

Method
  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius (160 if fan forced). Line a mini muffin tray with papers. This recipe yields 3 dozen mini muffins.
  2. Melt chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave. Stir in water.
  3. Beat butter and sugar in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. To this add eggs, one at a time until just mixed.
  4. Stir in the cocoa, almond meal, flour and chocolate water.
  5. Bake this in the oven for about twenty minutes.
  6. Meanwhile prepare icing by mixing the chocolate and butter until smooth.
  7. When cakes are cool ice them. AND EAT!

I was going to submit it for Jihva for Jaggery but wasn't sure if brown sugar would be accepted as a 'jaggery'. Will just have to get mum to give me a good recipe! :)

20 comments:

  1. wow, they look so good, have to try them.

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  2. Very well rised and delicious! Frosting looks good too! Enjoy...

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  3. Puspha,
    Thanks! Greatly appreciated from the baking expert herself! :)

    Lakshmi,
    Definately try them.

    Asha,
    Frosting was a bit rich but I guess the whole thing is a bit rich! :)

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  4. praveena, they look amazing and even ur stuffed okra looks yummy.. glad to know that u liked it:) next time try adding canned chopped tomatoes instead of fresh ones'... they taste really good with thick gravy:)
    cheers
    supriya

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  5. Ah so that's the trick. I usually don't use much canned tomatoes (especially when fresh tomatoes are in season) so I guess I'll try it will canned next time. But I loved the filling. It was so yummy! Thanks supriya

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  6. hey...... nice recipe praveena..... and the icing looks so yum.... :)

    You may not be able to send it to JFI.... but you can surely send it to Nandita for WBB (if you r interested :) )

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  7. he he he praveena,
    even i used to say the same thing.. hated all canned stuff but after trying canned tomatoes i have changed my mind:) if u want to get a thick gravy for any dish try canned tomatoes... it works like magic... oops!!! i just shared a secret here:) he he he...
    tc girl
    cheers
    supriya

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  8. dear Praveena,
    Mini chocolate cakes looks delicious ,ready to eat ...
    hugs and smiles
    Mantu

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  9. oh boy!!!!!!!!!!!!1 this looks chocolaty and yummmmmmmm praveena first of all i have to say u have a beautiful blog here with nice good recipies and secondly man this looks delicious ..i have to give it a try ...thanks a lot for posting this
    -
    Seema

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  10. wow! Love almonds in any form...and what better way than to pair it with chocolate!

    Kudos,Trupti

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  11. Rooma,
    Thanks!
    I have already made a entry to Nandita's WBB so I think I'll give it a miss for this one. But thanks for suggesting!

    Sups,
    Its on the shopping list already! :)

    Mantu,
    Thanks! Hugs and Smiles from me as well!

    Seema,
    Thanks buddy! That sort of encourgement is what keeps me going on doing this! And dude this is sooo yummy that its sinful...I know I made it mini so you don't eat much...but it isn't working! everytime i'm eating like 4!!! :)

    Trupti,
    I like chocolate in any form so great idea to pair it with almonds! :) Btw I love your kids! they are choooo ccccccuuuttteeeee! :)

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  12. Looks delicious! I haven't tried combining brown sugar with chocolate. Sounds good.

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  13. Oh my God, they look so delicious and perfectly made and presented. I also make almond cake but never tried chocolate with almonds in cake. Will try it now.

    Thanks for sharing..

    Nidhi.

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  14. Hi Praveena,

    It's the first time Me visiting ur blog...I came thru t capsicum chutney thread. I have not baked any cake so far. I thot to try this...but is cocoa powder necessarily required? can we skip or replace it with more chocolate?

    Even i like cup cakes a lot..back home in Coimbatore, we used t have Apple cup cakes from bakery...even the icing tasted delicious...as I always omit it. If anyone can get me tat recipe...I wud be elated...he he

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  15. omg! they look so yummy

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  16. That cupcake looks perfect!

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  17. hii..

    Nice Post Great job.

    Thanks for sharing.

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  18. Massive post, provoking piece of writing. Special use the thinking as well beautiful explained recipes. happy to follow your blog.

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