Treat yourself and your loved ones to these melt-in-your-mouth Cherry Chocolate Mini Cakes. Baked in silicone molds and finished with a dollop of cream cheese frosting and a cherry on top, these tiny cakes are the perfect Valentine’s Day dessert!
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⭐ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
If you love black forest cake, you will adore these Cherry Chocolate Mini Cakes. They’re incredibly rich and chocolatey, while fresh cherries fill each bite with bursts of tartness. Each mini cake is finished with a dollop of homemade cream cheese frosting and a cherry on top, making this an adorable and decadent Valentine’s Day dessert.
This recipe makes enough for 16 mini chocolate cakes. They’re baked in silicone molds rather than ramekins to ensure a higher level of elegance that’s sure to WOW everyone at the Galentine’s Day party. Even though the cakes can be eaten in 2 or 3 bites, the pleasantly tangy and tart flavors will have everyone going back for more!
❓ What are mini cakes?
They’re miniature versions of cakes, of course! Because they’re baked in silicone molds, these mini cakes are essentially “petit fours.”
They’re a perfect bite-sized treat that will add elegance to any dessert table, but there’s no need to wait for a special occasion to indulge. Mini cakes are the perfect portion for one, so go ahead and treat yourself.
Looking for more sweet petit fours recipes? Check out these bite-sized blueberry muffins, spiced bundt cakes, and limoncello mini lemon cakes.
🍴Ingredients
- Flour - Use all purpose flour to make moist and fluffy mini cakes. If you use a different type of flour, the consistency won’t be the same.
- Sugar - Granulated sugar is best for sweetening chocolate cakes.
- Dutch process cocoa powder - It has a deeper brown hue and richer flavor. You can use regular cocoa powder, but you’ll need to add more baking soda to achieve the same texture and decadent flavor.
- Eggs - They give the cakes their density while adding flavor and moisture.
- Milk - To help loosen up the batter and give you a moist and fluffy cake. Whole milk is best here.
- Oil - Use a neutral oil like avocado oil or vegetable oil.
- Vanilla - You can make a homemade vanilla extract or use pure vanilla extract for a well-balanced and warm flavor.
- Cherries - Folding fresh pitted cherries or chopped maraschino cherries right into the cake batter gives the mini cakes added texture and tartness.
- Cream cheese frosting - Sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting is perfect with chocolate cake and black forest cake. While you can cut corners and grab it from the store, making frosting from scratch isn’t complicated and tastes so much better than storebought. Then use to make other recipes like these strawberry cheesecake cookies!
📖 Step by Step Instructions
Chocolate Cakes
Step 1: Mix dry ingredients. Add the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the bowl of a standing mixer. Mix on low speed to combine.
Step 2: Add wet ingredients and cherries. Add the eggs, milk, warm water, oil, and vanilla to the bowl. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Finish by gently folding in the cherries.
Step 3: Pour batter into molds and bake. Fill each greased silicone baking mold halfway and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Step 4: Let them cool. Wait for the cakes to finish cooling completely while you start on the frosting.
How to make cream cheese frosting
Step 1: Combine the butter and cream cheese. Beat the softened butter and cream cheese together on medium speed until smooth and lightly fluffed.
Step 2: Add the flavor. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and slowly mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla paste.
Step 3: Decorate the mini cakes. Decorate each cake with a dollop of frosting and a cherry on top. Enjoy!
❓ How to Bake in Silicone Molds
Baking mini cakes in cylinder silicone baking molds is easy! Just think of them as cupcake liners. The only time when something can go wrong is if you were to try to remove the cakes from the molds before they’ve cooled.
You do not want to remove your cakes from their molds too early before they have a chance to cool slightly. This is similar to baking a bundt cake. If you are to remove the cake too early from its mold when it's piping hot, the cake will not be able to support itself and will likely collapse.
If you don’t have cylinder-shaped silicone baking molds, you can use non-stick muffin pans, small loaf tins, or small ramekins instead.
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
- Don’t forget to spray your silicone molds with cooking spray. If your molds are greased well, the cakes should slide out easily.
- To make your cakes even more chocolatey, add a handful of semi-sweet mini chocolate chips to the batter when you fold in the cherries.
- Feel free to cut off the domed end for symmetrical cakes to make perfect cylinder-shaped cakes or simply leave them be.
- Achieving Perfect Consistency: When aiming for a moist cherry chocolate cake, consider adding cherry syrup to your batter. The syrup, combined with the richness of the mini cake, enhances the overall flavor, making it the perfect dessert for cherry lovers.
- Elevate Your Presentation: After cooling your cherry mini cakes on a wire rack, drizzle them with a chocolate ganache made with hot cream and white chocolate. It truly amplifies the taste and also elevates the visual appeal, making these little cakes irresistible!
