These Chocolate Amaretto Mini Layer Cakes make a delicious and fancy dessert for any occasion.
Thoughts on a Birthday Cake
Hi, friends! I hope you’re doing fine. Anyway, we’ve passed the mid of this week. I can clearly see the light (read: weekend) at the end of the tunnel now. Isn’t it this a great reason for making these lovely Chocolate Amaretto Mini Layer Cakes?
Every May I happen to celebrate my birthday. I cannot say I always happy about that (Once I turned 25, and trust me, that was a long time ago, the years started to fly by so quickly.) However, if you cannot do anything about your birthdays coming one after another, there’s only one thing you can do. Enjoy. And have a cake (or two).
Over the last couple of years, I’ve got a tradition. I make my birthday cake.
Wait. Does making your own birthday cake sound a little sad? But I cannot trust Andrey to make my cake, you know.
Indeed, let me rephrase this. I like to take a day (or two) off around my birthday. I believe B-day isn’t fully the happiest day to also spend it in the office. Does this make any sense?
So one of these days I bake a cake. They always happened to be one or two days before my birthday, so I hardly can call them The Birthday Cakes. They didn’t survive until it.
Chocolate Amaretto Mini Layer Cakes
Last year I decided to try mini layer cakes. One of them, Irish Cream Dulce de Leche Mini Cakes, I posted here.
There’s something great about a mini layer cake. First of all, I always struggle with regular-sized biscuits. Sometimes they try to crack, while often it’s hard to make them look even. It’s so much easier to camouflage all imperfections if you have a little cake #bigcakebigtrouble
Also, it’s easy to decorate a mini cake. This is a huge advantage for me because I am not good at this. You may leave it “naked” or simply cover it in crumbs, chocolate, or nuts. Not only does this make the flavors and textures of a cake more compound, this also makes it look cute. I think it introduces quite a rustic look.
And how cool is that to eat your personal little cake, eh? I do believe, it’s totally fine to eat two mini cakes at once cause they count as one tiny slice of any regular cake. Have you heard this concept? :)
The only one thing is that since you cut biscuits with a cookie cutter, there will be a lot of leftovers. This is not a problem. Just make biscuit pops by mixing the crumbs in the food processor with a little of alcohol, chocolate, nuts, or other ingredients. If you decide to make this cake, you won’t even need to add anything because the biscuit is really nice and moist.
This year I decided to make two kinds of cake again. Because why even bother making one, right?
These Chocolate Amaretto Mini Layer Cakes was my first pick. Moist chocolate almond base, rich mascarpone, distinctive Amaretto flavor, and toasted almonds. Mmm, need I say more?
Sure, Andrey loved both cakes, but surprisingly he proclaimed the winner the second one although I anticipated the different result.
Stay tuned, and I will demonstrate the second cake shortly. Okay, I see you cannot wait. I’ll hint. It’s an absolutely unusual flavor for me. Starts with L. Ends with R. Any guesses? I know, it’s hard. Keep guessing!
And now let’s have some cake because we’ve all deserved this.
Notes
havocinthekitchen.com
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1,5 cups pastry flour, sifted
- 2/3 cup dark cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup oil (without strong flavor)
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 whole eggs
- 2/3 cup egg whites
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- good pinch of salt
Amaretto Mascarpone Frosting
- 450 gr. mascarpone, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup softened butter
- 1/4 cup amaretto
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
For Assembling
- Few tablespoons of Amaretto
- 1 cup almond slivers, toasted
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the almond flour, pastry flour (sift), cocoa (sift), sugar, salt, baking powder and soda.
- Add the oil and hot water, and mix with a whisk just until lightly combined. The butter will remain very lumpy.
- Stir in the milk, vanilla, eggs, and egg whites. Mix just until incorporated - if you're using a mixer, 20-30 seconds will be enough; if you're using a whisk - 60-80 seconds should be enough.
- Preheat oven to about 175-180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Cover a large baking sheet (I used the ones which had the maximum size would fit my oven. You can use a smaller one but the biscuits will be thicker), spray with oil, and lightly dust with some flour.
- Pour the batter onto the prepared sheet. Bake for about 27-35 minutes depending on the thickness and your oven. I recommend start checking the biscuit after 25 minutes every 2-3 minutes with a wooden stick. The ready cake should remain a little moist, with some crumbles on the stick. Also it will settle more once cooled.
- Remove the cake from the oven and cool. Cover with parchment or foil and let stand for at least few hours but better overnight.
- Using a round cookie cutter (diameter is up to you), cut the base for the cakes.
- To make the frosting, start whipping the mascarpone and butter in a medium bowl, at low speed, about 1 minute.
