Strawberry Mini Cakes

YIELD: 24 mini muffins

The look of this strawberry mini cakes is adorable: a cake baked in a mini muffin form, covered in a soft white-chocolate glaze.

INGREDIENTS

CAKES

• 6 hulled strawberries, quartered lenghtwise. The chunks should be short enough to drop easily into the muffin cups
• 67 grams granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 eggs, size M at room temperature
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon rose extract; optional, Ulrike: omitted
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 86 grams all-purpose flour
• 85 grams butter, melted with the chocolate
• 85 grams white-chocolate bar, melted with the butter
• 1 tablespoon milk

TOPPING:

• 85 grams white chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon neutral oil
• Sprinkles, optional; Ulrike: omitted

INSTRUCTIONS

1. CAKES: Center a rack in the oven and heat oven to 180 °C fan. Line a 24-hole mini-muffin pan with cupcake papers.
2. Working in a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and salt. Drop in the eggs and beat with a mixer on medium speed until foamy and slightly thickened. Stir in the vanilla extract and the rose extractfollowed by the corn syrup.
3. Switch to a flexible spatula, and blend in the flour in two or three additions. You’ll have a thick batter. Mix the melted butter-chocolate mix into the batter in three or four additions, stirring gently until well incorporated. The batter will be stretchy and a bit slippery. When it’s fully blended into the batter, stir in the milk.
4. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of batter into each muffin cup, and then drop in a piece of strawberry. Divide the remaining batter evenly among the cakes, covering each berry.
5. Bake the cakes for 11 to 13 minutes, or until a slender tester poked into the center of a cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack, and let rest for 2 minutes before carefully removing the cakes; cool to room temperature on the rack.
6. TOPPING: In a saucepan, melt together the chocolate and oil on low heat. White chocolate is fragile and finicky — it burns quickly — so stay close. Stir the mixture to make sure it’s smooth.
7. One by one, dip the tops of the baby cakes into the chocolate, swirling the cakes to even out the topping and allowing the excess to drip back into the bowl or pan. Return the cakes to the rack and, if you’d like, finish with sprinkles.
8. You can refrigerate the cakes for about 10 minutes to set the chocolate or leave them at room temperature. Chilled or not, the chocolate will remain a tad soft, and that’s nice. Kept in a covered container, the strawberry mini cakes will hold for a day or two

total time: 1 hour
preparation time: 15 minutes
baking time: 13 minutes