The Lunch Lady
Mexican hot chocolate cakes
Little chocolate cakes with cinnamon, a pinch of ancho chile and toasted marshmallow tops, finished with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Chocolate chips go into the batter and over the top before baking.
Published · Updated
- Servings
- About 24 small cakes
- Total time
- About 1 hour 15 minutes, including cooling before topping
Hot chocolate you can pick up
Chocolate, cinnamon and a toasted marshmallow. These were a lot of fun to make in the lunchroom.
I use Sunrise Flour Mill Heritage White Flour, the flour our kitchen sponsor supplies. This is a good recipe to put it to work. The batter has cocoa, a little ancho chile and chocolate chips, with condensed milk and yogurt keeping the cakes soft.
A kitchen scale is really helpful here. I use an Amazon Basics kitchen scale to measure my ingredients. Cups can lie to you, especially with flour and sugar. A packed scoop and a light scoop don't weigh the same. Weighing takes that guesswork out and dials the batter in. Use the gram amounts below for the flour, cocoa and brown sugar.
The marshmallow belongs on top. I took the mini marshmallows out of the batter and finished each cake with a toasted marshmallow instead. You get the chocolate cake first, then that browned, sticky top. I finish the cakes with a light dusting of powdered sugar and cinnamon.
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Home recipe
Mexican hot chocolate cakes
The Lunch Lady · Jared Veldheer
- Servings
- About 24 small cakes
- Prep time
- About 20 minutes
- Cook time
- About 25 minutes
- Total time
- About 1 hour 15 minutes, including cooling before topping
Equipment: Two standard 12-cup muffin pans and paper liners, or similar silicone baking molds on sheet pans; two mixing bowls, whisk, kitchen scale; kitchen torch or broiler for the marshmallows.
Ingredients
Check off ingredients as you go.
Cake batter
Marshmallow finish
Instructions
Cake batter
- Heat the oven to 350°F conventional or 325°F convection. Line two standard muffin pans, or lightly grease silicone molds and set them on rimmed baking sheets.
- Set a large mixing bowl on the scale and zero it. Weigh in the flour, then zero the scale again before adding the cocoa and again before the brown sugar. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ancho. Whisk together, breaking up any cocoa or sugar lumps.
- In another bowl, whisk the condensed milk, yogurt, oil, eggs, milk and vanilla until smooth. Fold the wet mixture into the dry just until no dry flour remains. Fold in the ½ cup of mini chips.
- Divide the batter among the prepared cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Scatter the topping chips below over them. Mold sizes vary; bake any extra batter in a few additional lined cups instead of filling to the rim.
- Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, checking at 18 minutes. Switch the pans' positions if using two racks. The centers should spring back lightly and a toothpick should show moist crumbs rather than wet batter; melted chocolate from a chip is fine. If needed, test another spot.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then lift them onto a rack. With flexible silicone molds, let them cool enough to release without tearing. Finish cooling before adding the marshmallows.
Marshmallow finish
- Set the cooled cakes on a heatproof tray and place a marshmallow half, cut side down, on each one. Toast with a kitchen torch, keeping the flame away from paper liners, until golden and lightly puffed.
- Without a torch, remove the paper liners and arrange the cooled cakes on an unlined, broiler-safe metal pan. Add the marshmallows and broil about 6 inches from the heat just until golden, checking continuously. This can take less than a minute.
- Mix the powdered sugar and cinnamon. Use a small fine-mesh sieve to dust the cakes and toasted tops lightly; use as much as you like. Serve once the marshmallow is cool enough to eat.
Recipe notes
- The ancho adds gentle warmth. Start with ⅛ tsp if you're making these for people who prefer mild food.
- Use the gram amounts where listed for the most consistent batch. Zero the scale with the empty bowl on it, then zero it again between ingredients. The cup and spoon amounts are approximate; if measuring flour by volume, spoon it in lightly and level it instead of packing it down.
- The batter is ready to bake as soon as it's mixed. If only one muffin pan fits in your oven, mix half a batch at a time; lightly beat two eggs for each half batch and weigh half the condensed milk.