Mini Chocolate Hazelnut Cakes - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
6 large eggs, separated
10 oz dark chocolate, melted
3 cups ground hazelnuts
1 tbsp frangelico liqueur (or chocolate or coffee liqueur or 1 teaspoon coffee or chocolate essence)
1 tsp vanilla extract
None None chocolates, to decorate
-1 None Chocolate ganache
7 oz dark chocolate, chopped
7 tbsp butter, chopped

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350\u00b0F . Grease 18 mini muffin pans ( about a 4 fl oz each).
Beat the butter and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well between additions. Transfer mixture to a large bowl, stir in cooled chocolate, then fold in hazelnuts, liqueur and vanilla extract.
Beat egg whites in a clean medium bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Fold egg white into the chocolate mixture in two batches.
Divide mixture among prepared pans. Bake 25 minutes or until just cooked. Let cakes stand in pans for 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack. Cool cakes upside-down.
To make chocolate ganache, combine chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth and glossy. Remove from heat, stand for about 30 minutes or until thickened slightly.
Pour a little chocolate ganache over each cake and decorate the tops with chocolates. Let stand at room temperature until set.