Mini Chocolate and Cherry Cakes

 

It was my turn to make cakes for our team meeting at work. I decided to use a tried and tested vegan chocolate cake recipe and filled them with cherry jam as a nod to a black forest cake, something that is always a winner. 

The tricky part of these cakes is that they are very delicate. It's easy to make them into a crumbly mess if they don't get removed from the tin or the holes in the top aren't cut carefully enough. This is definitely a test of gentleness and patience. However, the results are moreish and delicious (as long as you like chocolate anyway!). 

Recipe - Makes 24

For the cake:

• 100g margarine 
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 tsp white vinegar 
• 100ml soya milk
• 100g self raising flour  
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 30g cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp soya milk 

For the filling and topping:

• 60g margarine
• 120g icing sugar
• 20g cocoa powder 
• 1/2 tbsp soya milk 
• 8 tbsp cherry jam

To start, mix the vinegar and soya milk together in a jug and set aside for 5-10 minutes or until curdled. Prepare the inside moulds of a 24-hole mini muffin tin by brushing the insides with melted margarine and dusting with flour. Tip the excess out. Set aside until needed. Preheat the oven to 180C. 

Cream the margarine and sugar until light and pale. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and fold in, followed by the milk and vinegar mixture. Mix the cocoa powder with the 1 tbsp of soya milk in a separate bowl and fold into the cake batter. Divide between the holes if the prepared tin and bake for 10-15 minutes or until risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Once baked, remove from the oven and leave the cakes in the tin for 5 minutes, then carefully remove and place on a wire rack. Leave to cool. 

Meanwhile, make the buttercream by creaming the margarine and icing sugar together until pale and light. Mix in the cocoa powder and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1cm star piping nozzle. 

Use a 1cm plain piping nozzle or a melon baller to scoop a small hole in the top of each cake. Fill with cherry jam, then pipe on a swirl of buttercream.