raspberry and almond mini cakes

You may have noticed that I have a little link in the sidebar to the right that leads to my Pinterest page.  I became enamored with Pinterest when I realized that it was a place I could collect all of the cool recipe ideas I come across but don’t make right away – sort of an online recipe box.  I love browsing it and ‘pinning’ beautiful photos of food.  Even better yet?  Eventually making those recipes and seeing if they’re as delicious at they look.  This is one of 'those.'

Raspberry and Almond Mini Cakes (from a recipe by The Fromagette)

INGREDIENTS

Cakes

1/2 cup sugar


2 Tablespoons butter, room temperature


2 eggs, room temperature


1/4 cup buttermilk


1 teaspoon vanilla


1/2 cup flour


1/2 cup almond meal


1 teaspoon baking powder


1/2 teaspoon baking soda


pinch of salt


1/2 cup halved fresh raspberries

Glaze


3/4 cup powdered sugar


1 Tablespoon milk


1/8 teaspoon vanilla

Garnish

1 square Ghiradelli white chocolate


several whole raspberries

DIRECTIONS

Preheat to 350. Lightly butter two 3-inch ramekins, sprinkle with flour and set aside on a small cookie sheet. 

In a medium bowl, mix butter, sugar and eggs together vigorously with whisk until well blended (or in my case, mix until you get tired and then call it done). Add vanilla and buttermilk. Mix remaining dry ingredients together in separate bowl. Add to wet mixture, stirring until blended. Gently fold in the raspberries (it is very tempting to put in more than 1/2 cup of raspberries. don’t do it!). Spoon equal amounts of batter into each ramekin and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

When cool, transfer onto a serving plate. In a small bowl, mix the glaze ingredients until well blended and immediately spread atop each cake allowing it to drip down the sides. Garnish with a few fresh raspberries and white chocolate – using a peeler to shave the white chocolate into decorative curls.  Makes two mini cakes.

If you head to The Fromagette’s original recipe, you’ll see that this was originally meant to make a 6-inch cake.  I don’t have a 6-inch cake pan, so I made two 3-inch mini cakes instead.  And… for the most part it worked.  The result is DELICIOUS, as confirmed by several friends.  It is, however, very moist.  Like a bread pudding consistency.  And that is because of the deep-walled ramekins.  If you make these in regular pans, plan to cut the baking time and end up with a more cake-like result.  But if you DO use ramekins, rest assured that it still tastes lovely (and can look lovely, too!).

Recommended for: that tea party for two you’ve been meaning to host, a delicious late spring treat, and a sweet raspberry dessert for either after dinner or with your morning coffee.

Interested in other food-related posts? Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.