The recipe for these sumptuous and ridiculously easy cakes comes from Katie Quinn Davies’ blog What Katie Ate; a website I decided to consult at the end of last month when we were in the midst of organising an end-of-working-year morning tea in our office for our last day. I already knew I was going to be busy the evening before, so I wanted something that would be very quick and easy to make, but yet not falling below the standards I had set for myself in the office. Once my eyes fell on this recipe, I knew I had a winner. These cakes were so quick to make and bake, and in all honesty…who doesn’t love Nutella in all its oozy, nutty goodness??

You will need:

• 4 eggs;
• 200g caster sugar;
• 100g plain flour, sifted;
• 80g cocoa, sifted;
• 185g butter, melted;
• 1 punnet raspberries (fresh or frozen);
• 1 small jar Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Butter liberally 8-10 individual mini loaf tins, and lay down a strip of baking paper as well for easy removal of the cakes afterwards. You can also use a standard 12-hole cupcake or muffin tray, just add less ingredients to each cupcake hole.

Beat the eggs and sugar in a stand mixer until light and creamy, then add in the flour and cocoa and continue to beat until well incorporated.

Pour in the melted butter and beat for a further few minutes until you have a smooth, dark rich batter. This raw batter will smell absolutely heavenly and you will be hard pressed not to start eating it out of the bowl! But don’t worry, once you’ve made the cakes you can lick out the bowl and spatula 😉

Spoon a tablespoon of batter into each of the pre-prepared tins. Spread out evenly to coat the base of the tin, followed by one teaspoon of Nutella, which you place in the middle of the tin, then add 3-4 raspberries on top.

Top with a further tablespoon of cake batter. Smooth out the tops, dot a raspberry or two on top of each cake and repeat with all the other tins until the batter is used up.

Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes or until a skewer comes out of the cake clean and try. Test this to the right or left of the centre, as remember the Nutella is sitting in the middle and will still be deliciously oozy. Allow the cakes to cool before removing from the tins and serve the cakes warm.

I swear, there aren’t moments much better than that split second where after I had sliced the knife down through a cake, and pulled the two halves away from one another to see that molten hazelnut centre emerge from those warm, decadent little chocolate cakes.

Gluttonously good 😉 xx