Thursday, December 11, 2008

Chocolate Almond Mini Cakes


Have you ever heard a baker or a chef or Martha (sorry Martha, I do love you) say on television that baking is an EXACT science? Well, I have, many times. I agree with this statement partially. There are certain things you do have to do in a certain way to achieve the end result that you want. Having said that, there is lots of room for variables. As you stumble around with recipes and gain experience you realize that you can in fact substitute and tweak around quite a bit. I think statements like that should be made clearer. Because a beginner can kind of get scared off a bit when they hear statements like that. What do you all think? After a while you can even develop some recipes of your own.

Just a note: I so wouldn't try tweaking French Macarons though. I made them and followed the recipe EXACTLY and when I make them again I will not falter from that. Yes, and I imagine things like souffles and such.

This is one of those moments when a mistake turned into a good thing. I was making a recipe the other day when I realized I made a mistake. I set the beginning of the recipe aside (the mistake one and continued on with the recipe). I figured I could make that mistake part into a new recipe. Well hopefully. I did and it turned out really good. I am very satisfied with the results.

CHOCOLATE ALMOND MINI CAKES
Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness Original

3/4 cup almonds, ground
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
milk

In a large bowl, cream butter and then add sugar. Add eggs and salt. Add the dry ingredients and finally the milk. Bake in mini muffin tins for about 12 minutes or so at 350°F.

10 comments:

kat said...

I've heard that said about baking a lot too but I'm always messing around with cake recipes...

Shari said...

I love chocolate and almond. I love chocolate.

Cristine said...

I agree... certain things can be tweaked and it will still be great! Baking is a science, but maybe not so "exact"! :)

Your cakes look AMAZING!

Tracy said...

Yum! They look great! Cool to see you on Tastespotting!

Lucy..♥ said...

Lori those mini cakes look wonderful and they happen to be the flavor combo that I love best!

grace said...

i think i'm about 50-50--sometimes my tweaks and mistakes are disastrous, but sometimes they result in something even better. :)

Anonymous said...

these are too cute! what a yummy recipe-can't wait to try them!

Alisa said...

Yummmy! This picture is awesome! oh and if you have time will you drop by at Foodista ? We are building an online food and cooking encyclopedia ala wikipedia and you can also check out our recipes on the site as well :) Cheers!

Bunny said...

I totally agree with you, you can mess with a recipe but like you said, a little experience under your belt and a little knowledge about ingredients and what they do in a recipe helps. Great cuppies!!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

I am one of those people who are afraid to vary from a recipe. I do upon occasion but is usually because I start one and realize that I'm missing something or I prefer to add or take out a certain "flavor".

I wish my mistakes were more like yours!
~ingrid