Christmas is coming and I am craving for something sweet. Something that must carry the colors and spirit of Christmas. Of course I will make a yule log to enjoy with my whole family in Christmas Eve. I will save the yule log until then. There is still one week before this special day but sitting quietly during this Holiday season really makes me feel sick. Therefore, last night I made these cute mini mocha cake. I call it mocha cake because it is a perfect combination of coffee cream and chocolate ganache out side 3 layers of spongy and moist chocolate cake. I decorate these mini cake with christmas trees and wreath. They are simple but I love the way they look. Merry Christmas everyone!!!



Ingredients:
1/ For the egg yolk:
+ 3 egg yolks (at room temperature)
+ 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
+ 3.5 table spoons all-purpose flour, sifted
+ 1 tablespoon corn starch
+ 2 tablespoons whole milk
+ 2 tablespoons olive oil
+ 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
+ 1 tablespoon liquid-form dark chocolate paste (you can also use melted dark chocolate)



2/ For the egg white:
+ 3 egg whites ( at room temperature)
+ 3 tablespoons caster sugar, sifted
+ Juice of one medium fresh lemon
+ 1/4 teaspoon salt



Directions:
Preheat oven 350 degree F
1/ In one bowl, mix the milk + oil + vanilla + egg yolks together. Then sift the flour + corn starch + sugar + baking powder to the milk mixture and mix well. Then, beat the whole mixture on high speed until pale yello. Then mix in the chocolate paste, stir and set aside

2/ Beat the egg white with lemon juice and salt by electric mixer on medium-high speed until foamy. Then add sugar gradually while increase to high speed and beat until soft peaks form (about 2-3 minutes)

Then, add 1/2 of the meringue (egg white) to the egg yolk mixture. Fold gently to just combine. After that, fold this mixture to the rest of the meringue and fold gently to just combine. Don't fold too much, otherwise, the cake will not rise when you bake it. Also, don't forget to fold all the way down to the bottom of the bowl to combine the 2 mixtures thoroughly.

Line a jelly-roll baking pan (33.7 x 23.5 x 1.6 cm ) with parchment paper. Spread the batter evenly over the baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degree F for 15 minutes at the middle rack of the oven, until the surface of the cake is firm and inserted toothpick in the center comes out clean

3/ Remove cake from the oven,let cool for 2 minutes. Then, invert the cake (with the parchment paper attached) to the smooth surface lined with plastic wrapper or parchment paper. Then using a heart-shape cookie cutter to cut out each layer of this mini cake. Each cake will have 3 layers.



To make the cream: You will need 2 packages of G7 Capuchino Instant Coffee mix. Add 1 tablespoon of hot water to the coffee mix to dissolve it. You will have a very thick coffee syrup. Let it cool. Beat heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form, add the coffee syrup and beat until stiff peaks form. Spread the cream in-between layers and all over the outside of the cake. After you frost capuchino whipped cream perfectly on the cake. Put the cakes into the freezer while you start to make chocolate ganache.



To make the mocha ganache: Pour 200 gram of DB Capuchio Whipping Cream (you can also use regular whipping cream and add coffee mix to it) into a small sauce pan. Heat over low heat unitl boil. Then pour the boiling cream to a glass bowl containing 200 gram of chocolate chip. Add 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter. Stir the whole mixture until the chocolate chip totally dissolves. The final ganache is shiny thanks to the butter. Let it cool a little bit.

When the ganache is still warm, spoon it on the top of the cold cake, starting from the center of the top. Spoon just enough ganache to encourage the ganache rip down the side of the cake a little and form small streams like in the photos.


Hear come my tiny Christmas wreath

I also make some pinwheel cookies for the first time. I used red and green color. Because I was not patient enough to wait for the dough to firm up more before rolling two colors together, the cookies don't have the round shape and more circles as I wished. Anyway, it's a first attempt and these cookies taste great. So why don;t I post a picture to share with you But please don't laugh at my cookies



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BONUS: OMG! Such a big surprise for me. Two photos of my Mini Mocha Cake are selected and posted on both foodgawker.com and foodEpix.com. The first photo of this entry is posted on foodgawker.com with code #137066. Check this link here to see my food photo gallery on foodgawker:
http://foodgawker.com/post/2011/12/18/137066/

The second photo in this entry is posted on foodEpix.com with code #1910. Check out the link here:
http://www.foodepix.com/2011/12/18/mini-christmas-mocha-cake/

Yes!!! I'm so excited because this is the first time to have 2 of my photos posted in these two wonderful websites. I'm more excited because I have 5 different Buche de Noel - Yule logs to make this Christmas. Just wait and see