This Chocolate Mini Cakes recipe is as easy as making a sheet cake! Each mini layer cake is cute and customizable. Starting with a simple, moist chocolate cake base, you can dress them up to your heart's desire!
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What You Need to Make Chocolate Mini Cakes
- Baked and cooled sheet cake (recipe to follow)
- Frosting of choice (like this Nutella buttercream, or fudge)
- Round cookie cutter - 2 to 3-inches in diameter
- Piping bag or offset spatula
- Sprinkles or other edible decorations (meringue kisses, fruit, candied nuts, etc.)
Assembling Mini Layer Cakes
Making mini cakes from a sheet cake and fresh batch of frosting is super easy. Take a look for yourself!
Use a round cutter to make punch out the layers for a sheet cake.
Pipe a swirl of frosting on top of the cake rounds.
Stack two layers of cake on top of each other to make a mini layer cake.
Finish with sprinkles or other edible decorations.
Hint: if the sheet cakes isn't perfectly even, you can trim until flat before cutting out the rounds.
Steps for Making Chocolate Mini Cakes
- Bake the Cake
Bake, cool, and trim the sheet cake. If it bake ups with a dome on top, feel free to shave it down with a serrated knife so that the top is even.
- Cut out the mini layers
Cut round layers of cake with the cookie/biscuit cutter out of the sheet and set aside. Using a 2 to 3-inch round cutter, you should be able to cut out at least 12 rounds per ¼ sheet cake. Score the cake to make sure they all fit before pressing all the way down with the cutter.
- Assemble with frosting
Fill a piping bag fitted with a star or round tip with fudge frosting. Pipe a swirl of frosting on top of the cake rounds. Place half on top of the others to make mini 2-layer cakes.
- Decorate!
Top with fresh flowers, mini strawberries, herbs, meringue kisses, or candied nuts. If you use a different buttercream or add a filling (like jam or lemon curd), use decorations to give flavor hints.
These mini chocolate cakes are made by cutting little layers of cake out of one sheet cake. No need for multiple little cake pan!
They are really easy and super fun to make and decorate. These chocolate mini cakes have fudge frosting, but the flavor combinations are endless.
Making individual little cakes is a quick way to jazz up party desserts. You'll love how easily they are to dress up with fresh flowers, fruit, or other edible decorations. Or keep it simple with just some sprinkles!
You all love my vanilla mini cakes, so I made these decadent chocolate mini layer cakes!
Mini Cake Decorating Ideas
- Fresh flowers - I like to purchase a mixed bouquet and dissemble it a bit. This way, you can still make individual cakes that are unique, but they still coordinate with similar colors and textures.
- Sprinkles - Try mixing together sugar pears, sprinkles and quins to make your own custom mix.
- Meringues - Make a batch of French Meringue and pipe into little kisses.
- Buttercream - Pipe buttercream flowers or swirls on top of the mini cakes.
- Herbs
- Candied Nuts
- Lemon Wedges or fresh berries
Variations
You can make mini cakes with just about any sheet cake or frosting. Here are more ideas:
Vanilla Mini Cakes - bake a vanilla sheet cake and use whipped buttercream frosting.
Chocolate Vanilla Mini Cakes - use the same chocolate cake but pair it with whipped vanilla buttercream.
Peppermint Chocolate Mini Cakes - instead of fudge frosting, try using this creamy and refreshing peppermint frosting.
Orange Chocolate Mini Cakes - make mini versions of this delicious chocolate orange cake.
Flavored Buttercream - use Biscoff buttercream, white chocolate frosting, raspberry frosting, chocolate Nutella buttercream, peanut butter frosting, or Oreo buttercream
Top Tip
When match the cake rounds to make the mini layer cakes, they all might not be perfectly even or equal. Pick pairs and match any uneven tops by twisting them around so that the very top of the cake is flat.
Serving and Storage
The chocolate cake is super moist, so they minis will stay fresh for a couple days. Because the sides are exposed and don't have a protective frosting barrier, I recommend serving the mini cakes the same day that they are assembled.
If making in advance, wrap bundles on mini cakes (without the flowers, if possible) in plastic wrap to keep from drying out.
The sheet can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator for a few hours before using.
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Recipe
Chocolate Mini Cakes Recipe
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Sheet Cake
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder Dutch processed
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 ⅔ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup avocado oil or canola oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ¾ cup hot water
For the Fudge Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar sifted as needed
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 to 4 tbls milk
- 6 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate melted and cooled
Instructions
To Make the Chocolate Cake
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and line a ¼ sheet cake pan (9 x 13 inches or similar) with parchment and set aside
- Whisk or sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Using a hand mixer or large bowl and whisk, mix together the sugar and oil until smooth until some of the sugar begins to dissolve, about 2 minutes.
- Add the eggs and the vanilla. Mix until combined.
- Add half of the flour mixture and switch to a rubber spatula to mix to combine. Continue mixing while streaming in the buttermilk. Mix until smooth. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until combined.
- Slowly stream in the hot water and mix until the batter is smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
To Make the Fudge Frosting
- Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer), cream the butter until soft and smooth.
- Stop the mixer and add in the powdered sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and milk. Mix on low speed until incorporated then increase the speed.
- Mix on medium until soft and silky, yet not runny, adding more milk as needed.
- Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Add in the melted chocolate and mix until combined.
To Assemble the Chocolate Mini Cakes
- Bake, cool, and trim the sheet cake. If it bake ups with a dome on top, feel free to shave it down with a serrated knife so that the top is even.
- Cut round layers of cake with the cookie/biscuit cutter out of the sheet and set aside. Using a 2 to 3-inch round cutter, you should be able to cut out at least 12 rounds per ¼ sheet cake. Score the cake to make sure they all fit before pressing all the way down with the cutter.
- Add sprinkles or decorate as desired.
Jada
Perfect mini! I made the vanilla ones for a birthday party and just had to test out the chocolate too. So good and easy to make!
Judy
Will this fit in a 15.5 x 10 pan?
stylesweet
Hi! Yes, this should be fine with comparable results. Since the pan is slightly larger, you may need to reduce the baking time by a few minutes. Happy Baking!