Chocolate Espresso Raspberry Mini Cakes

I went to the 99 cent store the other day and found these adorable heart shaped mini cake pans.  And i'm not necessarily a person that gravitates towards heart shaped much but i got really excited about these.   And then I got mildly stressed out because i felt like i needed to make something worthy of these pans--a run of the mill chocolate cake would not do.  After a little refrigerator rummaging, I found some raspberry extract. And as coffee flavors pair well with raspberry and chocolate, I came to conclusion that chocolate espresso raspberry mini cakes was the way to go.  When making this recipe, make sure to only fill these pans half way as the cakes rise quite high.

Ingredients

1 cup espresso

2 teaspoons raspberry extract

1 3/4 cup flour

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup milk mixed with 1 tablespoon of vinegar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1. preheat oven to 350

2. stir together wet ingredients in a large bowl

3. sift together the dry ingredients in a smaller bowl

4. add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in three additions

5. bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly

6. let cool and glaze with ganache (recipe for ganache follows)

Raspberry Chocolate Ganache

ingredients:

4 oz bittersweet chocolate

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract

1. heat heavy cream until just boiling

2. add cream to the chocolate in a bowl and let sit for one minute until the chocolate begins melting down

3. stir and add corn syrup and raspberry extract