Chocolate Almond Butter Cakes

Christmas is coming! In 28 days.

I like Christmas, despite it being a Christian and an overly commercialised event. Simply because it is an excuse to bake and eat, and eat a lot.

I took a huge grocery bag and went to Phoon Huat. People stared as I walked down the aisle muttering to myself: yes, fruit cakes, yes cranberries, yes, almond meal...eew, what the hell is egg yolk powder, yes, butter, yes, cheese, yes, baking cups, yes, hazelnut, walnut, pistachios, yes, yes.. what, you don't accept credit card?

Next, start baking. My first assignment is a birthday cake for Minny. A chocolate birthday cake. Therefore, I started putting together the ingredients. I wanted a buttery fragrant chocolate cake, like a chocolate pound cake, only more fragrant. I was enthusiastic. Who wouldn't be? The new almond meal still sitting in the grocery bag is begging to be used. Like a kid with the new toy, I went straight to "work" in the kitchen.

Halfway through, I got a message from Minny with the invitation details. I stared at my cellphone for a long time. The party was next week. Which meant I made the birthday a week early.

Nevermind. I would still continue with the miniatures that I made with the extra batter. I am going to test drive them for Christmas.

I have this beautiful dark chocolate stashed in my room. 70% Sao tome. I'm going to use it for the whipped cream. I made a 50-50 ganache, added it to the whipping cream. Whipped it to a nice semi-hard peak and pipe it onto the minis. I sprinkled some almond cookie crumbs across. Tadah!