Henk’s Chocolate Nut Cakes
Little chocolate nut cakes made with wholemeal flours and filled with chocolate chips. The sponge is moist and surprising light. The recipe includes rye flour, Baileys and lots of nuts and chocolate. What’s not to love?
My friend Henk, over in The Netherlands is a keen baker. Like me, he’s interested in trying out different flours, particularly in cakes. Recently he sent me a recipe for his favourite chocolate nut muffins. They have undergone many iterations, I should add and more will follow as just like me, Henk is an inveterate ‘tinkerer’ of recipes.
Chocolate Nut Cakes
These chocolate nut cakes, for to me they are more cake than muffin, are made with a little rye flour, Baileys and lots of nuts and chocolate. How could I resist?
Henk makes them with wholemeal spelt flour, which is right up my street. However, I’d run out when I made these. So instead I used our local stoneground wholemeal flour. I made a number of other changes too, according to what I had in the house and the size and quantity I wanted.
Henk reckons his recipe makes twenty large muffins. I wanted to make twenty four large mini cakes, if that makes any kind of sense. I’m a big fan of little cakes. You can eat one with little guilt, but the two or three mouthfuls you get make it seem quite substantial. And then, of course, you can always have a second.
I can see why these chocolate nut cakes are a favourite with Henk. They are easy to make, moist, flavoursome and have a surprisingly light sponge. The nuts add texture and the chocolate chips give bursts of sweet and rich unctuousness. The baileys adds a note of luxury and the flavour comes through surprisingly well given there isn’t an awful lot of it in the mix. Ten out of ten I reckon.
Other Chocolate Nut Cakes You Might Like
- Chocolate banana cashew cake (vegan)
- Chocolate pecan pumpkin cake
- Hazelnut nut, chocolate & sherry cake
- Nutty chocolate cake with mascarpone icing
- Triple chocolate almond brownies
- Whisky walnut cakes
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Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these little chocolate nut cakes, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Chocolate Nut Cakes. PIN IT.
Henk’s Chocolate Nut Cakes
Ingredients
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 120 g light muscovado sugar (Henk uses the Dutch sugar 'basterdsuiker'
- 180 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat) (Henk uses spelt)
- 40 g rye flour
- 20 g cocoa powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 25 g hazelnuts ground
- 80 g mixed nuts (I used macadamias and almonds) – chopped
- 50 g white chocolate chips
- 50 g dark chocolate chips
- 2 eggs (medium or large)
- 140 ml natural yoghurt (Henk uses goat’s milk yoghurt)
- 30 ml Baileys cream liqueur
Instructions
- Melt the butter and sugar in a pan over a low heat.100 g unsalted butter, 120 g light muscovado sugar
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl to ensure there are no lumps and everything is well mixed.180 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat), 40 g rye flour, 20 g cocoa powder, 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- Stir in the chocolate and nuts.25 g hazelnuts, 80 g mixed nuts, 50 g white chocolate chips, 50 g dark chocolate chips
- Make a well in the middle and add the sugar mixture together with the eggs, yoghurt and Baileys.2 eggs, 140 ml natural yoghurt, 30 ml Baileys cream liqueur
- Stir from the inside out until everything is just combined.
- Divide the mixture between 24 mini silicone muffin moulds, filling them almost to the top.
- Bake at 180℃ (350℉, Gas 4) for ten minutes, then turn the oven down to 150℃ (300℉, Gas 2) for a further ten minutes when the cakes should be well risen and firm to the touch.
- Allow the cakes to rest for a few minutes in the moulds, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
With the use of our local stoneground flour and eggs, I’m sending this recipe off to Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary for Shop Local.
I’m also sending these chocolate nut cakes off to Casa Costello for #BakeOfTheWeek
Mmm now these sound rather absolutely fantastic! 🙂
Pretty good Elizabeth, pretty good 😉
These look wonderful Choclette. If only I had one now …………… #sadface
Actually, I wouldn’t mind one now too Jac 🙂
These sound perfect for giving as a festive gift, tied up singly in cellophane, or in couples with a bow they would be fab. GG
Now what a splendid idea GG. I still haven’t quite figured out what I’ll be making for Christmas gifts this year, but this is a possibility.