🎂 Decorating chocolate mini cakes
You aren’t limited to cream cheese frosting and a cherry on top here. Get creative with the toppings using any of these decorating ideas:
- Sprinkles - You can reinvent these cakes by using different holiday-themed sprinkles.
- Berries and cream - Fresh buttercream frosting and raspberries are perfect for Valentine’s day.
- More frosting flavors - Raspberry buttercream, chocolate frosting, brown butter buttercream, or eggnog frosting.
- Keep it simple - With a dusting of powdered sugar!
💭 Recipe FAQs
To make a bigger cake, you can leave the batter as-is but will need to adjust the time and temperature. For a 6-inch cake, bake at 350ºF for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Make the chocolate cake batter as normal, then fill cupcake liners halfway with batter. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 350ºF or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
The cakes and the cream cheese frosting are best kept in separate airtight containers in the fridge and enjoyed within 1 week.
Looking for more chocolate cakes and desserts?
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Cherry Chocolate Mini Cakes
Equipment
Ingredients
Cherry Chocolate Mini Cakes
- 1 ½ cups (187 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1 ½ cups (300 g) Granulated Sugar
- ¾ cup (64 g) Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 2 Eggs, large
- ¾ cup (183 g) Whole Milk
- ¾ cup (177 g) Warm Water
- ¼ cup (56 g) Neutral Oil , (ex. avocado or vegetable oil)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup (138 g) Pitted and roughly chopped cherries
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ¼ cup (56 g) Unsalted Butter
- 1 cup (227 g) Cream Cheese
- 1 cup (120 g) Unsifted Powdered Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla Bean Paste, or vanilla extract
Instructions
Cherry Chocolate Mini Cakes
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and prep your silicone molds by spraying with baking spray evenly.
- Mix together flour, sugar, dutch process cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a stand mixer using a low speed until combined.1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour, 1 ½ cups Granulated Sugar, ¾ cup Dutch Process Cocoa Powder, 1 ½ teaspoons Baking Soda, ¾ teaspoon Baking Powder, ¾ teaspoon Salt
- Add eggs, milk, warm water, oil, and vanilla. Beat on a medium speed until smooth for a few minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl to make sure everything was mixed properly before moving on.2 Eggs, ¾ cup Whole Milk, ¾ cup Warm Water, ¼ cup Neutral Oil , 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Add chopped cherries and fold into the batter gently then fill each silicone mold halfway full.1 cup Pitted and roughly chopped cherries
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until the mini cakes meet the toothpick test (stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean).
- Let the mini cakes cool for ten minutes in the molds before turning upside down and removing them from the mold. If your mold was greased well, the muffins should slide out easily.
- You are of course welcome to choose whether you want to cut off the domed portion of your cakes into a perfect cylinder or simply let them be!
- Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat together the softened butter and cream cheese on medium speed until it’s smooth and somewhat fluffy.¼ cup Unsalted Butter, 1 cup Cream Cheese
- Scrape down the sides, then add in the powdered sugar slowly and vanilla paste1 cup Unsifted Powdered Sugar , 1 tablespoon Vanilla Bean Paste
- Place cream cheese frosting in a plastic bag or pastry bag and cut off the tip. Add a dollop of frosting onto each mini cake, add a cherry on top and enjoy!
Notes
- Don’t forget to spray your silicone molds with cooking spray. If your molds are greased well, the cakes should slide out easily.
- To make your cakes even more chocolatey, add a handful of semi-sweet mini chocolate chips to the batter when you fold in the cherries.
- For symmetrical cakes, feel free to cut off the domed end to make perfect cylinder-shaped cakes or simply leave them be.
-
- Sprinkles - You can reinvent these cakes by using different holiday-themed sprinkles.
- Berries and cream - Fresh buttercream frosting and raspberries are perfect for Valentine’s day.
- More frosting flavors - Raspberry buttercream, chocolate frosting, brown butter buttercream, or eggnog frosting.
- Keep it simple - With a dusting of powdered sugar!
- How do I adapt the recipe to make a larger cherry chocolate cake? To make a bigger cake, you can leave the batter as-is but will need to adjust the time and temperature. For a 6-inch cake, bake at 350ºF for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- How do I adapt the recipe to make cherry chocolate cupcakes? Make the chocolate cake batter as normal, then fill cupcake liners halfway with batter. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 350ºF or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- What is the best way to store cherry chocolate mini cakes? The cakes and the cream cheese frosting are best kept in separate airtight containers in the fridge and enjoyed within 1 week.
Adriana E Perdomo
The perfect mini cake
Emily
Thank you! Got to love a little mini cherry cake!