Teeny-Tiny Chocolate Cake

Three layers of soft chocolate sponge sandwiched together with a rich chocolate buttercream and sweet strawberry jam.

This mini cake was lovingly made for my little cousin and is free from gluten and dairy. After taste-testing this cake, I thought I better share the recipe as it is delicious!

The chocolate sponge and chocolate buttercream were made with Naturya ‘Organic Cacoa Powder’, and for the top of the cake, I used the Moo Free ‘Choccy Drops’.

Ingredients

Sponge

• 250g DF Butter
• 250g Caster Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 200g GF SR Flour
• 50g Cacoa Powder
• 4 Eggs

Frosting/Decoration

• 120g DF Butter
• 400g Icing Sugar
• 50g Cacoa Powder
• 3-4 Tbsp DF Milk (I use Oat Milk)
• Strawberry Jam
• 50g DF Chocolate (Optional)
• Pack of Moo Free ‘Choccy Drops’ (Optional)

Instructions

Method for Sponge

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Place the sugar, butter and vanilla extract into a large mixing bowl. Use an electric whisk, on a medium to high speed, to mix the ingredients together; whisk until the mixture is light and creamy.
3. In a separate bowl, crack 4 eggs and beat them with the same whisk until they appear light and frothy.
4. Slowly add the beaten eggs into the mixture and whisk on a high speed until it appears light, fluffy and creamy.
5. Sift the flour and cacoa powder bit by bit into the mixture and fold it in a figure of 8 – do this until all the flour and cocoa powder is folded in.
6. Using a big spoon, separate the mixture evenly into three small greased baking tins (I used 6-inch cake tins for this cake).
7. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 18 minutes. Check to make sure the cakes are well risen and cooked properly; do this by interesting a skewer into the middle of the cake and be sure it comes out clean.
8. Leave the cakes to stand for 10 minutes before transferring them onto a cooling rack.

Method for Frosting/Decorating

1. Place the butter, icing sugar, cacoa powder and milk into a large mixing bowl. Use an electric whisk on a low speed, to begin with, to whisk the mixture together. When the mixture is starting to come together, turn the speed up to medium and continue whisking until the frosting is smooth. The frosting should be fairly stiff but creamy enough to be spreadable.
2. To fill the cake, spoon some of the frosting onto the top of one of the cakes. Cover the cake with the frosting (leaving a little room at the edges) and then add the strawberry jam on top. Repeat this step with one of the other cakes.
3. At this point, you should have the perfect Chocolate Sponge Cake. If you’d prefer a more simple cake, then simply leave it as it is.
4. If you like to decorate cakes (like me), then go ahead! To make the cake as I have for my cousin, I melted 50g of chocolate and covered the top of the cake. I then individually added Moo Free ‘Choccy Drops’ to the top and finished it off with a fresh strawberry.

I look forward to seeing your creations!

Don’t forget to tag #queenofthedesserts and follow me on my Instagram page @queen.of.the.desserts

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Disclaimer:

– Although my bakes are designed to be free from and fabulous, please be aware that some products I use/recommend may contain traces of allergens. Therefore, please always double-check the ingredients and make sure they are suited to you and your dietary needs.