Another lovely recipe Choclette! Now…… where’s that bottle of Baileys??
I’ve used Bailey’s in a few bakes now and it does seem to work very well …… hic!
It’s very nice to read all these positive comments !
To properly explore the German pastry world I’d suggest to reserve another life after this one. And two if you’d like to include Austria and Hungary, which share a similar tradition. There is so much more than just Sachertorte and Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.
Haha, yes, I think that’s why I might not have started Henk. As for the comments, you are a talented baker.
Bailey’s is my Achilles heel… I cannot resist!
It’s unusual to add it to a cake, but it works really well.
These look really wholesome! I’d like to get to know Dutch goodies better as they seem to have quite a few!
Yes, me too Sarah. I keep wanting to explore more German ones too.
Thes look so yummy. I love baking it soothes me. I don’t have a huge sweet tooth so I end up giving it away but it looks like this wouldn’t be overly sweet.
My bakes tend to be a bit less sweet than the average as I am conscious about the sugar issue. You must have some very lucky neighbours Dia 😉
Oh these look great! Perfect for Christmas!
Thanks Cindy. You’re right, nuts, chocolate and Baileys, what more do you need for christmas 😉
I’m seriously fond of nut cakes and, for some reason, they seem perfect for winter afternoons with a cup of something warming. These would fit the bill just perfectly. Baileys is not exactly my favourite drink but in baking it’s a different story. I confess to loving the word basterdsuiker, by the way.
Haha Phil, it’s a great word Phil and had me smiling when I saw it. I guess we’re all programmed to eat nuts at this time of year in the UK, so it just seems right.
The ingredients are so wholesome. I enjoy baking with rye and spelt a lot. I think they give cakes and muffins a lot of character and that nice depth of flavor.
Thanks Christine, baking is so much more exciting now that we have such a glorious wealth of ingredients at our disposal.
The cup cakes look perfect and nice ..
Thanks Shobha.
I love the recipe especially the innovative use of both white and dark chocolate, macademia nuts a personal favorite of mine. I haven’t used Bailey’s and Yogurt together , that sounds quite interesting!
Thanks Prateek. All those flavours and textures make for lots of depth and interest. I too am a fan of macadamia nuts – they remind me of sunny days in Australia.
Weirdly, we’ve experimented with different flours for bread making and yet never for cake making! Thanks for the thought, I need to get on to this!!!
Rye in the mix, weirdly gives quite a smooth texture to cakes I’ve found. I’ve tried loads of different flours and quite like buckwheat as part of a mix too.
Well Henk is a pure genius is these are anything to go by!
Haha Jemma, but of course 😉
I completely agree Choclette – little cakes versus bigger ‘uns and the teeny ones always get my vote! Trouble is I can’t stop at one, especially I suspect if baileys is involved!
Well yes, there is that Kate. But it’s a good way of kidding oneself another one won’t hurt 😉
Can I get Henk to send me a recipe to – esp if as good as this one?
Hands off Henk, he’s mine Bintu 😉
They look very neat as well as delicious Choclette ! Good idea to make them in this size. Thanks for posting my recipe; I consider it an honour :)) As with the cookies and the buns, I am confused about the difference between muffins and cakes. As long as they taste good I am not too bothered though ….
Glad you approve Henk. Thanks again for the recipe. As for cookies, biscuits, muffins, fairy cakes, buns – the list goes on – we English love to debate what should be called what and we all think differently, so no wonder it’s confusing.
There is just something delicious about little cakes, plus, they are healthier 😉
These look delicious.
Thanks Danni. I’m not sure how healthy they are, but they are small 😉
oh my word… Bailey’s cupcakes… I could do this with mint bailey’s! Amazing!
Mint Baileys Dom? Really? Gosh!
I agree with you about little cakes! It also means that everyone can choose how much they want – light eaters can have one, greedier people can have two or three haha 😉 These look yummy!
Exactly Becca, only I’m not letting on how many I had 😉
Mmmm, I bet these are really moist & moreish. Also love the idea of using Baileys in a cake recipe, clever Henk!
Janie x
Yes, Henk is a baking star. These or something similarly Baileys inspired might be making an appearance around Christmas 🙂