- Stir in the amaretto and powdered sugar and continue beating until well incorporated. Please do not overbeat; 1-5 - 2 minutes will be enough once the powdered sugar incorporated. If the frosting doesn't look thick enough, chill it it for 15-20 minutes.
- To assemble a cake, brush all prepared round bases with the additional Amaretto and let stand for a couple of minutes to absorb.
- Spread some frosting (1-2 teaspoons) on each round biscuit, place the second layer, and repeat. 3 biscuit layer will be enough for a cake.
- Spread some frosting over the assembled cakes (from the outside) and generously cover in the almonds slightly pressing them into the frosting with your fingers.
- Refrigerate the cakes for at least 2 hours before serving.
- Enjoy!
Hi – I’m Ben, a blogger, recipe developer, and food photographer. I’m glad you’re here! I hope you will enjoy hundreds of delicious recipes and a pinch of havoc in the kitchen.
Happy belated birthday, my friend! I hope you had a wonderful time (Eating 2 cakes sounds like you had – what a perfect concept :D)!
These cakes look super pretty BTW, those almond slivers make these so special!
Ben – since I read your other post first, I know the answer to your riddle that begins with L and ends with R :)
I hope you had a wonderful birthday – I wholehearetdly agree – birthday cake and time off is the best way to spend the passing of years! And – no – it’s not sad to make your cake at all – you are doing something you love and isn’t that what that special day is about> By the way, these Chocolate Amaretto Mini Layer Cake are insanely decadent to me! I wish I was there to help you celebrate and help you polish these as well as those Chocolate Lavender Blueberry Mini Cakes off! :)
Happy birthday! My Hubby’s bday is in May too! Mine’s in July but I’m going to make these mini cakes for myself because they look so delicious and totally my kind of cake. I’m not going to share any of them thou. heeheehee :)
karrie @ Tasty Ever After recently posted…Easy Herb Crusted Steak + Chimichurri with Dorot
All these amazing flavor is one little cake, who could resist Ben? I also love your biscuit pops idea for the leftover pieces. Smart! Two desserts from one bake! :)
Happy Birthday by the way. Cheers to you Ben!
Kevin | Keviniscooking recently posted…Sweet and Sour Strawberry Semifreddo
I think nobody can resist. Thanks Kevin
Ben Maclain|Havocinthekitchen recently posted…Chocolate Amaretto Mini Layer Cakes
Happy Birthday, Ben. I hope you had a lovely one. I always prefer mini cakes over a cake slice, as they are so pretty. Plus, they give you the satisfaction of eating a WHOLE cake. Isn’t it? :) If you would have shared them earlier, I would have eaten at least 4 of these cakes on my birthday which was in April. How sad. :( But I need to see the bright side of it. Therefore, I see a hope here. The weekend is here, and I am planning to make these adorable and delish Chocolate Amaretto Mini Layer Cakes this weekend. Have a wonderful weekend.
Anu – My Ginger Garlic Kitchen recently posted…Instant Oats Rava Dhokla | Oats Suji Ka Dhokla | Video Recipe
Thanks Anu!
I hope you had a very happy birthday!! I totally agree with you on the mini cakes. Not only are they cute, it’s so fun to have your own individual cake. And there is NOTHING wrong with eating 2 individual cakes. These are so cute, and I love the flavor combination! Have a great weekend!
Thank you Katherine!
Ben Maclain|Havocinthekitchen recently posted…Chocolate Amaretto Mini Layer Cakes
Ben it does makes sense, I like to celebrate my July birthday for quite a long time. I could only imagine all the flavors when you posted the pic last nite! Well done darling! have a nice weekend!
Gaila recently posted…15 incredible margarita recipes
Thanks, Gaila. Make sure to make a cake in July:)
Ben Maclain|Havocinthekitchen recently posted…Chocolate Amaretto Mini Layer Cakes
Haha! Leftover scraps from cake baking are never a problem for me…well, unless you consider the fact that I usually eat all of them while decorating the cake. Oops. :-) I love the flavors you’ve got going on here! Chocolate + amaretto is such a tasty combination. So I say you keep on making those 2 cakes. Andrey can have the L——R one while I nibble away at the chocolate amaretto version. Deal? Ok, good. I thought you’d see it my way! Nice job on this cake, Ben!
David @ Spiced recently posted…Pineapple Peach Oatmeal Smoothie
David, there will be so many leftovers while making these cakes, that you won’t be able to handle all..or wait…could you?:) Thanks a lot!
Ben Maclain|Havocinthekitchen recently posted…Chocolate Amaretto Mini Layer Cakes