Mini Chocolate Surprise Cakes – Perfect for a Party

Easy to make, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and a surprise liquid chocolate centre. These mini chocolate surprise cakes are perfect for a party or afternoon tea.

It’s rare for a week to go by without me baking something, but I don’t always manage to bake ninety six cakes all in one day. Admittedly, they were mini cakes, not large ones, but I still felt like it was a bit of an achievement.

Party Cakes

A friend had asked me to make some cakes for an event she was putting on. She was making canapés to go with drinks and wanted some little cakes to go alongside. I duly got my thinking cap on and came up with a variety of flavours, textures and colours, so there would be something to suit all tastes as well as dietary requirements – or so I hoped.

So what cakes did I make for this event? Well, apart from these mini chocolate surprise cakes, I thought the following would make an interesting combination:

• Apple crumble & custard mini cakes
• Lemon & almond coconut cakes – dairy and gluten free
• Rum & raisin mini cupcakes

The recipe for dairy and gluten free lemon & almond coconut cakes is one I created for a friend.

One fine may morning, fellow Cornish food blogger, Janie over at The Hedge Combers embarked on an epic road trip. She was off to Wales in a quest to find the best food and drink on offer. It’s a hard life! In her absence she invited a few blogger friends to guest post for her. So, here are my rather cute and most delicious mini lemon and almond coconut cakes over on her blog. They’re easy to make, gluten free and dairy free, so ideal party fare when you’re a bit unsure what dietary requirements your guests might have.

Mini Chocolate Surprise Cakes

There had to be chocolate of course and these mini chocolate surprise cakes seemed to fit the occasion. The surprise came in the form of a liquid chocolate centre, although there was of course chocolate in both the cake mix and icing too. Dr Oetker had sent me a surprise inside cupcake centre pouch some time ago along with a recipe and other chocolate ingredients. The idea is to inject the cakes with liquid chocolate once they are baked. It was time to try it out.

I did my usual tinkering with the recipe and used butter instead of margarine, added wholemeal flour to the cake mix and chocolate to the icing.

Photo courtesy of Perle Laouenan-Catchpole

I made a crafty extra one on the side, because I do like to try my wares before they go out into the big wide world. The cake was a well flavoured chocolate one with a nice texture and the injected liquid chocolate was fun and gave added interest. All of the different cakes were thoroughly enjoyed and these ones were deemed to be a great success.

Sharing

I’m entering these mini chocolate surprise cakes into Tea Time Treats with Karen at Lavender & Lovage. You’ll find a permanently groaning tea table here. But somehow, I just can’t help contributing to it, especially as the theme this month is chocolate.

I am also sending some off to Dom over at Belleau Kitchen for his new Simply Eggcellent challenge. This month it’s also all about chocolate.

As it happened, we didn’t have any chocolate eggs left over from Easter. If we had, they would have been great for decorating the tops of these little cakes, going into the icing or both. So, I’m sort of crossing fingers that I will be allowed to enter the Biscuit Barrel this month, which is all about candy or using up leftover Easter chocolate. It’s over to The Lass in the Apron and I’d Much Rather Bake Than …

Keep in Touch

Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these mini chocolate surprise cakes, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below or via social media. Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.

If you’d like more cupcake ideas for, you’ll find plenty of recipes in my Cupcakes category.

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Mini Chocolate Surprise Cakes – The Recipe

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5 from 1 vote

Mini Chocolate Surprise Cakes

Easy to make, mini chocolate cakes with chocolate icing and a surprise liquid chocolate centre.

Prep Time45 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Total Time1 hr

Course: Afternoon Tea, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: British

Keyword: chocolate cake, mini cakes, surprise

Servings: 24 mini cakes

Author: Choclette

Ingredients

Cakes

• 125 g unsalted butter
• 125 g dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 150 g flour (half wholemeal, half plain white)
• 25 g cocoa powder
• 1 rounded tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 pouch Dr Oetker rich chocolate cupcake centres

Icing

• 100 g unsalted butter
• 150 g icing sugar
• 75 g 70% dark chocolate
• dark chocolate drops

Instructions

Cakes

• Cream the butter and sugar together until pale in colour and fluffy in texture.
• Add the vanilla extract and beat some more.
• Beat in the eggs, one by one, adding a little of the flour if it curdles.
• Sieve in the dry ingredients and gently stir until just combined, adding the water near the end.
• Divide the mixture between 24 mini muffin moulds (cases optional).
• Bake at 180C for 15 to 20 minutes, when the cakes should be well risen and firm to the touch.
• Insert the chocolate centre nozzle into the cakes and inject a little of the filling into the centres.
• Leave in the moulds to cool for 10 minutes or so, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing

• Melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of hot, not boiling, water. Allow to cool a little.
• Beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth and creamy, then beat in the chocolate.
• Spread onto the cooled cakes and decorate with dark chocolate tear drops.

Notes

Can make 12 cupcakes instead of 24 mini ones.

Adapted from Dr Oetker Surprise Inside Chocolate Cupcakes