TRIPLE CHOCOLATE Mini Bundt Cakes with Grand Marnier Chocolate Ganache
350° regular oven; 325° convection oven
(makes 12 mini or 2, 8'' rounds)
Butter and flour mixed with cocoa for greasing and dusting the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups Hershey's or other unsweetened cocoa powder (NOT Dutch Processed)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Chocolate Ganache
12 ounces good chocolate (recommended: Ghirardelli 60% chips - but you can use semi-sweet, even Milk chocolate – use to your own taste)
1 Cup heavy whipping cream
2 - 4 TBS liqueur, such as Grand Marnier or Framboise (optional)
Decoration
Sprinkles (optional)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (325 if using a dark pans or convection oven). Butter two 8-inch x 2-inch round cake pans or MINI BUNDT pans. Prepare the pans by rubbing unsalted butter into every crevasse, then, mix a little cocoa and flour together and dust your pans. Be sure to put a cookie sheet
underneath so the cake doesn't spill over onto your oven; this cake batter will leaven a lot.
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined (YOU CAN DO THIS BY HAND AS WELL
AND NO NEED TO SIFT -- use WHISK is fine). In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Toss in
the mini chocolate chips! The batter will be very thin! Do not worry! Pour the batter into the prepared pans; bake for 20 - 25 minutes if mini-Bundt or 35 to 40 minutes if 8” rounds -- until a toothpick comes
out clean. Every oven is different – it could be longer or shorter. We suggest you rotate you pans halfway through. Cool in the mini-Bundt pans for 10 minutes on a rack, then turn them out onto a cooling rack that has been lightly sprayed with Pam so they do not stick. Cool completely (longer for rounds, maybe 20 minutes to cool on rack)
For ganache, simply heat whipping cream to just a simmer, remove from heat, whisk in the chocolate chips until glossy. Add in liqueur if you wish, approximately 2 - 4 TBS…to your own taste; begin by adding 2 TBS and taste before adding more. Pour over top of cakes that have been put on top of a rack with
parchment underneath so you can collect the extra! Any extra can be used later for ice cream! Be sure to refrigerate the ganache.
