Mmmm, cake! And, not just cake, chocolate cake. And, not just chocolate cake, chocolate cake with walnuts! And, not just chocolate cake with walnuts. Chocolate cake with walnuts, mini sized! Sweet, tiny, chocolate, individual cakes full of chocolate-y flavor and walnuts! Mmmmm, cake!
This week's TWD was
Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes and it was Kristin, of
I'm Right About Everything, who picked this winner. Be sure to stop by her blog for the recipe (if you don't already own a copy of Dorie's book). As soon as I saw her choice I was excited! I love chocolate cake, love nuts, of all kinds, and had a new cake pan I couldn't wait to use. It makes 6 cute heart shaped cakes and when I saw this recipe I knew I would use this pan for it.
I had no problem with making the cake part of this recipe. My pan that makes 6 cakes? Well, there was only enough batter to fill 4 of the 6 openings. I guess the heart shapes were a bit larger than a typical mini bundt pan. I just filled the two empty containers with water and baked away. Seems like they baked for about 25 minutes. The first time I checked to see if they were done, there was still batter on the knife. Another 5 minutes in the oven took care of that.
It wasn't until my glaze seized up in the pan, after adding the corn syrup, that I remembered all the comments I had read (and said "Oh, I will have to remember that"...Hah!) about problems with the glaze. I solved my issue by heating up some heavy whipping cream and stirring that into the glaze until I could pour it over my cooled mini heart cakes. I sprinkled a few toasted walnuts over the top of each cake before the glaze hardened.
The verdict? Delicious! I could detect the nutty flavor from the walnuts, and, the ribbon of nuts and cocoa in the center was a nice surprise (even though I knew it was there). The cake was delicious, full of chocolate flavor, rich, moist, everything I was hoping it would be. The milk chocolate was a nice change of pace from all the dark and bittersweet chocolate desserts I seem to have been making. And, the glaze, once I got it right, was just sweet enough. A little early for Valentine's Day, but I "heart" this recipe! :)
Drop by
TWD and see what everyone else thought of this one. Next week...more chocolate! :)
Glad you liked them so much, and your new pan is adorable! I wish I had put the swirl in now...
ReplyDeletethese look so amazingly adorable!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I had joined your Baking GALS group I think! I'm so excited!
Too cute! I love the heart pan.
ReplyDeleteThe heart pan is perfect! Your cakes are adorable!
ReplyDeleteI adore the heart shapes!!! Beautiful!
ReplyDeletePerfect for February, the little heart cakes, leave it to you to think of that! Very pretty. Thanks for tip on cream in frosting. I didn't know what to do so I added more corn syrup and that seemed to work, but not sure if that was the thing to do or not. Will try your method next time. Gorgeous work!
ReplyDeleteSusan,
ReplyDeleteLike you, I just love the flexibility of these little cakes and they are perfect for the "I love HEART month!" You will be making them often I can predict. Especially since your kids gave you such a wonderful little pan for them. Yummy
Thanks for stopping by and getting me rolling again. :')
AmyRuth
Adorable - I love the little hearts! :) Your glaze looks fabulous, too!
ReplyDeleteOoh, love your heart bundts! That just makes them look all the better. I thought the cake was a little dry, but these were really fun to "play" with. (Dorie said we could play around! ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, I played.
Yum! Well, they look great with the glaze on there and the nuts. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteSo very cute. I love the hearts. These would be the perfect little dessert for Valentine's Day. Yummy.
ReplyDeletelove your heart shaped bundt cakes!
ReplyDeleteI *heart* your heartshaped pan. Those cakes are precious.
ReplyDeleteThese are the prettiest ones I've seen yet!!!! These are delicious!
ReplyDeleteCute, cute, cute! I *heart* your pan, too. I used pecans and they were pretty tasty.
ReplyDeleteThese look delicious! I love the pan!! Where did you get it?
ReplyDeleteGlad these were so good! The hearts are adorable!
ReplyDeleteI agree, the ribbon of nuts was very good... I like when there is a little bit of textual variety in sweets.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, yours are such sweet little hearts. Love the pan!
Great job Susan. I love the chocolate glaze.
ReplyDeleteThis was a good one, wasn't it? Yours look especially nice with that adorable pan. I'd be looking for any excuse to use it!
ReplyDeleteYur heart bundts are so cute. We really liked this cake too.
ReplyDeleteMimi
Aww - these are so pretty!
ReplyDeleteWow your cakes turned out perfectly and really I LOVE that pan! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who likes to collect baking pans!
ReplyDeleteSo now I want to know, do you like your mini cheesecake pans? Are they easy to use? Do you use them frequently or is this another pan I don't really need but just want! :)
Ciao ! I love your mini hearts ! We really enjoied the cakes too !!
ReplyDeleteWhat cool pans.
ReplyDeleteI love the mini heart pan! Those are super cute and so appropriate for February! My cakes were a bit dense, but I still loved the flavor. I used mint chips in the swirl for a chocolate-mint combination.
ReplyDeleteThey look great. What a cute pan! I skipped this one, but I'll be back next week with the brownies.
ReplyDeleteYour heart-shaped cakes are so adorable! I skipped this week's TWD because I already had a cake in the fridge.
ReplyDeleteAdorable pan. Love the little cakes it makes. Glad the glaze finally worked for you. Looks yummy.
ReplyDeleteYour little cakes look great! And I'm envious of your new pan. =) I forgot about the comments about the glaze, too, and thinned mine with milk.
ReplyDeleteLove the hearts!
ReplyDeleteThe chicken meatloaf sounds good too. But would love to see a picture. Maybe next time. I just don't seem to have a good recipe for ground chicken or ground turkey.