Master Hayden’s Cauldron Cakes Recipe:
For experienced bakers the recipe card will tell you everything, but here are some tricks for you novices as well as my reasoning behind this treat.
Why use a pie shell? Because it looks cauldron-like and adds a crunchy element which is different to normal cakes. It’s like the hard exterior of a real cauldron. You can just use ready-rolled pastry for this - though it should be a sweet pastry. If you get square sheets just cut it into quarters and gently press it into your muffin tray. A rule with pastry is that you always allow a little extra than the desired finished size because it will shrink when it cooks. Blind baking is where you cook a pie shell a little first before you add filling so the pastry cooks properly. Because you will be putting these back in to the oven for 20 minutes you don’t want to cook them too much. They should be lightly golden.
When it comes to adding the melted dark chocolate to the cake mixture you’ll want to start mixing the other ingredients and then add it in as you’re mixing because it can cook the eggs if you pour hot chocolate on them. Also, the chocolate should be quite cooled - but still runny - before you add it because otherwise is will harden when it hits the cool mixture.
We dip the pastry in chocolate because in the books the cakes were chocolate on the outside.
The golden sauce is simple and delicious. Though make sure you don’t let the sugar boil and form a toffee because that will set hard once you add the cream and/or after you pour it in. The idea is you’ll bite into your cake and there will be a flood of warm caramel sauce that spills out without being messy. It’s like having a potion from the cauldron and the warmth/liquid adds another depth of sensations to the cake. You can of course serve them cooled too.
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