Chocolate Cakes with Spiced Syrup

I do not tend to make many chocolate recipes but, I felt like it was time to have a little choc goodness on here.
I found this recipe online at the website Chocolate Week and if you are in need of a chocolate fix, then this is where it is at, as the kids say. Don't they?

Ingredients:

Cake:

115g self-raising flour

65g cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

185g unsalted butter cut into cubes

225g light brown muscavado sugar

85ml double cream

2 medium eggs

85ml water

Syrup:

200g golden caster sugar

200ml water

1 cinnamon stick cut in half

Half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg

Equipment:

Muffin tin

Muffin cases

Makes 8

First, preheat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4 and then place your muffin cases into your muffin tin.

Next, put the flour, cocoa, salt and butter into a large mixing bowl and rub it between your fingers till it becomes like breadcrumbs. Now, I found that the ratio of dry ingredients to butter meant that it ended up being a paste. I could not get any where near a breadcrumb consistency. Either way, if you get a breadcrumb or a paste, it did not seem to matter.

When you have finished rubbing, add the sugar and mix till combined.

Now fill a jug with 85ml water,  and add the cream and eggs to it. Give it a whisk and pour into the chocolate paste/breadcrumbs. Give it a good mix till everything is incorporated and then pour evenly into your muffin cases.

Put in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes until done. Here I found I needed a little longer, about 25ish minutes. This is quite possibly because my oven is what one may call, rubbish, and is why having an oven thermometer is a good idea.
You can test them with a cocktail stick or, if you press gently on the top, the sponge should spring back. If it leaves a print, then it is not cooked through. 

While you are waiting for the cakes to cook you need to make the spiced syrup. Simply put the water, sugar, cinnamon stick and nutmeg into a pan. Bring it to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes.After this time leave for another 15 minutes so it can infuse further. When ready to use, sieve it.

After you have taken the cakes out, leave them on the side to cool a little. Then, while still warm, make some tiny holes with a cocktail stick, and pour the syrup into the cakes.

I found these little cakes to be very rich and moorish. The spiced syrup did not come through for me, maybe I did not infuse for long enough, or I did not pour enough into the cakes. I imagine it should add a nice little kick to the luscious chocolate but you cannot win them all. I think next time I will just put ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg into the mixture itself rather than into a syrup. Even so, they were gorgeous and very dessert like. You can have them warm, with a bit of ice cream or cream, or as little cakes when cooled.
This is certainly a recipe for the chocolate lovers out their!