I’ve been making these little individual layer cakes for years and am not sure why it has taken me so long to share them with you. I love making these when I’m taking dessert to a friend’s house or for serving after a dinner party, they’re so charming and easy to serve. The dense, dark chocolate cake and rich amaretto buttercream is perfect for a small serving and I love that, unlike traditional cupcakes, they can be served with a spoon. I adapted the cake recipe from my Dark and Smoky Campfire Cake and added a little amaretto to my standard swiss meringue buttercream recipe.
A huge thank you to Drizly for partnering with me on this post! Drizly delivers pretty much any alcohol you could want straight to your door in an hour or less. Head over to their website to learn more and to grab the Disaronno Amaretto for this recipe!
dark chocolate and amaretto cakes
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Serves: 8-10 servings
Ingredients
- ¾ cup hot strong coffee or espresso
- 2 oz dark (70%) chocolate, chopped
- 2 cups superfine sugar (396 g)
- 1½ cups all purpose flour (180 g)
- 1 cup cocoa powder (85 g)
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- ¼ cup amaretto
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Prepare two 8-9 inch baking pans by buttering them, lining the bottoms with rounds of parchment and dusting with cocoa powder, tapping out the excess.
- Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl and pour in the hot coffee, allowing it to sit for a minute or two then stirring until smooth.
- Sift the dry ingredients (including the sugar) together in a large bowl and set aside. Combine the buttermilk, oil, amaretto and vanilla in a bowl or large measuring cup and set aside.
- Beat the eggs until creamy and thickened, 3-5 minutes. Slowly add the chocolate mixture to the eggs, then add the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined. Add half of the dry ingredients, mix until incorporated, then add the second half and mix until combined.
- Divide the batter between the two pans and bake for 40 minutes. Rotate the pans in the oven and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the pans on a cooling rack. Once the pans are cool enough to handle, run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cakes and very carefully turn them out onto the cooling rack to come to room temperature.
espresso and amaretto swiss meringue buttercream
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Serves: 5 c
Ingredients
- 5 egg whites
- 1¼ cups (198 g) granulated sugar (superfine if you have it)
- 1½ cups (3 sticks) butter, cool but not cold and cut into cubes
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
- 1 tablespoon granulated espresso dissolved into 1 teaspoon boiling water
- 1-4 tablespoons amaretto, to taste
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Wipe the metal bowl of an electric stand mixer, whisk attachment and a whisk with vinegar or lemon juice and a paper towel to remove any trace of grease.
- Fill a saucepan with 1 inch of water and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Place a metal mixing bowl over the pot of simmering water (bowl should fit snugly but should not touch the water) and add the egg whites and sugar. Stir constantly with a whisk until the temperature reaches 140 degrees on a candy thermometer or until all the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is foamy and the egg whites are hot. Remove from heat.
- Beat egg whites and sugar on high speed with a whisk attachment until the bottom of the bowl is completely neutral, about 10 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and turn mixer on low speed.
- Begin slowly adding the butter pieces and mix until the texture is smooth. If the buttercream curdles, keep mixing, it'll come back together.
- Add the vanilla bean paste and a pinch of salt and mix. Add half of the espresso mixture and taste, adding more if you like. Begin adding the amaretto a tablespoon at a time, tasting as you go. Do not add more than ¼ cup or the buttercream may break.
- You can store buttercream in the fridge in an airtight container for 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.
Assembly When cakes are cool, cut out rounds with a 4 oz ball jar (or something similar). The cake recipe is pretty delicate so don't worry if the rounds break, they can be pressed into the jars and will look and taste just the same. Press one layer in, pipe or spoon buttercream filling, then top with the second round of cake and pipe or spoon on buttercream and top with freshly grated cinnamon, if desired. After you've punched out all your rounds, piece together unused cake into jars and repeat.
It looks delicious with cool.