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Flowerpot Cakes

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Flowerpot Cakes

Plant a delicious surprise on your guests with these springtime delights. Our chocolate cakes, baked in small, unused terra-cotta pots, create the illusion of new growth. Each cake is topped with a creamy layer of chocolate frosting, a smattering of crushed cookies and candy "rocks," and a fresh sprig of mint. After dessert, wash out the pots and put them to use with real plantings.

We used six unglazed, untreated terracotta flowerpots (each with a six-ounce capacity, about 2 3/4 inches tall and 2 3/4 inches across the top). To make smaller cakes, use nine 4-ounce terra-cotta pots. Thoroughly wash the new pots in hot water before using.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil, plus more for pots
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Quick Chocolate Frosting

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush the inside of each flowerpot with oil, and line with parchment paper or foil. Brush lining with oil, and lightly dust with cocoa.

  2. Sift cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda and powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add egg and yolk, 3/4 cup warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla; mix on low speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.
  3. Divide batter among prepared pots, filling each about two-thirds full. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. Bake, rotating sheet about halfway through, until a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes. Let cakes cool completely on sheet on a wire rack.

  4. Frost cakes with an offset spatula; sprinkle with crushed cookies. Top with candies; "plant" 1 mint sprig in each cake.

From Martha Stewart Living, March 2004

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