How do you keep mini cakes from drying out?

Mini cakes are delicate and require careful handling to keep them fresh. You can keep the mini cakes from drying if you wrap them in plastic and store them in an airtight container. Thaw or reheat them with a water or sugar syrup splash to keep them moist and fresh.

What are those mini cakes called?

Mini cakes, also known by various names, such as petit cakes, fairy cakes, or bento cakes, can vary in size from 2.5 to 6 cm in diameter. They are joyful sweet treats with cute and aesthetic appeal and are delicious festive canape appetizers.

Cute Mini Cakes For Beautiful Celebrations July 1, 2025

Description

Birthdays call for themed decorations and cakes. Mini cakes are delicate pieces of art that enhance the beauty of any celebration, whether weddings or birthdays. The colorful decorative cakes are show-stoppers and eye-catching!

I attended my best friend Giselle’s wedding in France, and the famous Petit fours caught my attention there. Petit fours are small decorative cakes, meaning “small oven” in French, often served at celebrations. John’s tenth birthday was also around the corner.

I decided to make mini fancy cakes, and countless ideas flashed in my mind. It was not only a great idea but also a fun experience for John and me. While making the batter, I added Nutella chocolate flavor because John is Augustus from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. He is wildly obsessed with chocolate, most precisely ‘A Chocolate Ghost’. John and his friends loved the mini cakes’ ideas, and they were like spying on these cake stands.

Ingredients

Scale

For a Single sheet cake (It makes a single cake sheet. Repeat the recipe for a second layer cake)

125g butter, at room temperature and unsalted
125g sugar
1 tsp vanilla syrup
¼ tsp salt
30g of Nutella or any other chocolate cream
2 medium-sized eggs
100g all-purpose flour

For Nutella Frosting

160g dark chocolate
120 g Nutella chocolate

For Decorations

Ruby (pink) chocolate
Semo sweet chocolate
Sprinkles
White chocolate
Brown chocolate (mix of dark brown and white chocolate)

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Instructions

Cream the Butter and Sugar: Place room-temperature butter, sugar, vanilla syrup, salt, and Nutella in a bowl. Mix them with a spatula until they are well combined and form a smooth brown mixture. This process is called creaming. Whisk eggs one by one until a smooth mixture is created. Each egg should be completely mixed before adding the next one.
Make Nutella Cake Batter: Carefully fold all-purpose flour into the Nutella cream batter until there are no big lumps and the mixture is silky smooth.
Pour in the Pan and Level It: Pour the Nutella cake batter into a rectangular sheet pan, 31×23 cm, lined with parchment paper. Spread the cake batter as evenly as you can to get a level surface; you don’t need to level it separately. Level it as much as possible, but don’t over press to remove the trapped air for a spongy cake.
Bake and Repeat: Bake the sheet cake for 10 minutes at 170°C or 338°F in an oven. After baking, let it cool at room temperature before further handling. Make the recipe twice for two cake layers.
To make Nutella Frosting: Melt dark chocolate on the stovetop using the double boiler or microwave. I microwaved it in a microwave-safe bowl and thoroughly mixed the melted dark chocolate with Nutella.
Layer the Cake: Pour the Nutella frosting onto the first cake and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Place it with the second layer of cake and gently press it together. Transfer it into the fridge for an hour to set.
Cut Double Layer Nutella Cake: For the mini cakes, cut the cake with a 3.5 cm diameter cookie cutter. I got 44 small cakes, but the number may vary depending on the size of your cake cutter.
Decorate With Love: Dip all the cakes in melted pink, brown, white and semi-sweet dark chocolate. If there is not enough chocolate in the bowl to cover the cake fully, here’s a nice tip. Dip the cake, turn it carefully with a fork, and lift it with a knife when placing it on paper. There will be chocolate all over the cake in this way. Place all the cakes on parchment paper and cool until the chocolate becomes solid. Decorate the chocolate-covered cakes with a drizzle of melted chocolate. Add extra decorations like sprinkles, glitter, and edible flowers to show creativity.

Notes

The main secret of getting more level cakes is the temperature. The cake dome occurs when the temperature is high and the sides of the cake become hot. This causes the corners of the cake to brown faster, and then the middle part of the cake rises, forming a dome. To avoid this problem, the temperature should be ideal for an even layer. The temperature range that works best is 160-170°C.
Don’t cool the cake in a sheet pan. It will become stiff and may become difficult to remove from the pan. Cooling the cake after baking is necessary to avoid crumbling.
If you can’t find ruby chocolate, you can make pink chocolate by adding a few pink food colors in white melted chocolate. Make brown chocolate by mixing white chocolate and dark chocolate. Experiment with different colors according to your theme.
The parchment paper should also be on the side so the cake does not leak and form uneven edges. Carefully line the pan with parchment paper. If necessary, hold the paper with holders to level the edges.
Remember, cake decoration is your creativity. You can cut cute small cakes in different shapes, like circles, squares, or hearts, and decorate them with strawberries, blueberries, and other fruits. Other decorations are edible flowers, sprinkles, edible glitter, and frostings.

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Category: Dessert
Cuisine: French, American