Mint Chocolate Cake: How To

For my birthday, Justin decided to take a pinterest recipe I had liked and make it into a cake. He didn't like that they used a box mix, so he put his own twist on the recipe rather than following it exactly.

Ready for the recipe?

The cake is actually Alton Brown's version of the Devils Food Cake. To give the cake a bit of minty flavor, you can add 1 1/2 cups Créme de Menthe baking chips as this recipe did. Justin did not, but I am sure it would make the cake taste extra yummy if you did. He just forgot.

The icing is a buttercream icing with a bit of peppermint extract added to taste. Justin got the recipe from the book Meringue by Linda Jackson and Jennifer Gardner. You can purchase the book on Amazon, and I highly recommend it. We have yet to find a recipe that isn't amazing in this book. Below I have included the original Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting recipe that Justin used mentioning in parentheses which parts of the recipe he altered.

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting

Yields: 4 cups - enough to frost 1 triple layer 9 inch round cake or 24 cupcakes 

Ingredients: 4 large egg whites, room temperature • 1 1/4 cups sugar • pinch of salt • 1/2 tsp cups or 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened and divided • 1 1/2 tsps pure vanilla extract (which for this recipe should be substituted with peppermint extract added to taste) 

Directions: In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine egg whites, sugar,  and salt. Set bowl over medium saucepan of simmering water and heat, whisking continuously until sugar is dissolved, the mixture is white and frothy and reaches 160 degrees on a candy thermometer. • Remove the bowl from the heat and attach it to your mixer. With the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 8 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, adding more once each addition of buttercream is thick and smooth, about 3-5 minutes. Don't worry if it looks lumpy or curdled during this process--it will eventually become smooth. Add vanilla (or peppermint) and food coloring, if using, and beat just until blended. • Keep the buttercream at room temperature if you're using it right away. If you're piping it, you may want to let it firm up in the refrigerator for a few minutes first. You can also make it ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days of in the freezer for up to 1 month. Just let it sit on your countertop until it reaches room temperature and beat it on low in your electric mixer to return the buttercream to a smooth consistency. 

Justin used a few drops of the Wilton food coloring in kelly green to achieve the green color of the icing. For decoration, he used a cheese grater to grate a few Andes mints on top of the cake.

While this cake was definitely delicious, I think it would be most awesome as a Christmas cake maybe with grated candy canes on top, and a red colored icing?

If you give this recipe combination a try, let me know what you think. :)