Chocolate Strawberry Mini Cake

Yield: One 4-inch round cake
Oven Temperature: 350℉

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 1/4 c. + 2 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. + 2 tsp. oil
• 1/2 beaten egg
• 2 tbsp. sour cream (or plain Greek yoghurt)
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 c. flour*
• 2 tbsp. dark chocolate cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 c. boiling hot water

For the filling:

• 1/2 c. chopped strawberries
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
• 1 tsp. lemon juice

For the frosting:

• 3 tbsp. salted butter, softened
• 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tsp. strawberry filling
• red food coloring (optional)
• 1 1/2 tbsp. cocoa powder

For decorating:

• sprinkles
• 3 large strawberries
• 1/4 c. milk chocolate chips (or semi-sweet, or dark)
• 2 tbsp. white chocolate chips

*You can easily make this gluten free by using 1/2 c. of gluten free all-purpose flour. You might want to add an extra 1/2 tsp. of vanilla to get a nice flavor.

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350℉ and line two 4-inch springform pans with parchment paper.
2. To make the cake, in a large bowl whisk together the sugar, oil, half egg, sour cream, and vanilla. You can throw out the other half of the egg or save it for something else. I usually add my leftover egg to an omelet. 
3. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powders, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. You can use whatever type of cocoa powder you like, but I used a mix of dark cocoa and regular cocoa. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Add in the boiled water while it's still hot and whisk in rapidly, batter should be fairly thin. But not too thin.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the two 4-inch springform pans and bake in the oven for 17-21 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the cake clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.
5. While the cake is in the oven, make the strawberry filling. In a small saucepan, stir together the chopped strawberries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Place the pan over a medium-low heat and cook for 10ish minutes until the strawberries are soft and the filling has thickened. Chill in the fridge.
6. To make the chocolate strawberries, start by rinsing the three strawberries with water and gently patting them dry with a hand towel. Melt the white chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips in the microwave (in separate bowls). Dip the strawberries into the milk chocolate and then set them on a plate lined with parchment paper or wax paper. Drizzle the white chocolate over the strawberries using a piping bag fitted with a tip. Decorate with sprinkles and set aside until the chocolate hardens. 
7. This cake uses two different types of frosting, chocolate and strawberry, but I start the frostings together in the same bowl. To make the frosting, beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Stir in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and then beat in the vanilla. 
8. Scoop out around 1/5 of the frosting into a small bowl (this will be your strawberry frosting.) Into the small bowl, add in 2 tsp. of the chilled strawberry filling that you made in step 5. Stir to combine. If you want to, you can add a couple of drops of red food coloring. Set aside.
9. In the original bowl (this will be the chocolate frosting) add in the cocoa powder and mix well. You might need to a tiny bit of milk to get the frosting to the right consistency. Set aside.
10. To assemble the cake, start by leveling off the top of each cake round so that each layer is flat. Carefully slice each round horizontally in half so that you have four thin cake layers. Pick a sturdy cake round to be the base and set it on your serving plate. Spread a generous amount of the strawberry frosting on top of the first layer of cake. Top with a second cake round.
11. Frost the second cake round with a thin layer of chocolate frosting and then pipe a ring of chocolate frosting around the edge of the second cake round. This ring will help the strawberry filling stay inside the cake. Scoop the strawberry filling into the ring, but be sure not to overfill. The filling should barely come to the top of the chocolate frosting ring. Place a third cake round on top of the strawberry filling. You might want to use a few toothpicks to keep the third layer from crushing the strawberry filling.
12. Gently frost the top of the third cake layer with more strawberry frosting. Place the final cake layer on top of the third cake layer. Spread a thin layer of chocolate frosting around the sides and top of the entire cake (this is your crumb coat.) Chill the cake for around thirty minutes. Take the cake out of the fridge and pipe a thicker layer of chocolate frosting around the top and sides of the cake. Spread smooth.
13. If you want to decorate the cake the way I did, press a layer of sprinkles over the bottom inch of cake. Place the three strawberries on the top of the cake and then decorate with additional sprinkles. Eat whenever you want.