Mini Chocolate Cake

This incredibly delicious Mini Chocolate Cake recipe features a layer of whipped chocolate ganache, a layer of silky chocolate ganache and is topped with piped whipped chocolate ganache!

This Mini Chocolate Cake with Chocolate is a chocolate lover’s dream! It’s moist, fluffy and deeply chocolatey. Bonus: it’s beyond easy to whip up!

For more delicious cake recipes, try my Nutella Peanut Butter Cake, Chocolate Chip Cake Loaf and Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake.

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS CHOCOLATE CAKE

• It’s made with lots of cocoa powder and filled with mousse-like whipped chocolate ganache and topped with silky ganache!
• The olive oil in the cake batter makes this cake moist and tender.
• It comes together quickly and easily it comes together! Anyone can make it!
• Make this cake for a birthday or special occasion or just anytime you’re craving chocolate!

INGREDIENTS

• Olive Oil– Olive oil is a healthy fat. It makes this cake so moist.
• Granulated Sugar
• Brown Sugar– Use light or dark brown sugar. Make sure your brown sugar is fresh.
• One Egg: Use 1 large room temperature egg.
• Vanilla Extract– Vanilla extract adds flavor.
• Buttermilk-Buttermilk helps the cake stay super moist. Use room temperature buttermilk.
• Boiling Water– Hot water brings out the chocolate flavor of the cocoa powder.
• Flour– Use all purpose flour.
• Cocoa Powder-Use natural cocoa powder.
• Baking Soda and baking powder– It’s always a good idea to check the expiration date on your leavening agents. Make sure they aren’t expired.
• Salt-Salt brings out the flavor of the chocolate. It also balances the flavor of the cake. Without salt, the cake would taste bland.
• Chocolate: I use semi-sweet bars of chocolate for the ganache. I recommend chocolate bars over chocolate chips. To ensure even/faster melting, chop the chocolate into small, even pieces.
• Heavy Cream or Heavy Whipping Cream: Makes it super rich and spreadable. Do not use half and half or whole milk as a substitute.

SUBSTITUTIONS

• Vegetable or canola oil can be used as a substitute for the olive oil.
• If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own! Check out this post on How to Make Buttermilk by Once Upon a Chef.

THIS CHOCOLATE GANACHE TOPPING IS:

• Silky Smooth: Easy to spread or pipe.
• Not Too Sweet
• Shiny: So pretty both when it is spreads piped.
• Chocolatey
• Simple: It’s made with just two ingredients!
• Easy: It takes little effort and just minutes to make!

HOW TO USE CHOCOLATE GANACHE

• SPREAD OR ADDED AS A DRIP: Once mixed, spread over the top of the cake.
• WHIPPED: Chocolate ganache will thicken as it cools. Once cooled, the ganache will be thick enough to be spread as a frosting or piped. For an even thicker consistency, whip the cooled ganache with a whisk attachment on medium-high speed for 4-5 minutes.

I spread about 3/4 cup of whipped chocolate ganache between these two 6″ cake layers.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

EXPERT TIPS

• To bring your egg to room temperature faster, place the egg in a bowl of very warm water for about 5 minutes. The warm water will bring it to room temperature.
• I wouldn’t recommend using chocolate chips for the ganache. Use chopped chocolate baking bars for the ganache. It melts more evenly than chocolate chips. I wouldn’t recommend melting chocolate chips.

This Mini Chocolate Cake with Chocolate is a cocoa based, ganache topped chocolate lover’s dream! It’s easy to whip up, moist, fluffy and, of course, deeply chocolatey. You seriously won’t believe how easy and DELICIOUS it is!

Mini Chocolate Cake

Natalie

Mini Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Fluffy, moist chocolate cake filled with a layer of whipped chocolate ganache and topped with a layer of silky chocolate ganache and piped whipped chocolate ganache. 

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 32 minutes mins

Course Cakes

Cuisine American

Ingredients

  

FOR THE MINI CHOCOLATE  CAKE

• ▢ 1 cup all purpose flour
• ▢ 1/2 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/2 cup olive oil canola or vegetable oil can be substituted
• ▢ 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• ▢ 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon brown sugar light or dark, packed
• ▢ 1 large egg room temperature
• ▢ 1 3/4 teaspoons vanilla
• ▢ 3/4 cup buttermilk
• ▢ 1/4 cup boiling water
• ▢ chocolate sprinkles for decoration (optional)

FOR THE GANACHE

• ▢ 10 ounces semisweet chocolate finely chopped
• ▢ 10 ounces heavy cream or heavy whipping cream

Instructions

 

FOR THE CHOCOLATE CAKE

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Line the bottom of two  6″ straight edge cake pans with parchment paper. Spray the sides with cooking spray.
• In a large bowl, whisk to combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.  
• In a medium sized bowl, whisk the egg, oil, sugars, buttermilk and vanilla extract until combined. 
• Use a rubber spatula to gradually stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined, being careful not to over mix. Pour in the hot water and stir until combined.
• Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans and bake 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Place pan on a wire rack and allow to cool in the pan for 30 minutes then remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. Cool completely before decorating with chocolate ganache.

FOR THE CHOCOLATE GANACHE

• Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan on medium heat, bring the heavy cream to a simmer. Do not let it get to a boil. Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate. Do not stir. Let stand 3-4 minutes then stir slowly with a metal spoon until the chocolate has melted and is completely combined with the heavy cream. Scoop out about 1/2 cup of the chocolate ganache for the drip or glaze on the top of the cake. Set aside. 

FOR THE WHIPPED CHOCOALTE GANACHE

• Let the ganache stand at room temperature until it has cooled completely. Once cooled, the ganache will be thick enough to be spread or piped. To make it even thicker, whip the ganache. To do this, transfer the cooled ganache to the bowl of an electric mixer. Use the whisk attachment to beat the ganache on medium-high for 4-5 minutes until the ganache is a lighter shade and has also lightened in texture. 

TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE

• Use an offset spatula to spread about 3/4 cup of the whipped ganache over the first layer of the cake. Place the second layer on top. Spoon or drizzle about 1/2 cup of the reserved (non-whipped ganache) over the top layer. This ganache may need to be reheated* to get back to that ganache consistency. Use an offset spatula to spread the ganache. Use an open star tip (such as the Wilton 1M to pipe more whipped ganache on top. Sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles, if desired!

Notes

To reheat ganache, place bowl on top of a pot of simmering water being careful not to let the bottom of the bowl touch the hot water so as not to burn the chocolate. Stir the ganache til it has returned to that stirrable consistency (this should not take long at all). 

Tried this Recipe? Let us know!Let us know how it was!