{"slug":"mini-chocolate-cake-with-mascarpone-creme","collection":"recipes","is_recipe":true,"visibility":"public","title":"Mini Chocolate Cake with Mascarpone Creme","description":"A small two-serving chocolate layer cake filled with whipped mascarpone creme and fresh berries — rich, elegant, and assembled to order.","body_md":"\nThis cake is a composite of a few different recipes, modified to yield a\nsmall, two serving cake. A variety of fruits or berries can be used to\ntop the mascarpone creme filling.\n\n# Equipment\n\n-   6-inch round cake pan (greased)\n-   Stand mixer\n\n# Preheat Oven\n\n1.  Preheat oven to 350°F\n\n# Ingredients\n\n## Cake\n\n-   30 grams all-purpose flour\n-   5 grams natural cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy\n-   ⅛ teaspoon baking powder\n-   ¼ teaspoon salt\n-   57 grams (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature\n-   50 grams granulated sugar\n-   1 large egg white\n-   ¼ teaspoon vanilla\n-   2 tablespoons milk\n-   2 tablespoons hot coffee or water\n\n## Mascarpone Creme filling\n\n-   120ml (½ cup) mascarpone cheese\n-   180ml (¾ cup) heavy cream\n-   1.5 tablespoons granulated sugar\n-   1 teaspoon vanilla\n\n## Fruits\n\n-   240ml (1 cup) berries (whole blueberries or raspberries, or sliced\n    strawberries)\n\n## To Serve\n\n-   Confectioner's sugar, for dusting (optional)\n\n# Preparation\n\n## Cake\n\n1.  In a small bowl, whisk together **flour**, **cocoa powder**,\n    **baking powder**, and **salt**.\n2.  In a medium bowl, cream **butter** and **sugar** until light and\n    fluffy. Whisk in **egg white** and **vanilla** until well-combined.\n3.  Into the butter/sugar creme mixture, add each item below, in\n    sequential order, mixing each just till combined:\n\n    1.  Stir in half of the **flour mixture**.\n    2.  All of the **milk**\n    3.  The remaining **flour mixture**.\n    4.  Stir in hot coffee (or hot water).\n\nNote: Mixture will be thin.\n\n4.  Pour mixture into prepared baking dish.\n\n## Bake\n\nThis cake will finish baking quickly. At or near the 14 minute mark,\nbegin looking for the cake to pull away from the edges. This indicates\nthe cake is, or nearly done.\n\n1.  Bake for **14 to 18 minutes**, or until a toothpick inserted into\n    the center of the cake comes out clean.\n2.  Cool for at least **5 minutes**.\n3.  Invert dish to drop cake onto a cooling rack; cool completely.\n\n## Divide Cake\n\n1.  Once completely cooled, cut cake into 4 squares.\n2.  Proceed immediately to filling and serving- Or...\n3.  Layer each piece of cake atop a square of parchment paper. Wrap and\n    refrigerate for no more then 24 hours.\n\n## Filling\n\nWhen ready to construct and serve cake, prepare the filling about one\nhour in advance.\n\n1.  In a medium bowl, beat the **mascarpone**, **cream**, **sugar**, and\n    **vanilla** with an electric mixer on low speed until blended.\n2.  Increase the speed to medium high and beat until the creme is thick\n    and firm peaks form (don't over-beat or the mixture will break).\n\n# Construct\n\nConstruct cake at least **30 minutes** prior to serving.\n\n1.  Place one square of cake on a serving plate.\n2.  Spread ¼ of the mascarpone creme atop the first layer of cake.\n3.  Evenly top with ¼ of the berries or fruit.\n4.  Place the next cake square atop berries, lightly press.\n\n-   Repeat numbered steps above until the cake is assembled and the top\n    of the cake is finished with a layer of mascarpone creme and\n    berries.\n\n# Serve\n\n1.  If ready to serve, refrigerate for 30 minutes to help cake retain\n    its form.\n2.  Serve or refrigerate until ready to serve.\n3.  If desired, dust with confectioner's sugar.\n\n\n## Notes\n\n- **Structured ingredients added (2026-07-30):** this recipe previously had no `ingredients` array, so `shopping-list` returned nothing and scaling could not compute. All three sections transcribed verbatim from the body; no quantities changed.