Mini White Chocolate Berry Drip Cake

I made this cake aaages ago but for some reason never got round to sharing it. Given that Summer is sadly nearly over now I figured I should probably get a move on and actually get round to posting the recipe while there are still some Summer berries around!

VIDEO LINK

This mini white chocolate berry drip cake is teeny tiny; I baked it in a large food tin can that used to contain spinach. The tin you use needs to be 10cm/4in wide and fairly deep; you can buy proper tins in the right size (here), but a clean, empty food can works perfectly well. Just make sure that it is one of the larger sized ones (like this) rather than a standard sized tin (around 795g rather than 420g).

The cake itself is a deliciously moist vanilla cake made using the reverse creaming method but it is so small that it uses just one egg white! I filled and coated it in a whipped white chocolate ganache and topped it with a vibrant pink white chocolate drip and colourful berries. It will serve 2-4 people so is perfect if you want cake but don’t have many people to eat it; plus, it is absolutely adorable!

This isn’t the first mini cake I have made, a few years ago I baked this mini chocolate, nutella ganache and hazelnut praline cake using the same tin. Both of these mini cakes are among the best cakes I have ever baked and because they are so small it means that none goes to waste if there are only a couple of you to eat it (or it saves you from eating far more cake than is good for you so that it doesn’t get wasted…!)

Ingredients

Cake:

55 g (1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp) plain flour
4 g (1 1/2 tsp) cornflour (cornstarch)
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
65 g (1/3 cup) caster sugar
25 g (2 Tbsp) softened butter
50 ml (3 Tbsp + 1 tsp) full fat milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1 large egg white
Whipped White Chocolate Ganache
100 g (3.5 oz) white chocolate chopped
100 ml (1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp) double cream
White Chocolate Drip
25 g (1 oz) white chocolate chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp double cream
drop pink gel food colouring
a selection of fresh berries to fill and serve

Instructions

To make the cake, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease a 10cm (4in) tin can or deep cake tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment.

Sift together the flour, cornflour and baking powder, stir in the salt and sugar into a bowl. Add the butter and beat on a low speed with an electric mixer until all the butter has been combined, the mixture should have a fine crumbly, sandy texture.

In a jug, whisk together half of the milk, the vanilla extract and the lemon juice. In a separate jug, whisk together the egg white and other half of the milk.

Increase the mixer speed to medium-low and gradually add the vanilla milk mixture, beat for a minute until well combined. Gradually add the egg white mixture a little at a time; beat for a couple of minutes, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally. The mixture may look a little curdled, don't worry.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for about 30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack until just warm, then turn the cake out onto the wire rack and leave to cool completely.

To make the whipped white chocolate ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and heat the cream until just boiling. Pour the cream over the chocolate, leave for a minute then stir until smooth. Set aside in the fridge until it is cold but not set.

Whisk the cooled ganache with an electric mixer until thick and spreadable but not completely stiff, be careful not to overwhisk it.

Carefully trim the top of the cake to level it and then slice it in half (I used a cake wire). Place the bottom layer on a serving plate/small cake stand and spread over some of the whipped ganache. Press some berries into the ganache then place the other cake half on top.

Spread the rest of the ganache over the top and sides of the cake then place it in the fridge while you make the drip.
As before, place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and heat the cream until just boiling. Pour it over the chocolate and stir until smooth. Stir in a drop of gel food colouring until it reaches the desired shade the set aside until it has cooled and thickened slightly but is still pourable.
Use a spoon to carefully pour the ganache over the cake, starting at the edges then filling in the middle. Return the cake to the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up a little then top with berries and serve. Best eaten the day it is assembled. Keep refrigerated.