Intense Chocolate Mini-Cakes with Rum Buttercream

If you're going to go Valentine's, go decadent. That's the current motto under which I'm operating, especially after today's preparatory trip to Whole Foods (gulp).

My list of things to do today consisted of: reading four Girls in Media essays, clean house, go to gym, bake overwhelmingly awesome cake. Check mark! This recipe comes from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, a favorite of mine since someone awesome gave it to me as a Christmas present. This is how I'm paying him back. The cake, while flourless, is incredibly light due to the three folded egg whites that are incorporated into the batter and the smack of cinnamon is lovely. The cake as it is written is served with whipped cream and raspberries, but (as I was lacking Deb's 6" cake pan and wanted to make three individual mini cakes instead of one larger cake) I decided to raise the stakes a bit and incorporate a layer of rum buttercream frosting in between the layers. And hoooo boy, is it good! Not that anyone was doing any premature tasting. Oh, no, not me.

Intensely Chocolate Cake

6 T Butter
4 oz semisweet chocolate
1/3 c light brown sugar
3 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of ground cinnamon (optional)

For serving:
Whipped cream (roughly 1/2 cup)
Fresh berries
confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking pan or cake tin (I used small individual loaf pans) with parchment paper. Generally butter sides of pan. In small saucepan, melt butter, cook until browned (but not burned!) Quickly remove from heat and add chocolate; stir until melted. Transfer chocolate to freezer, stirring every few minutes until cooled.

Meanwhile, with electric mixer, beat egg yolks, brown sugar and vanilla together until pale and smooth. Slowly beat in lukewarm chocolate. Beat egg whites and salt with clean mixer until stiff peaks form. Add cinnamon, if desired (I think it's wonderful!). Stir one-third of egg-white mixture into chocolate mixture. Fold the remaining two thirds in gently, trying to keep batter as light as possible. Pour into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Let cool completely.

For Rum Buttercream:
(PLEASE NOTE: this is alcoholic!)

2 T softened butter
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 T rum
1/2 T cream

Cream all ingredients together until smooth.

When cakes are cool (and if you want to make a layered cake, cut elongated cake shape in half. Spread buttercream on the layer, top with second layer. Dust with confectioner's sugar, add a dollop of whipped cream on top with berries. If you're me, you'll really gild the lily and serve with ice cream.

Enjoy!