When Tina from Mom’s Crazy Cooking informed us that this month’s challenge was chocolate cake, I was a tad concerned. This will be shocking and slightly disheartening to many of you but I am not a chocolate cake fan. Please hold back your judgement, disgust and gasps. It’s just too rich for me. But I didn’t want to miss out on the fun so I decided to bite the bullet and see if I could find a chocolate cake that we would truly enjoy. I thought the frosting could really make a difference for us so I went for one that I knew we would love.
After lots of searching, I came across this chocolate cake made by Aimee at Shugary Sweets and I knew I had found it! After reading that the frosting tasted like mint chocolate chip ice cream I thought I might die. That’s my favorite flavor so it had to find out for myself…and she is totally right. The frosting was amazing and so was the chocolate cake. The coffee in the cake batter really enhanced the richness of the chocolate.
Although I don’t make layered cakes too often, I have learned a few tips when it comes to icing them. The first is to place strips of wax paper under the first cake layer on the cake stand/plate so that you don’t get any frosting on it. After frosting the cake, all you have to do is pull out the wax paper and you have a perfectly clean cake stand.
Another tip I have learned is placing the top cake layer upside down so that the bottom of the cake will be the top of the cake. This provides a nice, flat surface on the top of the cake to frost.
I passed along some of the cake to friends and also got rave reviews from them so you definitely need to give this a try!
| Chocolate Cake with Mint Chocolate Chip Frosting |
For the cake:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 9 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup brewed coffee, cooled
- 1/2 cup milk
For the frosting:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 8 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
- 1/2 cup milk plus 2 Tbsp
- 11 oz dark chocolate chunks (62%cacao) or mini chocolate chips
- 1/8 tsp green food coloring gel
For the ganache:
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
- 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
- In medium bowl, sift cocoa with flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside. In measuring cup, mix coffee and milk together. Set aside.
- In mixer, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Slowly add in dry ingredients alternating with the coffee/milk blend (about 3 additions of each).
- Pour cake batter into two prepared pans (two 9inch cake pans lined with parchment paper and then greased and floured). Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Remove and allow to cool about 10 minutes before removing from pans. Cool completely before frosting.
- For frosting, in food processor, pulse dark chocolate until small bits (not powder)! Set aside.
- In mixer, beat butter, powdered sugar and milk for 3-5 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Add in extract and food coloring gel. Mix until fully blended. Add more milk if necessary to desired consistency. Fold in chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips.
- Frost first layer of cake, then top it with second layer. Completely frost sides and top of cake.
- For the ganache, heat 3/4 cup heavy cream in saucepan. Bring just to a boil and remove from heat. Place chocolate chips in a bowl then slowly add in hot cream and extract. Stir until smooth and completely combined. Pour over chocolate cake.
More Photos…
