Vegan Heart-Shaped Chocolate Mini-Cakes Are Too Cute to Handle
Elizabeth Stark is the blogger behind Brooklyn Supper and a former Yahoo FoodBlogger of the Week. Below, she whips absolutely adorable heart-shaped cakes that’ll have your sweetie swooning.
Photos: Elizabeth Stark
There are at least three reasons why you should make these heart-shaped mini cakes for Valentine’s Day.
Reason 1: They’re rich, chocolaty, and very delicious. Each little cake is endowed with an airy chocolate crumb and covered in a rich vegan ganache made with velvety coconut milk and bittersweet chocolate.
Reason 2: They are really, really easy to make. If you can measure ingredients and stir, you’ve totally got this.
Reason 3: They’re little. Tiny sweets mean you can enjoy dessert to its fullest. Though vegan, these cakes definitely have sugar, so they’re not health food or anything, but they won’t leave you feeling too weighed down.
Vegan Heart-Shaped Chocolate Mini-Cakes
Makes 10 cakes
For the chocolate cake:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons non-alkalized cocoa powder, plus more for dusting pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup cold water
¼ cup olive oil (or vegetable oil of choice)
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the vegan chocolate ganache:
½ cup full-fat coconut milk (can well shaken)
2 teaspoons light corn syrup (for a shiny appearance and better set)
Pinch sea salt
4 ounces bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped
White sprinkles (or sprinkles of choice)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9-by-13-by-2-inch rimmed baking pan with parchment. Grease edges and bottom of the pan and both sides of the parchment. Dust with cocoa powder. Set aside.
In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and sea salt. In a small bowl, combine water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir wet ingredients into the dry, and fold just until batter is smooth.
Spoon into prepared baking pan. Spread batter out evenly, and slide into the oven. Bake 18 to 23 minutes, or until top of cake is springy and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached.
Cool cake 20 minutes. Flip out onto a parchment-lined board and then flip again so cake is right side up. Let cool completely.
Use a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out approximately 10 hearts.
To make ganache, heat coconut milk, corn syrup, and sea salt over medium heat, stirring often. When mixture is warm and starts to steam, remove from heat, add chopped chocolate, and stir until smooth.
Working quickly, spread 1 to 2 tablespoons ganache on each heart, stack, and add sprinkles. Serve!
More cakes for Valentine’s Day:
