Little Espresso Cakes w/ a Dark Chocolate Glaze

Hello Peeps!

And a big shout out to Amalia & Scott and their fabulous new treehouse home.

These little gems are just delicious, easy to make, and always, always popular. These were my contribution to my friends housewarming party. Whenever I am making cakes to take somewhere I find it easier to pop the glaze / icing into a container & just pop it onto the cakes once I've arrived wherever it is I am headed. That way there isn't any stress about the icing get mushed, or the general prettiness becoming spoilt.

I am house&puppy-sitting the (totally amazing!) apartment of a friend at Bondi. And because I am a great big gastro-nerd I brought my muffin tray, patty cases, and whisk with me. Yes. And what's more I publicly admitted it on my blog. But then I doubt very much that any of my 14 followers (followers! yay!) will be terribly surprised by any of this information.

Little Espresso Cakes w/ a Dark Chocolate Glaze

(makes 12)

100g butter, very soft

1 cup caster sugar

3 eggs

1+1/4 cups plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup hazelnut meal

1+1/2 tbs instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbs boiling water

150g dark chocolate, in small pieces

1/2 cup cream

Preheat the oven to 160'c. Place the butter, sugar, eggs, baking powder, hazelnut meal & coffee mix in a bowl & beat on low speed until combined, then increase to high & mix until just smooth.

Line a muffin tin w/ patty cases, 2/3 fill each one with the batter, and bake in the oven for 25 mins. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing from the tray & cooling on a rack.

To make the glaze combine the chocolate & the cream in a saucepan and warm over gentle-medium heat.Once the chocolate has started to melt, remove from the heat & stir, stir, stir. If it isn't quite melted, put back on the heat for a short spell, remove & stir some more. You don't want to overcook the chocolate, as the whole thing will spoil. Chocolate doesn't like allot of heat. You want to melt it, not cook it.

Cool glaze (I pop it into the fridge), and once cooled spread on top of the cup-cakes.