Little Foodies

Little Foodies: Chocolate Heart Mini Cakes

The Foodies' KitchenFebruary 11, 2016

This post is also available in / Esta entrada también está disponible en ESPAÑOL (SPANISH)

We couldn’t let Valentine’s pass without a recipe for the kids to make. This one uses a prepared cake from the store, and all you have to do is melt chocolate and pour it over the cut out shapes. We do recommend a baking cooling rack for this, so you can set your shapes on it and using a baking sheet under it to catch the melted chocolate. If you don’t have one, your toaster oven rack could work, you just won’t have as much space to work. Get a dense plain cake, such as a pound cake, and use baking quality semi-sweet chocolate and whipping cream (35% fat content) to form the ganache. Get assorted sprinkles and let the kids get inspired!

When pouring the chocolate over the cut out cake, use an offset spatula of a table knife to help smooth it out on top and let the chocolate pour over the sides to get it all covered. If there are uncovered bits, use your spatula or knife to cover it up. When you’re finished, give the rack a couple of stomps on the counter to help the excess chocolate drop off. This will help you get an even finish. To help the chocolate set, put the mini cakes in the refrigerator.

Note: You’ll notice white chocolate in your photograph. We tried melting it to pour it over some of the cakes. Epic fail. It didn’t melt well, and it wasn’t pourable at all.

We bought our cake at: De Imeri

Kitty & Helga

Little Foodies: Chocolate Heart Mini Cakes

A Foodies’ Kitchen Original
Yields: about 12 mini cakes, depending on the size of the store-bought cake

Ingredients:
1 dense plain store-bought cake, such as a pound cake or a bundt cake
1 jar of strawberry jam
8 oz of semi-sweet baking chocolate, for melting
¾ cup whipping cream (35%)
heart-shaped sprinkles

Utensils:
1 baking cooling rack
1 baking sheet
1 heart-shaped cookie cutter

Procedure:

An adult should cut the cake into thin even slices. About ⅓” thick. You will sandwich the slices later, so don’t make them too thick. If you are using a bundt cake, don’t cut around it going in a circle, or you won’t be able to get even slices. Cut straight across.
Once the slices are ready, cut heart shapes using a cookie cutter.
Spread strawberry jam on half of the hearts. Then sandwich them with the rest of the heart shapes.
Set your mini heart cakes on a baking cooling rack, and start making your chocolate ganache. The cooling rack should be placed on top of a baking sheet lined with wax paper, to catch the chocolate drips.
An adult should heat the whipping cream, just until it starts coming to a simmer.
Put the chocolate in a medium-sized bowl, and pour the hot cream over it. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
Stir the chocolate with a whisk until it is well mixed, and smooth.
Using a small bowl your child can work with, pour chocolate evenly over each cake. You can use a small ladle. The chocolate that drips on the wax paper can be reused.
Use sprinkles to decorate the cakes before the chocolate sets.

To download a printable version of this recipe, click the button below!