\n\n- **Confectioner's sugar listed (2026-07-30):** the last step of **Serve** dusts the cake with confectioner's sugar, which appeared nowhere on the ingredient list. It is now listed under **To Serve**, unquantified because the recipe never gives an amount and a dusting does not need one.\n- **Wording fixes (2026-07-30):** \"heavy creme\" in the ingredient list is now \"heavy cream\" — the *mascarpone creme* spelling is deliberate throughout, this one was not, and the structured ingredient list already read \"cream\". \"Cool for at 5 minutes\" was missing its \"least\".\n\n- **Pan and leavener resolved (2026-07-30, Robert): 6-inch round, ⅛ tsp baking powder.** Both were artifacts of a full-size recipe scaled down in ingredients but not in equipment. The 235g of batter spread under 5mm deep in the 9-inch square pan Equipment called for, which would not survive a 14–18 minute bake; a 6-inch round puts it at roughly 1.3cm, enough to split and fill. The ½ teaspoon of baking powder was about 8% of the 30g of flour against a normal 1–1.5%, so it is now ⅛ teaspoon (~0.45g, about 1.5%).\n","draft":false,"servings":"2","prep_time":"20 minutes","cook_time":"18 minutes","total_time":"1 hour 30 minutes","created_at":"2018-07-24T23:19:31Z","updated_at":"2026-07-30T23:13:24.76774Z","categories":["dessert"],"tags":["chocolate","Mascarpone"],"methods":["Baked"],"themes":["Individual Servings","Vegetarian"],"ingredients":[{"section":"Cake","items":["30g all-purpose flour","5g natural cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy","½ tsp baking powder","¼ tsp salt","57g (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature","50g granulated sugar","1 large egg white","¼ tsp vanilla","2 tbsp milk","2 tbsp hot coffee or water"],"parsed":[{"raw":"30g all-purpose flour","qty":30,"unit":"g","item":"all-purpose flour"},{"raw":"5g natural cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy","qty":5,"unit":"g","item":"natural cocoa powder","prep":"sifted if lumpy"},{"raw":"½ tsp baking powder","qty":0.5,"unit":"tsp","item":"baking powder"},{"raw":"¼ tsp salt","qty":0.25,"unit":"tsp","item":"salt"},{"raw":"57g (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature","qty":57,"unit":"g","item":"unsalted butter","prep":"room temperature"},{"raw":"50g granulated sugar","qty":50,"unit":"g","item":"granulated sugar"},{"raw":"1 large egg white","qty":1,"item":"large egg white"},{"raw":"¼ tsp vanilla","qty":0.25,"unit":"tsp","item":"vanilla"},{"raw":"2 tbsp milk","qty":2,"unit":"tbsp","item":"milk"},{"raw":"2 tbsp hot coffee or water","qty":2,"unit":"tbsp","item":"hot coffee or water"}]},{"section":"Mascarpone Creme Filling","items":["120ml (½ cup) mascarpone cheese","180ml (¾ cup) heavy cream","1½ tbsp granulated sugar","1 tsp vanilla"],"parsed":[{"raw":"120ml (½ cup) mascarpone cheese","qty":120,"unit":"ml","item":"mascarpone cheese"},{"raw":"180ml (¾ cup) heavy cream","qty":180,"unit":"ml","item":"heavy cream"},{"raw":"1½ tbsp granulated sugar","qty":1.5,"unit":"tbsp","item":"granulated sugar"},{"raw":"1 tsp vanilla","qty":1,"unit":"tsp","item":"vanilla"}]},{"section":"Fruits","items":["240ml (1 cup) berries — whole blueberries or raspberries, or sliced strawberries"],"parsed":[{"raw":"240ml (1 cup) berries — whole blueberries or raspberries, or sliced strawberries","qty":240,"unit":"ml","item":"berries — whole blueberries or raspberries, or sliced strawberries"}]},{"section":"To Serve","items":["Confectioner's sugar, for dusting (optional)"],"parsed":[{"raw":"Confectioner's sugar, for dusting (optional)","item":"Confectioner's sugar","prep":"for dusting"}]}],"servings_int":2,"qc":{"status":"passed","last_checked_at":"2026-07-30T23:20:32.773215Z","checked_by":"claude-code","standard_version":"2026-07-30","findings_count":0,"stale":false}}